# Completely meaningless phrases that are common **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 19, 2014, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120 "2014-03-19T22:47:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/41 "2014-03-20T16:33:21Z")
YOLO (you only live once). Agree to disagree. Yeah but still. Same difference. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/42 "2014-03-20T17:19:22Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > _“Prices reduced up to 50% or more”_ - think about it. _“Up to 50%”_ means any amount at or below fifty percent. And _“or more”_ means any amount above fifty percent. So all you’re really saying is the item has a price. This is my pet peeve and every Geico commercial pisses me off for this reason. “Fifteen minutes _could_ save you _up to_ 15 percent _or more_ on car insurance.” So, it is a maybe that I might save anywhere from 0 to 14.99 percent or 15.01 percent to 100 percent. It seems that exactly 15 percent savings is the only thing I cannot receive. But I only _could_ save any of these amounts. Might as well just say “call and we will see what we can do.” ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/43 "2014-03-20T17:58:34Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I seriously doubt anyone lives in any of those cafes that sell “homemade” pie. > … We can’t do that in Canada. From The [Canadian Food Inspection Agency](http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/labeti/guide/ch4e.shtml): > [@](#): > > Rationale: “Homemade” implies that a food is prepared in a home. Therefore, the use of the term “homemade” to refer to a food prepared in a commercial establishment, including small, artisan like establishments, is considered misleading. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/44 "2014-03-20T18:11:13Z")
I was thinking about this recently. Around here, a lot of products intended for use on skin (soap, shower gel, etc.) claim to be “dermatologically tested”. It may be that this claim is legally defined, but as far as I can tell it means nothing more than “We put this on some skin to see what would happen”, with no claims made for whether or not it burnt it all off. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/45 "2014-03-20T18:21:16Z")
“Pre-owned” I know that their using it as shorthand for “previously owned”, but it is completely meaningless as it stands. Worse yet, I heard a motorcycle dealership ad that referred to their wares as “pre-loved”. The only way I was able to parse that was that they had been lubed. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/46 "2014-03-20T19:44:32Z")
This doesn’t really qualify as a meaningless phrase, but “all of a sudden” grates on me. Everyone uses this, everywhere, all the time. It means the same thing as “suddenly,” so why don’t people just say that? Why use a weirdly archaic four-word phrase instead of one perfectly clear adverb? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/47 "2014-03-20T20:25:50Z")
“It is what it is” has a perfectly good meaning. It means that the situation can’t be changed, and thus must be accepted. It’s actually rather Zen. > [@steveroo](#): > > This doesn’t really qualify as a meaningless phrase, but “all of a sudden” grates on me. Everyone uses this, everywhere, all the time. It means the same thing as “suddenly,” so why don’t people just say that? Why use a weirdly archaic four-word phrase instead of one perfectly clear adverb? Because “suddenly,” in places where “all of the sudden” are usually used, requires a pause to create the same emphasis. The “all of the” adds filler words. Literal meaning usually has little to do with why multiple ways exist of saying the same thing. I don’t know how many times I’ve altered my posts because I can think of a way of saying something that sounds better. Economy of language is rarely a goal. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/48 "2014-03-20T21:33:20Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > “It is what it is” has a perfectly good meaning. It means that the situation can’t be changed, and thus must be accepted. It’s actually rather Zen. Back in the 70s they used to say “Everything is everything”. Yeah. How profound. The one that gets me is the “Raise Awareness” hustle. As in “We’re collecting donations to raise awareness for breast cancer.” What the hell does that mean? I give you money and suddenly I become aware that some women get breast cancer? Like nobody knows that? And don’t get me started on those ubiquitous ribbons. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/49 "2014-03-20T21:35:46Z")
I actually like (and use) the term “it is what it is.” As is, some things you cannot change and it’s best to accept or ignore, rather than stress over. The misuse of the word “unique.” Either using it completely incorrectly, or adding a qualifier such as “very unique.” ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/50 "2014-03-20T22:42:44Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Because “suddenly,” in places where “all of the sudden” are usually used, requires a pause to create the same emphasis. The “all of the” adds filler words. Literal meaning usually has little to do with why multiple ways exist of saying the same thing. I don’t know how many times I’ve altered my posts because I can think of a way of saying something that sounds better. Economy of language is rarely a goal. I could not possibly disagree more. Economy of language is ALWAYS a goal. “Omit needless words” is by far the most important rule in Strunk and White, and I would be hard pressed to think of something more needless than the first three words of that wretched phrase. If I want to add a pause for emphasis, I’ll use a comma or a dash, not “filler words.” ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/51 "2014-03-20T22:58:04Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > This is my pet peeve and every Geico commercial pisses me off for this reason. “Fifteen minutes _could_ save you _up to_ 15 percent _or more_ on car insurance.” Admittedly I can’t recall every single Geico commercial I’ve seen, but I just watched several of them on YouTube, and none of them contained the words “up to” in that sentence. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/52 "2014-03-20T23:21:27Z")
> [@](#): > > “Omit needless words” Eschew surplusage ---
**Author:** ![Teddy\_Kennedy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Teddy\_Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teddy_Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/53 "2014-03-20T23:50:39Z")
“Handmade” in marketing. Yeah, meaning hand-\*assembled \*by some guy in a sweatshop for the equivalent of forty American cents a day? How luxurious. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/54 "2014-03-21T00:06:02Z")
Your call is important to us. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/55 "2014-03-21T01:25:01Z")
“I apologize if I’ve offended anyone”. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/56 "2014-03-21T02:32:31Z")
The Geico commercials don’t need the “up to” part. The “could” in there means the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/57 "2014-03-21T15:11:44Z")
Car dealers have a bunch of these. Here are a few (with the intentionally omitted part in parens): -All credit applications will be accepted! (Most will be laughed at and trashed!) -We’ll pay off your trade no matter how much you owe! (And tack it on to the new loan so you’ll be WAY uside down from day 1!) -You pay what we paid, we’ll show you the invoice! (But not the thousands in factory kickbacks we’ve gotten since then!) ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/58 "2014-03-21T15:21:29Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > “Can I ask you a question?” > Don’t you mean another question? > > One I hear more lately is “even”. As in “We can expect rain today across the area, including East Chicago, Hammond, Merrillville, and EVEN Gary.” Hey…just because Hammond, East C and Merrillville all border Gary doesn’t mean that rain will want to go there. Gary is scary…LOL. Here are a few more: “ **Operators standing by…** ”: Really? So your call center in Bangalore will accept my call whenever I make it? The term “hero” when it’s applied to someone who is simply living their life. If you are gravely ill, then you might face that with bravery,dignity and grace. However, you are not a “hero.” The Dow Jones Average was down today." - Almost completely meaningless unless you are a stockbroker or a day trader. The disconnect between Wall Street and the remainder of the US economy is so great that the majority of people really don’t car about what happens as it has, at best, a minimal effect upon their lives, ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/59 "2014-03-21T15:30:13Z")
“We are experiencing a higher than average amount of calls.” “Your call is important to us.” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120/60 "2014-03-21T15:37:58Z")
How about unnecessary modifiers? “polar” opposite. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/completely-meaningless-phrases-that-are-common/684120.md?page=4)