Does Trite Make Right?

Let that be our appetizer to vary the word menu so that all of us can truly savor our rich, hearty language. Just food for thought!

Courtesy: cassiesperfectwordblog.typepad.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - Maybe it's high time to buzz off on over-reliance on buzz word jargon in everyday chitchat. It's just one more symptom of our addiction to verbal short-cuts.

Every generation does it, and each decade ushers in yet another cluster. For my parents' generation the expression to take note of beauty was "hubba-hubba". When I was a wee teenager there was an outpouring of the repetitive "like wow" mixed in with "outa sight".

The teens of the 90's seemed to veer toward "neat" and "cool" to identify a "hot" number. And more recently we are greeted with the assorted A-words, "amazing" and "awesome". Tune in on any youth-centered reality show and you'll be amazed at how often these terms crop up.

We submit, however, that the use of buzz words are a form of verbal crutch.

Literate minds can afford to be more creative and not hinder their vocabularies. How well we express ourselves as human beings reflect on our personal growth. Who among us would be satisfied in having the exact same menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner? That would surely be a bit hard to swallow, wouldn't it?

Trite does not make it right. Let that be our appetizer to vary the word menu so that all of us can truly savor our rich, hearty language. Just food for thought!

Salem-News.com Community Writer Barry Lee Coyne brings to our readers stories from his combined career of journalism and gerontology, and explains that these paths shaped his values. Lee Coyne once worked for The Civil Service Leader in NY State and covered the Legislature. He has also done features on mediation and arbitration, and believes in healthy skepticism. This writer-therapist often views the world as the masks of comedy and tragedy placed upon the scales of justice. For him, optimism inevitably wins. "Lyrical Lee" has traveled to 30 nations aboard and was once a press intern at the UN. His first published article was in The NY Daily News in '59, dealing with the need for integrity in public office.

He also launched the nation's first tele-conference on health education for shut-ins, created the Eldermentors project in VA to pair retirees with immigrant students needing role models, and was the main catalyst behind CCTV's "Public Public" panel show here in Salem. Lee received his BA in International Relations and an MSW in community organization. He currently serves as a member of Salem's Library Advisory Board. To send Lee an email, please write to this address: luckycoyne@yahoo.com