These are an odd couple of phrases that rank right up there with the old "Is a bear Catholic?" and "Does the Pope go to the loo in the woods?" in prevalence and usefulness.

They are used to excuse inadequate results.

The thought process (or lack of same) that led to the need for the excuse is the same that leads to the use of the phrase(s).

Laziness begets laziness.

The ability to use carbon copy phraseology in place of a simple "yes" or "no", or even "duh!" is occasionally irritating to me.

Equally irritating to me is when I choose to coin a phrase on the sperm of the moment rather than fall back on a tried and true.

Of course, much of this is my own problem, as I listen to people more than they listen to themselves. They want their communications to fall within a certain limited range that will not cause them to have to hesitate in their routine in order to think.

I, on the other hand, find routine utterly maddening and cannot move without thinking. If I move without conscious thought, I fall down.

So I am out of sync.

I think language use is a creative opportunity. I also think that if you don't use it, you will lose it.

That's why I think some rappers are the hope of the future of the Englich language.

Anything that causes an otherwise verbally impoverished person to reach for a dictionary, even a rhyming dictionary, in the hopes of finding words they ain't used before is good in my book.

I'll take crude creativity or even mechanical variety over the banal any day.

Think about it, wasn't the dreck Shakespeare and his buddies wrote to entertain the illiterates in the stalls a series of raps?

And didn't actors and playwrights suffer the approbation of the nicer folk all the way up until the beginning of the last century?

And don't Noel Coward and Elton John have something in common, besides the piano?

Yeah, I know, Bernie wrote the good stuff, but still.


By the way, if it is good enough for Jazz, it probably won't be good enough for government work. They like things in triplicate...
which means 'Quo is more up their alley.