Slippery Witches

For a long time, at least a couple of years now, I’ve been squirming about the term “slippery slope.” It seem like every time I open a newspaper or magazine (or read a blog) there it is. Slippery slope this, slippery slope that. Before that every television show, especially the quirky, smutty ones like Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother and Rules of Engagement, you know; shows of the modern family romance comedy ilk, seemed to be using the word “really” a thousand times a day, or at least every 21 minutes or so. A one-word comment to show disbelief about a myriad of subjects: Really? I guess it’s the new version of “Say what?” that used to get to me. And we musn't forget "Who knew?"

Now, what’s grating on my nerves is “You’ve got to be kidding me” and it’s slight variation “You gotta be kidding me.” I just tonight saw a commercial for the new movie Hansel & Gretel, Witch Hunters where the heroine (supposedly Gretel) sees something that just throws her for a loop and she intones loudly, and ironically (and anachronistically in this case), “Are you kidding me?” which is a variation of the point I’m making. What’s odd to me is the word “kidding,” pronounced with a hard “g” instead of having it disappear completely, as in “Are you kiddin’ me?” which would seem to go along more with the slang-speech of the new hip crowd.

For a while we saw a lot of "I didn't see that coming!" but that seems to have abated.

It also seems like every second paragraph of every op-ed piece in every supposedly serious treatise, begins with the words “That said…” I also like “It goes without saying…” after which it goes on to be said.

How about “I can’t wait!” about an upcoming event, when you know darned well you can?

I’m sure my (annoying) examples are the tip of the iceberg (oh my goodness, there’s another one) and goodness knows (I know, I know, goodness has nothing to do with it) what lurks in the shadows right now, the wolf just waiting to pounce on the next idiomatic little red riding hood. It’s not obvious to me at the moment but I hope it’ll be more subtle than what we’re working with now.

That said, I do know that whatever it is it will spread like wildfire and will be ubiquitous for months or more. I know for a fact that the key word in the professional title “Copy Writer” is “copy.”