Most people can appreciate the fact that writing is an art form. The content of a piece is sometimes even secondary to its style and tone. A significant reason for this lies in the fact that whenever we read anything, we have an "internal voice" that echoes the words on a page within our minds. Humans are creatures that are highly sensitive to patterns. Any time they are created or violated, it catches our attention. We are attuned to the lengths of sentences, how alternating streams of short and long strings of words create a pleasurable, almost musical effect. In a very real sense, reading is a listening experience.
If this is true about the written word, there is no question that it applies to the way we speak as well. In any conversation, we usually seek information from the other speaker. However, the way we go about exchanging this information is just as significant. This includes the tone of our voice, the rhythm of the sentences we utter, and perhaps primarily, our choice of words. This, of course, explains why we don't only have conversations to get information from people. We get a lot of pleasure from engaging in often meaningless banter with friends. This also doesn't mean that you can become a skilled converser by throwing SAT vocabulary words left and right. It's all a relative matter. As long as you are able to follow normal conventional conversation patterns, and break them at times, breaking the expectations of the listener, you are in good conversational hands.
From this perspective, it can be frustrating when people use certain words or phrases in ways that can suck all the life out of a conversation. By no fault of our own, social influences make us unconsciously pick up on words or phrases that we use over and over again without paying attention to what they mean. For your own linguistic benefit, I've chosen a few egregious examples of common lingo you might hear these days that detract from the conversational experience.
1. "Is that even a thing?"
No, it's really not. Forged somewhere in the depths of hell, this phrase has long overstayed its welcome. I would admit this is more convenient than saying " Is this social practice still considered acceptable", but its use has become a substitute for a bunch of other verbal situations, such as "Is artist X still making albums," or "Is that Broadway play running these days." When a phrase becomes a replacement for too many sentences with their own particular meanings, you know it's time to pull the plug.
2." I mean--"
I've truly never understood why people begin sentences with these words. It might be explained by the fact that it usually means a person is about to defend their opinion, making it the equivalent of, "I know that's your opinion, but you are so clearly ignorant of the truth, which happens to also be my opinion." Other than that, I've got nothing. I really hope you mean what you say, otherwise, we've got larger issues to deal with.
3. " Weltanschauung"
Okay, so there's a good chance that you've never heard this word before. If so, consider yourself fortunate. It's a German word that is used when a person wants to say "worldview," and they also think that their academic vocabulary will magically convince you to agree with them. Spoiler alert: it won't.
4. "Cool"
Don't get me wrong, I'm a major fan of this word. Since its origins in the 1940s jazz scene, and gaining popularity with the hippie movement, it has enjoyed great staying power. The problem arises when the word is used as a confirmation. Hearing my GEICO representative saying "cool" when affirming something is one of my top five least "cool" situations I can think of. "Great," "Sure," "Fine," and "Ok" work perfectly fine without diluting one of the best adjectives ever.
5. "Hilarious"
Along the lines of "cool," this word is best used in the right context. As comedian Louis C.K. has truly hilariously, pointed out the abuse of this word:
"You know what hilarious means? Hilarious means so funny that you almost went insane when you heard it... it's so funny that is almost ruined your life. You're homeless now because you can't cope or reason anymore. Because that hilarious thing just shattered your mind and three months later you got sh*t and leaves in your hair and you're drenched in pee in the gutter. That's how funny hilarious is."
I can't do much better than that. Please speak responsibly, for the sake of our language.
