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Friday, February 24, 2017

Terrified?

Terrified?
A cranky opinion for
CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY
The following is the opinion of a cranky old man who never got higher than a “C” in English class.  Opposing opinions are welcome, but they are wrong.  As always, please, no name calling, and that means you, you big stupid-head!
TERRIFIED-  To fill with terror; make deeply afraid
Please don’t turn this opinion into a political comment.  I am just tired of hearing the word TERRIFIED. 
No one is just nervous anymore.  Nobody claims to be concerned.  People are no longer simply scared, no, today everyone is TERRIFIED.
We are TERRIFIED of politicians.  We are TERRIFIED of who is in our bathrooms.  We are TERRIFIED of altered food, of the weather, of Muslims, of Christians, of anti-Semitism, and race problems.  We are TERRIFIED of the police and we are TERRIFIED of the flu.
I watch the “Bachelor,” a reality TV show where 24 women compete for one man.  Every friggin woman on that show is TERRIFIED that they won’t get a rose and will be sent home heartbroken because they won’t be marrying a man they met three days ago. 
TERRIFIED I tell you!
It weakens a perfectly good word.  A word that used to describe what someone felt like when stalked by a great white shark in the ocean.  A word that conveys the feeling the victim of an armed robbery has.  If I barely avert a truck driving the wrong way down the Turnpike how do I now explain how I might have felt?
It was TERRIFYING!
“So, you were concerned?”
“No, it was really TERRIFYING!”
“Oh, so you were nervous?”
“I was really fucking TERRIFIED!”
“You were scared then?”
“TERRIFIED!!! What don’t you get about the word…Terrified…pissed my pants, crapped my drawers, talked to GOD and prayed for my life TERRIFIED!”
I wish people would stop watering down the language.  "Awesome" no longer means inspiring great admiration, now it just means “Good.”
 “This pizza is awesome.”  Really? Does a slice of pizza inspire great admiration?
And you can’t use the words “epic” or “legendary” to express great admiration, they just mean “special.”
To properly express great admiration now, something is “Friggin awesome” or “Mother-friggin awesome”, or “really mother-friggin awesome.” 
You used to be able to properly emphasize a word by declaring it is “Actually” awesome, or “Actually” TERRIFYING, but currently everything is “actually” something.
“What kind of car do you drive?”
“I actually drive a Toyota.”
ACTUALLY? Really? Is the Toyota “awesome?”
The way we are diluting our language these days terrifies me.
The preceding was actually the opinion of a cranky old man and not necessarily that of management, the epically awesome Mrs. Cranky.

23 comments:

  1. I agree! I have only been terrified a couple times in my life. (and I'm over 70 years old) Scared? Sure.
    Good post, Joe!

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  2. Brilliant. Yes, I agree about the diluting of our language. People these days seem intent on stupid exaggeration. I could say it terrifies me but irritates is a better way to describe MY view on the subject.

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  3. YES! And don't forget "Literally". "I haven't done this in 'literally' a million years" Really.
    Literally the biggest...
    Literally the most awesome...
    Literally terrified to death..ha ha

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  4. Now you know why, while i do read recent books as well, i have at least one classic going at all times. The language in older books is very mind clearing, at least for me. Right now i'm working my way through Dante's Divine Comedy, one canto at a time.

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  5. Wow! You're a HERO for posting this!

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  6. I remember the era when everyone was merely "shocked and appalled!" I guess things have gotten much worse. It's terrifying! :)

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  7. When my kids were young, the catch-all phrase was
    "Crazy......Man......Crazy." Try to figure that one out. LOL

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  8. Yes, it's a word that's overused. I don't use it very much. One word that's constantly misused is decimate, which even newscasters use incorrectly. It doesn't mean destroyed.

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  9. I totally agree, Cranky Man. What's more, the word "awesome" was barely used in Britain a few years ago - now it's a ubiquitous as "literally" (something that irritates me just as much as it irritates River).

    :o)

    Cheers

    PM

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  10. I do use awesome way too much, but terrifying is not one I overuse. There is hope for me yet.

    Have a fabulous day and weekend, Joe. ☺

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  11. I use "ginourmous"..or is it "ginormus"? a lot. Hmmmm.

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  12. Do you know what's worked its way into our everyday language far too much? Friggin' swear words!!

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  13. I'm old school. Terrified means scared shitless and awesome means way over the top admiration.

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  14. I used to nanny for a swedish family learning english. One of the things they had issue with was how americans use the word, "love"to describe inanimate objects. It really made me think twice now, when I might say, I love that peanut butter sandwich. Do I really love it? Do I want to make out with it? Come on now - I agree with what you said.

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  15. You are so courageous to post your opinion on your own blog! Most people would be terrified that someone might not agree.

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  16. Love this! People have really become over the top, haven't they?

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  17. My word for this week is "restricted" now that's a terrifying word.
    Coffee is on

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  18. I get a kick out of how kids use and alter language sometimes. Something isn't "awesome" - it's "awesome sauce."

    Weird coincidence - I'm watching "Jaws" on Netflix as I read this post of yours.

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  19. I equate the use of the word "love" to the use of the word "terrified" here in your post. I love pizza. I love my husband. I love pizza as much as I love my husband? Enough said.

    betty

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  20. I 'actually' saw a thing yesterday that said that people were terrified because a bug in Facebook has been locking people out of their accounts. Terrified? Really? How do they manage on a day to day basis if being locked out of social media for a few hours terrifies them?

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