By Morf Morford, Tacoma Daily Index

Every era has a vocabulary, slang and jargon that has a special resonance with the impulses, fears and obsession of the era.

I must admit that there are many words, terms and phrases I will be glad to never hear or see again.

I have mentioned on these pages the truism that slogans are where thinking stops. Based on the vocabulary that seems to dominate the media and too many personal conversations, thinking in many public spheres seems to have stalled, if not stopped entirely.

If you listen (or read) closely, you might notice that the vast majority of phrases and words are, perhaps deliberately, vague, incoherent and unmeasurable. From “wokism” to “weaponizing” to “quiet quitting” and dozens more, words have come to mean basically anything anyone wants them to mean.

“Wokism” for example, has come to mean “everything I don’t like” for some, or “everything I believe in” for others.

“Weaponize” means what other people do – never of, course, what we, with only the purest of motives, would ever do. Politicians love this term because it holds massive emotional impact with no literal meaning. The same with “wokism”.

Those terms and many others are stale, meaningless and, if nothing else, convey a sense of cluelessness if not laziness from the user.

If you want to be annoying and pretentious and present yourself as lazy and stupid at the same time, use these words – as often as possible

Consider when you have heard or seen these words – or have even been tempted to use them. My experience is that these terms are almost always used as fillers or time-wasters until the speaker can come up with a better (or even more meandering and vague) excuse or explanation.

Low-hanging fruit

Who among us hasn’t heard this one. It just means to do the easier, within-reach things first. This is almost always used by someone who has literally never picked “low-hanging” fruit from any tree. And is known for doing the easy things first. If that.

Let’s unpack that

Or, better yet, repack it so it makes sense this time. If a statement needs to be explained (or “unpacked”) it probably wasn’t that clear to begin with. Or someone is trying a little too hard to convince you (or themselves) that they are smarter than you are.

I have an ask

My personal advice on this one is, if you want to appear like a complete dolt with a speech impediment, use this term.

Same with “invite”, as in “I sent you an invite”. The word “invite” we should remember, is a verb and should be used as an action word, not as a noun.

Take a deep dive

This seems to be the phrase of choice for posers and pretenders of all kinds. Taking “a deep dive” is usually meant to convey the case that we are about to encounter thinking and analysis beyond what we (or the average person) might already know. My experience is that this is virtually never the case.

Not going to lie

When I hear this phrase, my first impulse is to respond, “Really? Glad to hear that!” I guess it’s better than hearing “I was going to lie”. But not by much.

Move the needle

I must have been absent when this concept emerged. Is there a measurement device out there that definitively captures the moment or act of change in any context from politics to economic trends?

Is a “tipping point” something anyone recognizes when they encounter it?

“Moving the needle” must mean something. Maybe it’s code for “The situation is not as bad/good/terrible as we thought it would be.”

My bad

There is nothing new about “My bad”. It has always sounded infantile and stupid. Is it an apology? A denial? A dismissal? Like all of these phrases, it conveys nothing and holds no meaning.

Go granular

See “Take a deep dive”.

Let me pick your brain

From my experience, “Let me pick your brain” is the oldest term of all of these. I’ve never really understood what this is supposed to mean. Is it a request? A question? A threat?

The first time I heard it, many years ago, I did see it as something approximating a non-negotiable, borderline threat. When I hear that term, I can’t help thinking of a vulture or some other menacing predator or parasite.

At least they are asking.

Quick question

This is usually inside a question as in “May I ask a quick question?”. As a math teacher I used to have, would respond, “Did you have another one?”

We’re a family

No we aren’t.

Companies and churches and a few other organizations use this phrase, apparently to evoke a sense of loyalty and perhaps a sense of belonging. It’s difficult enough for most families to achieve this. To have it mandated from an employer is odd at best.

Besides, loyalty needs to be mutual. From my experience, this term is almost always the introduction to bad news of some sort – like cut-backs or layoffs.

This term is almost as sincere and convincing as the phrase “This isn’t personal” as one is led out the door.

Out of the box

If there were a prize for a meaningless, content-free statement, this phrase should win it. How a string of words can acquire, even after many years of use, absolutely no meaning is, in a way, sort of an accomplishment.

Pivot

This word should win a prize as the most used – and most reviled word of the 2020s.

And I’m not going to lie.

Some eras are noted for, even defined by their creativity, vocabulary and inventiveness.

I think future eras will look back on this time as an era of ethical, linguistic and intellectual regression. From sermons to political speeches I hear mumbled, incoherent gibberish like these on a near daily basis – almost always accompanied by a beaming expression of self-congratulations as if they were a toddler counting to ten for the first time.