Thursday 4 March 2021

Words and Phrases

I absolutely love languages. My mother tongue is English and I attempt to learn French... badly! I love so many words that our vocabulary has to offer. 

But today I want to discuss those words, phrases and abbreviations that 100% destroy my soul, grind my gears, scratch my black board, make my wool squeak...yes all of those annoying words and phrases that drive me to insanity! 

Hubby, Lol, Bae, Triggered, Literally, Obviously, I'm not being funny but..., Be true to yourself, It is what it is, At the end of the day, My bad, On point, Fleek, to name but a few.... Are you with me or are you one of those people that uses such exasperating terminology?

I just want to share my thoughts on the word "triggered"....

Having worked in mental health over 20 years, I am more than aware that certain situations, people, sounds, smells etc can be a trigger into causing distress or other forms of emotions, thoughts or behavioural reactions and responses for people.

But of recent years people seem to use the word "triggered" quite frequently and it drives me insane. 

I'd rather hear someone say; 'My triggers are...' ' What triggers me is...' but to say 'I'm triggered' bothers me. 

A popular phrase is "It is what it is" to me, this goes against any kind of true acceptance of emotions or a situation. It seems somewhat more avoidant in accepting something, whether a situation happens that you like and causing comfort or dislike which causes discomfort it is important to embrace all emotions not just dismiss them. 'It is what it is' somehow seems that you are avoiding the discomfort and rolling over and not really acknowledging the emotions or situation. 

'Be true to yourself', don't get me started on this one! I understand the concept but the people who usually are saying it are far from acting in correlation to this moto. Being true to ones self to me, is living by your personal values and beliefs and defusing negative trains of thoughts. From listening to so many youngsters today I am unsure that they really are being true to themselves, true to society, true to social media maybe but not truly themselves, so please don't say it! 

'My bad'...I mean seriously, ok so Shakespeare might have used it in his sonnet 112:

"Your love and pity doth the impression fill,
Which vulgar scandal stamp'd upon my brow,
For what care I who calls me well or ill,
So you o'er-green my bad, my good allow"

But lets face it in Shakespearean times broken words were common and not generally used as a slang word. The term 'My bad' came about in the 1970s roughly used as a slang term for apologising and admitting to making a mistake, but really? Why can people not just say 'I'm sorry, it was my fault'. It is almost like people are too lazy to string full sentences together anymore.

'I'm not being funny but...' Most people who start a sentence with this usually follow it with something derogatory towards someone else or a situation. The word funny, can be used in one of two ways, when describing something humorous or something peculiar/strange. So this generally makes no sense whats so ever in the context that they are using it. But my eyes are usually rolling as I know that I am about to expect to hear negative comments about someone or something which I am really not bothered about hearing.

'At the end of the day' unless it really is the end of the day and you finish the sentence with.....'The sun goes down and I eat my dinner' please don't use it. People use this term to provide their opinion or a fact on something/situation. A phrase that be might better suited could be just owning your thought by saying 'I believe' 'I think' 'The fact is...' 'In my opinion..' 

The terms 'Literally' and 'Obviously' used in the wrong context. These are very popular. So many people say 'Obviously' in a sentence but really we should only be using this term when we expect the person who's listening to know already, I frequently don't know how obvious it is when your boyfriend's sister's friend's uncle broke up with his girlfriend, sorry, but not obvious to me! The word 'Literally' means when something actually occurred but is widely used for emphasis when actually no additional emphasis is required.

'On Point', 'Fleek', Lol', 'Bae', 'Hubby' Yes we all know what these words mean but...... just stop it.....

I certainly feel better for venting my frustrated on this issue!

"So me and my hubby went out the other night and obviously the bouncer let us jump the queue. Probably because my hubby's outfit was on point. It was literally  amazing. Some people moaned but at the end of the day its their problem, I mean, I'm not being funny right but if we look that good why not let us jump the queue? One bloke was shouting at the bouncer stating that him and his bae were next. Hubby and I couldn't help but lol by how triggered the man was. Inside a girl was crying in the toilets, she was gorgeous her brows were on fleek. I asked why she was upset she stated that she'd had a huge row with her bae but I was like, be true to yourself and don't take any crap, she said he had been dancing with another girl, I was like well it is what it is."

NO!