I got an e-mail yesterday from a company that sells craft supplies. The subject line read:
“Get Your Craft On.”
I deleted the e-mail with quick contempt because it reminded me of how very much I dislike the overused call to action to “get my (fill-in-the-blank) on.” Part of the problem is that there are so many activities one can “get on.”
Get your groove on
Get your freak on
Get your game on
Get your geek on
Get your praise on
Get your blaze on
Get your funk on
Get your green on
It’s everywhere, and I’m sure you could add to the list. Hey, I could ask you to “Get your list on,” or “Get your get on … on.” Hmm, maybe not.
At first I didn’t mind the expression. It was cute and a little bit funky, but driving past a store-front church one day, the message-bearing roadside marquee read, “Come in and Get your God on.” Without passing judgment, I can say that one ruined it for me.
It’s not just the getting on of things that bothers me. Über bothers me, too. In fact, it über bothers me. I stopped subscribing to Entertainment Weekly because they über-use it at least once in every issue. I grind my teeth when I hear it, but I’m not gonna go there, which is another idiom to add to the list.
My friend Keith hates the expression, “It is what it is,” and I agree with him on that. That’s the thing about Keith, he’s good people. Oh! I don’t like that one either. How can one person be good people? It just doesn’t make sense!
Seriously, though, it’s all good. Ouch, that’s another stinker.
The more I think about it, the more I come up with:
- Good to go
- Git r done
- Have a good one
- Not so much (Loved that when I first heard it, but now … not so much)
I’m giving myself a headache with all these cliches, and there’s only one thing that takes care of headaches: Retail therapy, (yep, that’s one), so, I’m going to go get my shop on, but first, I’m going to go get my shoes on.
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Grammar Watch is an occasional series about grammar peeves, abuses, giggles, and rants. Email me with any topics you’d like to see included here.
Resources: The Daily Post.
* That’s another one
Away with Words 
This was entertaining. Thank you. Just what I needed during my afternoon mocha before getting my cook on for dinner.
LOL!
THIS IS WONDERFUL! (Part 700, 342 to the umteenth power!)
Seems we cannot get away from this! You couldn’t have wrapped this up (underlined), Any Better! You’ve Made Not Only My Night… The Whole Darned Weekend!!!
~Denise
My first instinct was to write “Love it!” But then I thought, wait, that’s another one! So instead, I genuinely enjoyed your post and it made me smile several times.
Guilty as charged. I mean, I’ve done that very recently.
Linda
Great post! Idioms and abbreviations have taken over the modern world. We need to fight back!
🙂
-Kim
Great post, thank you for sharing! My major irritant at the moment is that to both of my kids, everything is “cool”. It’s not just the word that annoys me but the way they say it – very flat, with no emotion, no facial expression or anything. No doubt they are trying to be “cool” when saying it but to me they just sound like a pair of doves…..”cooo, coooooo, cooooooo”!!
This reminds of my younger brother’s habit of labeling everything in life as “gay.” Not only are there obvious problems with this, but the tone he uses is probably much like the one your kids are using when they say, “cool.” How was work today? “Gay.” That’s it. One flat word. And I have to figure out how his workday was somehow homosexual.
I find the use of Über -laufen, which means run over, in German totally inappropriate.
We have enough ways to adulterate our language as it is, so why strain a gnat to use a foreign word which 99% of the population has no clue about?
Just my .02 cents! Take care, Charlie
PS: dumb, dumb, dumb!
This was hilarious! I know exactly what you mean. You explained it in a much better way than I could.
Nothing personal, but at the end of the day people are lazy as all get out and not willing to give 110% to keep the ball rolling. Making conversation isn’t rocket science, but using a cliché is a no-brainer.
This post actually made me laugh 🙂 Wow, it must be one of those days when some things just gets to you, huh?
Recently, I’ve discovered that I cannot tolerate the idiom, “hit the spot.” As in, “that turkey sandwich really hit the spot!” Just writing it out made my head hurt a little.