A Bit More on Hijacked Language
It seems that my last post, “Our Language is Being Hijacked,” resonated with some readers, who, like me, tend to notice that the way we communicate our thoughts (or fail to) is changing. They offered great examples of their own, which I’m happy to share today.
First, my daughter, Kristi, educated me about the word perfect. She explained that it’s just the way younger people say thank you. “Perfect, Kristi! As the mother of five, three of them teenagers in high school, she also offered the term, “Low key.” You will love this one. She said, low key is an alternative to “actually,” as in, “Dinner was low key good tonight.”
Actually! I’m actually guilty of this one regularly. Many of us are, I’m afraid. The definition of actually, according to collinsdictionary.com, is “to indicate that a situation exists or happened, or to emphasize that it’s true.” But in reality, it has joined the all-star team of filler words. When I say, “I actually went to Rutgers University in Newark,” does adding the word actually imply that I’m not sure you will believe me? Listen, I have the T-shirts to prove it. And there’s actually a diploma somewhere in my home. I’m not sure it mentions Newark though.
My son, Jeremy, informed me that 100% is now low key insufficient. An IT executive in the healthcare industry, he informed me that at least one vendor has said he is 300% confident he can deliver as promised. Some people are upping the ante on us!
A favorite of one reader is when someone says, “To be completely honest with you….” I realize it’s just another way to jump start what you want to say. Like pressing your car’s starter button. Lights flash momentarily and then the engine starts. I also believe that in the majority of cases, the speaker has no intention of lying to me. What should be worrisome though, is the possibility that the listener might well be registering subconsciously, that you are clarifying that this time…you plan to tell the whole truth. It’s bad enough when someone says, “To be honest with you.” Apparently, the word “completely” adds a whole new dimension to the speaker’s commitment to being truthful.
“No problem” replaced “You’re welcome,” eons ago, but I thought I’d mention it to get my word count up. I do miss your welcome. It was a sweet acknowledgement that you were pleased to lend someone a hand. No problem always sounds to me like it wasn’t a problem this time, but it might be the next time. In yet another advance, some of us have abandoned no problem in favor of “No worries.” The question is whose worries are we talking about? When someone says, “No worries,” to me does it mean that I didn’t cause the person anything to worry about, or are they suggesting I shouldn’t worry? Maybe it applies to both of us.
If you’ve spent little or no time consciously aware of the way we communicate, consider yourself lucky. I have to say, though, based on the responses I received from my last post, more of us notice these verbal tics than you might think. But I say live and let live. Words don’t define us! Take it from me, that’s spot on.