What little thing would you make illegal just because it pisses you off?

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danie

I am whatever you say I am.
Feb 26, 2008
9,760
60,662
60
Kentucky
I would make it illegal to use clichés when speaking or writing. It's such a lazy way to express yourself. Find a different way to say your thoughts. I've heard or read all these in the last two weeks:
"Put on your big-girl panties."
"Go with the flow."
"She don't have no filter."
"The apple don't fall far from the tree."
"Get our ducks in a row."
"Let's get on the same page." (I heard this at almost every teacher meeting.)
"At the end of the day..."
"Think outside the box."
"He was thrown under the bus."
"I just threw up in my mouth a little."

I understand that we're all lazy occasionally, and will say clichés and overused words out of habit, but I think most people who use them think they are being clever and cute. My students say the same phrases they've heard their parents say, and I try to show them it's neither intelligent nor creative to repeat the same old boring chaff over and over. I can tell them stuff like that, but I can't tell adults.

I would make clichés illegal such that one would be fined for each infraction. I tire very quickly of repetition though, in every form, so maybe it's just I who screams internally every time I hear, "Well, that's like the pot calling the kettle black!" followed by hearty laughter at their own cleverness.

Also, I would make long story-telling punishable by death. As my dad used to say when someone started a story, "Tell me the ending, then I'll tell you whether I want to hear the rest or not." How is it that adults can tell the longest, boringest, most detailed stories and not know they're boring? I try not to talk a lot around people. Some of my friends think I'm shy or "quiet," but, no, I'm just trying not to be a bore. If it were illegal, maybe I would be able to eat lunch with coworkers or say hello to the Walmart cashier without hearing a story which starts before Christ was born and ends in 2019.

Now, most people would end this with, "Rant over," but that's a cliché. Stop saying it! I'll just stop typing and hope you'll stop repeating things even if it's legal.




 

FlakeNoir

Original Kiwi© SKMB®
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
44,082
175,641
New Zealand
I would make it illegal to use clichés when speaking or writing. It's such a lazy way to express yourself. Find a different way to say your thoughts. I've heard or read all these in the last two weeks:
"Put on your big-girl panties."
"Go with the flow."
"She don't have no filter."
"The apple don't fall far from the tree."
"Get our ducks in a row."
"Let's get on the same page." (I heard this at almost every teacher meeting.)
"At the end of the day..."
"Think outside the box."
"He was thrown under the bus."
"I just threw up in my mouth a little."

I understand that we're all lazy occasionally, and will say clichés and overused words out of habit, but I think most people who use them think they are being clever and cute. My students say the same phrases they've heard their parents say, and I try to show them it's neither intelligent nor creative to repeat the same old boring chaff over and over. I can tell them stuff like that, but I can't tell adults.

I would make clichés illegal such that one would be fined for each infraction. I tire very quickly of repetition though, in every form, so maybe it's just I who screams internally every time I hear, "Well, that's like the pot calling the kettle black!" followed by hearty laughter at their own cleverness.

Also, I would make long story-telling punishable by death. As my dad used to say when someone started a story, "Tell me the ending, then I'll tell you whether I want to hear the rest or not." How is it that adults can tell the longest, boringest, most detailed stories and not know they're boring? I try not to talk a lot around people. Some of my friends think I'm shy or "quiet," but, no, I'm just trying not to be a bore. If it were illegal, maybe I would be able to eat lunch with coworkers or say hello to the Walmart cashier without hearing a story which starts before Christ was born and ends in 2019.

Now, most people would end this with, "Rant over," but that's a cliché. Stop saying it! I'll just stop typing and hope you'll stop repeating things even if it's legal.



I hate the phrase "going forward". It makes my jaw hurt. (gritted teeth)
 

Grandpa

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2014
9,724
53,642
Colorado
Heavy booming from vehicles. Or houses. Or engine exhausts. Your right to crank up the volume stops where my tender ears begin.

Language quirks. The ones for me are unnecessary words. I'm tired and trying to thing of examples.

"Nape of the neck." The nape is the back of the neck. Saying "nape of the neck" is like saying "elbow joint of the elbow."
"Treasure trove." A trove has treasurable things. That's what a trove is.
And sorry, but "pet peeve." A peeve by implication if not actual definition is "pet."
VIN number, PIN number. You're saying "vehicle identification number number" and "personal identification number number."
And most of all: "May or may not." Three of those four words add nothing. If something "may" happen that is certainly also saying it "may not" happen.

Sorry. You caught me so tired that I can't even figure out how to unindent this sentence.
 
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kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
Talking loudly and swearing on your cell phone in public about very personal things going on in your life. I can't count how many times a day while working I would hear folks loudly discussing personal things or arguing with someone on their cell phone while shopping. Yo! The rest of us out there in the world don't want to hear about this crap!
 

Zone D Dad

Well-Known Member
Apr 17, 2017
359
1,829
Chicago Suburbs
On airplanes - standing up in the aisle after the "fasten seatbelt" light goes off. Everyone jumps up to grab stuff out of the overhead bin and then stand there blocking the aisle; like they're going to get off the plane any faster than the people that are remaining seated. Makes me absolutely nuts.