Saturday, June 12, 2010

The two most dreaded English clichés have gone viral again

Several times during the past eight years, I had written against the overuse of what has been condemned in many countries as the two most irritating clichés of the English language: “at the end of the day” and “at this point in time.” I was hoping that my efforts would at least create a ripple of awareness that could help reduce the incidence of these two clichés in our public discourse, but I can see now that my hope was largely misplaced. For rather than slink into oblivion, the two clichés are back with a vengeance. Indeed, during the long campaign for the May 10 Philippine national elections and the interminable joint Congressional canvas for the presidency and vice presidency, the resurgence of the two clichés on national TV became so viral that I would often turn off the TV set to spare myself from further unpleasantness. It was incredible that despite worldwide condemnation, the two dreaded clichés could still issue so often and so fluidly—and with such great relish—from the mouths of politicians and campaigners and program moderators and TV news anchors alike. 

So should we now throw in the towel and just let the viral resurgence of “at the end of the day” and “at this point in time” in our airwaves and public forums run its course and spend itself? Not just yet. In my case, I’m giving the fight against them one last college try, so to speak, by posting in the Forum the essay below, “On those two most dreadful clichés,” that I wrote for my English-usage column in The Manila Times in December 2007. Who knows that it might just prove to be the tipping point that would lead to the ultimate banishment of these two clichés from our English? (June 12, 2010)

On those two most 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 such 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 company 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 a dreadful bane 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)

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

2 comments:

  1. "If “at the end of the day” and “at this point in time” have indeed become such a dreadful bane to the English language, why is it that they are now enjoying such wide currency in the Philippines?"

    I presume that it is because of what you have found out: the US media are still using those phrases--the US, which happens to be the dreamland of most Filipinos as well as their epitome for progress.

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  2. At the end of the day, one must realize that Miss Mae is correct. :-)

    ReplyDelete