Feedback e-mailed by Isabel E., Forum member, from Hong Kong (January 6, 2014):Joe—I’ve been laid up with a plaster cast on my fractured ankle since Dec. 8 (it comes off Jan. 21st). Can’t remember my password to your forum, so I am replying directly.
I, too, bristle whenever I hear all manner of folks, journalists & politicians, etc., use “at the end of the day.” I believe that originated with a literary Brit who used it correctly & didn’t mean it to be hijacked by one & all. As it is, we have all types of pretentious characters using it to display their supposed erudition.
In the old days, you’d use “all in all,” “therefore,” “in a nutshell,” “in conclusion,” even “and so.”
The filler “like” is one I’ve given up on. I always tune in to BBC WorldService radio; their presenters are great, sailing right through reports & only occasionally using “um” or “ah” for pauses. (The Canadians use “er.”)
I have just read a review of a book by a Brit essayist, titled “For WHO the Bell Tolls,” which sounds both informative & hilarious; “who” & “whom” are two words I always emphasize [using correctly].
Finally, I’m always on the alert for wrong prepositions use, as in cases like “the gift is for you and I” (it should be “me”) or “me and my pal went to the cinema” (it should be “my pal and I went to the cinema”). Folks forget that “me” should be used as an object and “I” always as the subject. It’s sheer laziness not to think of the correct usage.
Of course, there are liberties taken by lyricists who like to rhyme things like in “the sun shines bright in the sky/it’s shining for you & I”; if they used “me,” it wouldn’t rhyme with “sky” !
All the best for the new horsey Chinese New Year!
Isabel
Feedback e-mailed by Oscar L. from Manila, January 6, 2014:Joe,
“The bottom line” is another expression that, to me, is as pernicious and irritating as “at the end of the day.” At least “at the end of the day” has a more generic implication. “The bottom line” has an esoteric meaning understood only by those knowledgeable of accounting or business administration. “The bottom line” only causes disorientation and bafflement to the uninitiated, sometimes even serious misunderstanding as when the bottom line is enclosed in parenthesis or is in red. Speakers should use “the end result” or “the final outcome” instead.
Oscar
Responses posted by readers of my “English Plain and Simple” column in The Manila Times:Says Ramon, January 4, 2014:No wonder Pnoy always irritates me with his overused “at the end of the day”…wistful thinking that he means to say “at the end of my term”… In either case, I will stay irritated til then.
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Says Nik, January 4, 2014:Should include “basically” & “as well as”
My reply:
Nik, what’s your objection to “basically” and “as well as”? They look perfectly acceptable to me.
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Says aaron legaspi, January 4, 2014:Bottom line, after all, net result and yes at the end of the day are reality expressions very much needed in this country because of numerous uncertain and unfair state policies or even laws that bedevils ordinary mortals 24/7. Even purely business decisions are based on net results. Unlike Monopolies like Meralco and Manila Water who are assured of profits and unlimited clients every person must compute what happens at the “end of the day” whether the stateside/euro statistics agrees or not.
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Says Allen Luzuriaga, January 4, 2014:At the end of the day, there are far greater problems in the world to worry about than the use of the phrase ‘at the end of the day,’ So, at the end of the day, does anyone really care?
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Says caloy, January 4, 2014:What about the phrase “at this point in time?”
My reply:
Caloy, for the lowdown on “at this point in time” and other dreadful clichés, check out my omnibus essay “Doing battle with the most irritating phrases in English?” in Jose Carillo’s English Forum.
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Says C. Gordon Hale, January 4, 2014:Thank you for condemning the excessive use of “at the end of the day” and similarly annoying clichés. But not only in the Philippines has both spoken and written English become badly corrupted by vulgar colloquialisms and abysmal grammar. The state of contemporary English usage in the U.S. is truly lamentable!
Please forgive me, but I couldn’t help but react to the split infinitives in your paragraphs 9 and 10 above–”to never again”–really?
Yours for the use of correct English,
Gordon
My reply:
You are most welcome, Gordon! As to infinitives, I actually split them at will for stylistic purposes, but I’m also aware that splitting infinitives indiscriminately can be bad for prose. I spelled out my position on this in “Splitting infinitives and the misuse of ‘whom’” in Jose Carillo’s English Forum. You may want to check out the posting.
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Says jesse usa, January 4, 2014:Could you please send this article to: Pinky Webb, Karen Davila and the hosts of ANC morning news?
My reply:
Jesse, they might take offense if I did that. Let’s just hope that someone will call their attention to this discussion of that dreadful cliché.