Right there in big, bold type, a reporter informed us that a
University of Michigan
A few days later, we learned the gunman who terrorized the Los Angeles airport said
in a handwritten letter he “made a conscious decision to try to kill multiple
TSA officers.” Surely, the disaster would have been even greater had the
shooter been blazing away while unconscious.
Now on full alert, the geezer made a “conscious effort” to
watch for reports of “conscious decisions.” Sure enough, all sorts of people
were making decisions while conscious about matters ranging from the mundane to
the monumental. At the rate the new form of decision making is sweeping the
nation, a majority will be forced to get aboard the conscious decision
bandwagon “sooner rather than later.”
Apparently, no longer is it fashionable to simply do
something soon even when one was conscious while deciding to do it.
It now is possible to demonstrate I am “with it” by merging
my latest two language pet peeves with two previous ones into one glorious
sentence: “Most importantly and hopefully, we now sooner rather than later will
be making conscious decisions.”
It has a certain ring to it, doesn't it?
8 comments:
You're definitely improving your language skills. Why, pretty soon you'll have the makings of a politician, government bureaucrat or corporate executive!
I've already been a government bureaucrat, but maybe we can add "military general" to maintain three choices for my future career.
Good perception. Some of my "favorites" are the "ticking time bomb" and the much overused "not anytime soon," which tells us nothing at all.
But then, I always wondered why the Germans invariably insist on labeling that sweet stuff that bees make as "Bienenhonig." To my knowledge, no creatures other than "Bienen" actually produce "Honig."
Oh GOD!
Good work, Anonymous. That's slightly better than "Oh, my GOD."
I guess I've been pretty unconscious about all these quirks that evolved in our language. I've disliked "no problem" instead of "you're welcome" although ... what does "you're welcome" mean? No problem seems to imply there was one, but the person is OK with it. I've been very happy to hear "my pleasure" used more often these days.
Ah, yes. "My pleasure" is nice. I'd fallen away from using it. Good reminder. I'll try to reinstate it in my act.
I always make unconscious decisions, don't you? Just kidding. I think I'm getting old when I hear things like this. Dianne
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