Unneccessary Words
We were in New Orleans last week, so please excuse the lack of postage. By the way, I have received a few emails from people who have observed things THEY find funny or strange, and would like to know how, exactly, they can post these things on Funny Strange and share them with the world. To those people I say– send it over! If you think it’s funny, I’m 100% sure someone else will too. Of course, I must offer one caveat: if you think it’s funny, and you send it to me, and I don’t think it’s funny, then it’s not going up. Because I am the arbiter of all that is funny in this, my tiny but ever expanding corner of the world.
New Orleans beautiful city– nothing like I expected. Many, many nice people, good food, and generally a very good vibe. I don’t know if I expected it to be, like, washed completely away or still floating in flood water, but everything I saw was lovely.
Anyhow, while I was on the road I started this list– words that are unnecessary, but that people have made up for business purposes. I’m not talking about “Sniglets,” which are basically just words that old people make up so they can be “punny.” You know what I mean. These unnecessary words are the ones that really ARE unnecessary, and that make your skin crawl when you see or hear them in action.
You know, there are a lot of words in the English language. So many that my agent doesn’t like me using the phrase “a lot,” especially if I write it “alot,” but that’s a whole different story.
Lately, I have noticed an increased amount of made up words being added to our society that are not just made up– they’re corny and unnecessary. You know– the kind that make your skin crawl when you hear them?
Because I am me, I made a list.
1. Webisode. Yucky. Why can’t it still be an “episode” of something if it’s on the internet? It can.
2. Webzine. Again, bluck. This one has caught on as a distinction from a traditional magazine, but something about the made up word makes it sound specious. Besides, why is this different from a regular webSITE, a word we can all agree on?
3. VLOG. I don’t know why this one bugs me. Blog is fine, even as a verb. But the new “video blog,” which they’re calling “vlog,” just gets in my mouth.
4. Couponnaire. Just–stop it. You’re trying to put a square peg in a round hole.
5. HandiHaler. It’s handy, it’s an inhaler….it’s a HandiHaler. Right. Because I regular inhaler isn’t handy enough?
6. Anything ending in tastic, tacular, or rific, or the use of superfluous question marks. Yeah, we get it–you’re trying to emphasize the size, or quality, or overall superiority of your product or service. How about doing that through good customer service and quality products, not just through a clever name in large font with an exclamation point. Just a thought. Includes Juice It!, The Snap! and Cigarettes Cheaper!