Phrase Of The Week

Movie Update: the official website for Al Franken: God Spoke is up and running with movie info, trailers, and a release schedule (a wide release schedule isn't included, but there is a list of individual city releases over the next two months). Check it out!

Moving on...ever hear a word or phrase used so many times in such a short span of time that you find yourself wanting to harm a puppy? For some odd reason, I can't seem to escape the phrase "...at best [something is something], and at worst [something is something]...". It's in Time magazine articles, on television shows, on websites...I see it everywhere! For example, someone is talking about the situation in Iraq, and the expert says "...at best were dealing with Iraqi extremists, and at worst the country is in a civil war...". Or, while discussing Tom Cruise, a comedian points out that "...at best he's a raging lunatic, and at worst he's an actual alien...". You get the point. Are we incapable of describing events and people without having to give a range of possible realities? We get it, you don't want to be wrong so you avoid being specific...if you call Tom Cruise an alien and it turns out he actually just an insane human, don't worry, I won't call you on it.

This actually reminds me of a 'New Rule' that Bill Maher had on his show a few seasons back, a joke that at best is hilarious, and at worst it's just funny...

New Rule: Stop calling it a "perfect storm" when two bad things happen at the same time. Sometimes it's just some crap happening at the same time as some other crap. Let's go back to what we used to call it before the movie about George Clooney and his epic struggle to kill more tuna: Shit happens.