Overused Words

  •  "based on science" (or "follow the science")
    Owing to the pandemic, this phrase has become a popular cover for policymakers to dress up their judgement calls, as if they were unquestionable "rocket science," and possibly even to silence the critics, as if those who dare to question a purportedly scientific claim were necessarily uneducated, unworthy of debate.  The phrase betrays the overuser's ignorance of what science should really be about: to explore the unknown, and to challenge the orthodox.

  • "[sic]"

    Highlighting that it is the quoted author who made the error in what is quoted before "[sic]" sounds snobbish. It also signals that he who uses "[sic]" is unsure about his own spell-check: If he has to make a declaration on the part that he really means as it appears, shouldn't we then take the rest of what he writes less seriously? Worse yet is to write "[s.i.c.]," mistaking it for an acronym.

  • "no pun intended"

    Uttering this phrase is like laughing at one's own jokes.

  • "utilize"

    Its original intended meaning of making use of something unintended for that usage has been crowded out by its cliché usage to sound bureaucratic.

  • "We hope that you are well during these difficult times"

    These words might have meant something at the start of the pandemic, but after months of repetition they have degenerated to a formulaic greeting that makes already long emails even more tedious to read.