Two dreadful clichés now endemic in the Philippines

After writing several times against their use over the past seven years, I decided to leave two of the most dreadful clichés in the English language well enough alone. I thought that soon enough, people would realize that “at the end of the day” and “at this point in time” would lend neither grace nor added respectability to their utterances on TV and radio and in various other public forums. On the contrary, as a spokesman of the London-based Plain English Campaign has said, using those two clichés “is about as pro­fessional as wearing a novelty tie or having a wacky ring-tone on your phone. When readers or listeners come across these tired ex­pressions, they start tuning out and completely miss the message—assuming there is one.”

But as the 2010 national election season is now well underway in the Philippines, “at the end of the day” and “at this point in time” are—to use another dreadful cliché—once again rearing their ugly heads in the airwaves and public address systems. Indeed, during the debates of presumptive presidential candidates last November, at least three or four of them simply couldn’t resist spicing their locutions with “at the end of the day” and “at this point in time” with disgusting relish. If they are doing so on network TV without blushing, I told myself, all the more they would be doing it in English-language speaking engagements that aren’t covered live or don’t require TV or radio coverage—and all the more they would impress on their local listeners that it’s perfectly respectable to spout those dreadful clichés. Indeed, if these people aspiring for the highest post in the gift of the land use “at the end of the day” and “at this point in time” so liberally and so proudly as if they were precious linguistic gems, why don't we ordinary mortals?

And so I am compelled to post in this blog an essay I wrote for my column in The Manila Times in December of 2007, “The Reign of the Dreadful Cliches,” where I pointed out that “at the end of the day” and “at this moment in time” (a variation of “at this point in time”) are actually severely damaged semantic goods, condemned as the first and second most hated English clichés world­wide. I am hoping that if we can’t stop the presidential candidates and other aspirants for public office from using those two dreaded clichés, at least we could set the example by banning our tongues from articulating them and by suggesting to our friends and acquaintances to do the same.

The Reign of the Dreadful Clichés

Precisely what’s so special about “at the end of the day” and “at this point in time” that probably one out of four Philippine legislators and public officials and probably the same ratio of TV talk-show hosts, news anchors, and guests are mouthing them much too often and with so much relish these days?

Nothing really. “At the end of the day” is simply a longer, flamboyant way of saying “ultimately,” “in the end,” or “after all,” while “at this point in time” is similarly a longer, flamboyant way of saying “now” and “currently.” And these two adverbial phrases—old-time gram­marians call them “ablative abso­lutes”—aren’t really meant to call attention to themselves. Like such modifiers as “clearly” and “defi­nitely,” they are designed simply to call attention to a point being made by the speaker, so they need to be used very sparingly to avoid irritating the listener or reader.

What’s very disturbing, however, is that many people think that liberally spicing their talk with these expressions is a sign of wis­dom, discernment, and sophisti­cation. Little do they know that on the contrary, “at the end of the day” and “at this point in time” have for several years now been condemned as the two most irritating clichés in the English language.

In a survey conducted in 70 countries in 2004 by the London-based Plain English Campaign, in particular, “at the end of the day” ranked first and “at this moment in time” (a variation of “at this point in time”) ranked second among the most hated English clichés world­wide. As the group’s spokesman so aptly observed when the rankings of the most irritating clichés were announced, “Using these terms in daily business is about as pro­fessional as wearing a novelty tie or having a wacky ring-tone on your phone. When readers or listeners come across these tired ex­pressions, they start tuning out and completely miss the message—assuming there is one.”

Again, in 2005, in a poll of 150 senior executives all throughout corporate America by the tem­porary staffing company Accountemps, “at the end of the day” ranked first among the 15 most annoying clichés.

Finally, in 2006, in a poll of 10,000 news sources that included 1,600 American newspapers, the Australian-based database com-pany Factiva found “at the end of the day” at the top of the 55 most overused English clichés. But this is only the tip of the iceberg, to use a cliché, for that poll did not cover the US broadcast media where the overuse of “at the end of the day” is decidedly much more pro­nounced.

If “at the end of the day” and “at this point in time” have indeed become such dreadful banes to the English language, why is it that they are now enjoying such wide currency in the Philippines? They have become such pernicious semantic crutches for so many public officials, media people, and students, and their dependency level is such that they may no longer be able to speak their minds without overusing those two clichés.

I suspect that not so far back, a highly influential public figure either in government, media, or academe must have triggered this domestic overuse of “at the end of the day” and “at this point in time.” Perhaps he or she must have used these two clichés much too often during a major event that was covered live by all of the local TV networks, thus setting such a wrongheaded example for English-savvy speech for audiences all over the land.

It no longer matters who that culprit was, but there’s no doubt that we are now in the midst of an “at the end of the day” and “at this point in time” pan­demic, and the only way to stop it is for all of us to totally retire these damaged semantic goods from our writing and speech—right now. (December 22, 2007)

From the weekly column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in The Manila Times, December 22, 2007, © 2007 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.