Thursday, November 14, 2013

"With It" Decision Making

Right there in big, bold type, a reporter informed us that a University of Michigan football player “made a conscious decision not to get rattled anymore.” The coach must have been pleased to know one of his charges was thinking while determining his future conduct.

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:

Tom said...

You're definitely improving your language skills. Why, pretty soon you'll have the makings of a politician, government bureaucrat or corporate executive!

Dick Klade said...

I've already been a government bureaucrat, but maybe we can add "military general" to maintain three choices for my future career.

jhawk23 said...

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."

Anonymous said...

Oh GOD!




Dick Klade said...

Good work, Anonymous. That's slightly better than "Oh, my GOD."

Kay said...

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.

Dick Klade said...

Ah, yes. "My pleasure" is nice. I'd fallen away from using it. Good reminder. I'll try to reinstate it in my act.

Anonymous said...

I always make unconscious decisions, don't you? Just kidding. I think I'm getting old when I hear things like this. Dianne