Reflections "at a tangent from" a recent unfortunate incident featured in another thread on "General Discussion".
A thing which irritates me mightily -- is it (likely enough) only me? The annoyance for me: current-affairs-related media-over-used "pat" buzz-expressions. This part and parcel, likely, of my personal oddity of being no fan of current affairs (for better or worse, I choose mostly to be an "ostrich", in the interests of trying to preserve my sanity and lessen temptation in the direction of suicide) -- and of finding some cause for annoyance, in the current-affairs stuff which unavoidably gets on my radar. Would be interested to know whether any of the great majority of folk, who are more "into" current affairs than I am -- nevertheless experience some inkling of what, here, "gets up my nose" -- or whether I am a very solitary weirdo.
Am finding self sick of the at-present-time ubiquity of the "Windrush" tag / buzz-expression. Would emphasise that I harbour no hostility concerning Caribbean-to-Britain migrating-of-people -- my annoyance is purely about word-use. My gut-feeling when hearing or reading the word seemingly umpteen times a day -- even with my trying to avoid such scenes -- is: "The Windrush is a rather beautiful river in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. Screw this business of hijacking the name in connection with a ship which happened to be called -- what it was called -- and the attendant circumstances seventy years ago. Just too many clever-clever commentators inventing too many clever-clever 'shorthand tags', and using them utterly ad nauseam, amongst their general yapping-on ad nauseam."
I do see the usefulness of "verbal shorthand" terms, for discussion of subjects -- and am sure that this is something which people have been doing, ever since civilisations first came to be; though I suspect that in previous eras, this stuff tended to be more wordy and elegant than is the case in our times. Just -- nowadays, its ubiquity, and the way that commentating pundits seem so pleased with themselves for indulging in it. "Windrush" here, is just a recent example: many others irk me. For instance, the pundits' endless going-on about "watchdogs" and "whistleblowers". I want to scream -- "guys and gals, vary your vocabulary just a bit ! Once in a while, find some other way of referring to the bodies / people in these roles !"
A factor, maybe, of "what one doesn't like / has no interest in, annoys one in all ways; for what one does like, it's a different ball-game" -- the railway hobby has plenty of catch-phrases / words / expressions, used in great plenty by aficionados; which could well pee-off mightily, unfortunate non-railway-enthusiasts exposed to an endless deluge of "gricer-speak". However, there are no media outlets of a "RailUKForums multiplied by thousands" kind, blah-ing on to the general populace 24/7 about railway matters, in the way that this is with current affairs. Anyway, "thoughts welcomed".
A thing which irritates me mightily -- is it (likely enough) only me? The annoyance for me: current-affairs-related media-over-used "pat" buzz-expressions. This part and parcel, likely, of my personal oddity of being no fan of current affairs (for better or worse, I choose mostly to be an "ostrich", in the interests of trying to preserve my sanity and lessen temptation in the direction of suicide) -- and of finding some cause for annoyance, in the current-affairs stuff which unavoidably gets on my radar. Would be interested to know whether any of the great majority of folk, who are more "into" current affairs than I am -- nevertheless experience some inkling of what, here, "gets up my nose" -- or whether I am a very solitary weirdo.
Am finding self sick of the at-present-time ubiquity of the "Windrush" tag / buzz-expression. Would emphasise that I harbour no hostility concerning Caribbean-to-Britain migrating-of-people -- my annoyance is purely about word-use. My gut-feeling when hearing or reading the word seemingly umpteen times a day -- even with my trying to avoid such scenes -- is: "The Windrush is a rather beautiful river in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. Screw this business of hijacking the name in connection with a ship which happened to be called -- what it was called -- and the attendant circumstances seventy years ago. Just too many clever-clever commentators inventing too many clever-clever 'shorthand tags', and using them utterly ad nauseam, amongst their general yapping-on ad nauseam."
I do see the usefulness of "verbal shorthand" terms, for discussion of subjects -- and am sure that this is something which people have been doing, ever since civilisations first came to be; though I suspect that in previous eras, this stuff tended to be more wordy and elegant than is the case in our times. Just -- nowadays, its ubiquity, and the way that commentating pundits seem so pleased with themselves for indulging in it. "Windrush" here, is just a recent example: many others irk me. For instance, the pundits' endless going-on about "watchdogs" and "whistleblowers". I want to scream -- "guys and gals, vary your vocabulary just a bit ! Once in a while, find some other way of referring to the bodies / people in these roles !"
A factor, maybe, of "what one doesn't like / has no interest in, annoys one in all ways; for what one does like, it's a different ball-game" -- the railway hobby has plenty of catch-phrases / words / expressions, used in great plenty by aficionados; which could well pee-off mightily, unfortunate non-railway-enthusiasts exposed to an endless deluge of "gricer-speak". However, there are no media outlets of a "RailUKForums multiplied by thousands" kind, blah-ing on to the general populace 24/7 about railway matters, in the way that this is with current affairs. Anyway, "thoughts welcomed".
