5 Absurd Expressions We All Take For Granted
In our everyday speech and writing there are certain words and phrases that we use all the time which, on closer inspection, seem to be a bit ridiculous or even meaningless. Worse still, some don’t even mean what we think they do while some just make us sound downright dumb. These common words and phrases have infiltrated our vernacular and the Internet is now peppered with them. Here are 5 of the most prevalent and absurd sayings that are currently being spewed out.
5 You Want the Honest Truth?
Almost everyone has heard this at some time. Is there a dishonest truth? Can you imagine someone saying, ‘Do you want the dishonest truth?’ And if someone is willing to give you the honest truth then what sort of truth were they giving you previously? The words honest and truth sort of go hand in hand. If you’re telling the truth we would assume you’re being honest about it. It’s the equivalent of a dishonest lie. In short, even omitting the word honest renders it a silly question since most people want the truth without us having to ask them.
4 Free Gift
A lot of businesses like to offer their customers a free gift in exchange for information, usually contact details like an email address. Nothing wrong with that, it’s a fair exchange, but when was the last time you received a gift that wasn’t free? The very nature of a gift is that we don’t pay for it, someone else does, that’s why it’s a gift. All gifts are free otherwise they wouldn’t be gifts; they’d be purchases. Perhaps it would be better if we just said gift or told people exactly what the free offer is such as a free e-book or audio.
3 Life is Short
Don’t we love to justify our decisions with this statement? Get out and live your life, life is short. Well, yes it is when you compare it to, say, how long the Earth has been around or how long it will be before our sun dies. Assuming we’re talking about our life and how short it is a moth or a common housefly might argue with you. To them it’s unfathomably long. My real point here is life isn’t that short. It lasts for a lifetime and I dare you to name one thing you can do that is longer. Sure, there are longer things than life and sometimes life can seem too short but it’s the longest thing you’ll ever do.
2 Good Things Come to Those Who Wait
No doubt many of us have heard this little nugget of wisdom from our parents and teachers who only had our best interests at heart. It was a fine saying back in the days when they presumably did lots of waiting but these days waiting won’t get us what we want. These days we’re much more proactive and we go out and get what we’re after. We make it happen instead of waiting for things to happen. If we want those good things we know we have to get off our butts and get things moving. As Einstein once said, ‘Nothing happens until something moves.’ Those who wait won’t move anything.
1 New and Improved
Salespeople and advertising executives love to slap this one on their products to try to increase sales but which one is it, new or improved? If it’s new that implies there is no previous version so how can it be improved? And if it’s improved then it can’t be new because it’s an improvement on the previous one. It’s either one or the other, not both. Something that’s new can be improved but then it’s no longer new, it’s improved. It can’t be both at the same time.
Stay tuned for next week’s post where I’ll dissect 5 more silly sayings.
KEEP THE FAITH