Monday 3 July 2017

More Annoying Language Trends, or just trends....




Bundle

Have you noticed this one?  It's the latest word for any group of related products, e- or otherwise, available for sale, usually at discount.  A 'bundle' of games can be sent to your internet each month.  Looking up our options for paying for WiFi on a long train journey recently, we saw that we could purchase a 'minute bundle'.  Outside Asda, I saw a Virgin van offering their services as a 'customer discount bundle'.  It's not only the internet, though; outside a local butcher, on the blackboard, was advertised the specially priced 'meat bundle'.  Sounds disgusting.

 
Reach Out

No longer do you make enquiries, or ask people about stuff; you reach out to them.  You don't apply for a mortgage, you reach out to your mortgage advisor.  GRRRR!


So

So, I forgot to put this one in at first...  Thanks to Julia and Judith for mentioning it in the comments.  It's the way people randomly start sentences with this word.  As illustrated so well by Julia:
"What do you do for a living, Tom?"
"So, I'm a dentist, and..."


Pulled Pork

It's pork and it looks sort of shredded instead of in slices.  And so it costs more and it's trendy.  I'd noticed it only in my subconscious until Sharon brought it to my attention.  Now, I see shelves full of the wretched stuff every time I go into a supermarket.  Oh, and when you've bought some, you can put it in your...
 

Hand-Stretched Ciabatta.  

Give me strength.


No Problem

Can you remember, back in the olden days, when you'd ask someone in a shop, or behind a bar, or a counter, or on the phone, to do/get something for you, how they'd say "Certainly, madam", or "I'll be just a few moments," or "Yes, that'll be fine," or even just "Yes"?

They don't say any of these things anymore.  Since about 2000, the affirmative answer has changed from that nice, short, convenient little word ('Yes') to the ghastly No Problem.

"Please can I have a taxi from outside Morrisons to *my address*?"
"No Problem"
"I'd like to book an appointment with Doctor Black on Wednesday."
"No Problem"

A while back I was in a restaurant with my father and we'd been waiting for our main course for about an hour.  Every suggestion and request we made to the waiter(s) was greeted with the answer 'no problem'.  In the end, my father said, 'well, there clearly is one, because we don't have our main course yet'.  The waiter's slightly red-faced reply?  'No problem, sir, I understand.'

 
And don't get me started about 'content writer'......