Lol? I almost cried, tbh

The BBC World Service did an item on The Banned List book this morning (starts at 0:39:30), which was good. Some nice vox pops from the streets around Bush House included people who did not like “like”, for “said”, “lol” as a word said out loud and “to be honest”, as if the rest of the conversation has been a lie.

I mentioned Ed Miliband from this morning’s Guardian interview, in which he says that the economy has been “flatlining for the past year”. That is one of those clichés that is annoying because it is wrong. Flatlining refers to the trace on a heart monitor. Once it goes flat, it means that the patient has died. It does not mean that the patient has failed to grow over the past year.

Which brings me to the generous article about the book by Dot Wordsworth (right) in this week’s Spectator. She says:

I think John Rentoul has got hold of the wrong end of the stick. We should have more clichés. They are in truth, as someone said in jest, the poetry of the people. Without clichés there are no proverbs, no shared references, and language itself is scarcely possible.

You may point out that for many a long year I have inveighed against cliché. In reality my hatred is for the wrong sort of cliché.

To which one can only say: Quite.

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• trottitout

  Who else? Don’t you find names such a give away, stiknsekt?

• takeoman

  Once again I would suggest that it is more than time that Rentoul J. took heed of, and acted on, one of my mothers favourite sayings ” If you have nothing worth saying, say nothing”.

• stonedwolf

  The best vocalised LOL is in the sequel to Rainbow Six Vegas. The opponent terrorist forces are on their radios alerting each other with the phrase “Lima Oscar Lima, over”. Beautiful.

• Jake_K

  Hello all.  As advertising seems to be welcome on these blogs nowadays, I’ve got a 1997 Rover Blaira for sale.  It’s been through a lot, caused a few problems here and there, and unfortunately the CD changer is stuck on “Things Can Only Get Better”.  Pay you £20 to take it off my hands – only really useful as scrap.