# Good day, Mr. Catch-Phrase. I invite you to leave. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 22, 2001, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461 "2001-08-22T01:35:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![warmgun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@warmgun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warmgun)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/41 "2001-08-23T03:28:27Z")
Look, I’m all about lame catch-phrases, dude. It’s all good. No way? WAY! Leveraging robust phrases infuses pro-active sweet-ness to the language. Hell-O! So, don’t get me started. This kind of dissin’ is so 20 minutes ago, please, don’t go there. Oh, you don’t agree? My bad…right. Talk to the hand cuz Elvis has definatly left the building. Basically, empowerment comes from self expression. Without it, Houston, we have a problem. So, two words: Give me back my panties! Buh-bye Hi Opal! ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/42 "2001-08-23T03:47:51Z")
Blow up the spot means to tell secrets on someone. Now use it in a sentence. Not that it’s a bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/43 "2001-08-23T05:18:10Z")
That dog wont hunt Pigs CAN fly Come to Jesus meeting ---
**Author:** ![headshok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@headshok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/headshok)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/44 "2001-08-23T05:49:37Z")
You da MAN!!! ---
**Author:** ![OneChance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/74df32/32.png) [@OneChance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneChance)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/45 "2001-08-23T06:42:53Z")
“Thisssss could be a problem.” I thought this was long gone, but lately I’ve been hearing it in some ice-cream commercial. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/46 "2001-08-23T06:58:52Z")
I’ll confess to never having heard anyone say “the heavy lifting” or “blow up my spot” before this thread. I have the urge to slap people who quote Austin Powers, does that count? " What are you doooooiiiinnggg?" " We’re pregnant." (like hell you are, sir.) " Package" when it refers to anything but a box from the post-office or a guy’s member(what? I think that use is sort of funny). Tax packages, benifits packages…blech. " now a days" ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/47 "2001-08-23T11:22:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bordelond \* > **To leverage** means “to take advantage of”. IMHO, it’s a perfectly good and useful verb. You win a very small prize for being the _first person_ to be able to tell me what “leverage” as a verb actually _means_. Usually, asking for a definition just leads to a frustrating runaround - as, for example, this conversation with my crazed Australian boss: Me: What does “leverage”, as a verb, mean? Him: Well, it’s a useful word, kind of gives the right idea, you know? Me: Yes, but what does it _mean_? Him: Hey, one of the advantages of working in a cutting edge field is, you get to define your own terms, you know? Me: So define it. Him: Well, it means, sort of, _you_ know… Me: No, I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking. … and so on, _ad infinitum_. [Vogon Captain]“Leverage the synergies across all available paradigms” - hmph! Death’s too good for them.[/Vogon Captain] ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/48 "2001-08-23T12:03:22Z")
**Coldfire** gave some good examples of BizSpeek™, but there’s a heck of a lot of it about: “Let’s run that up the flagpole and see who salutes” “Can I just bounce this off you” “talk the talk/walk the walk” “Let’s do lunch” “When you assume, you make an ASS out of U and ME” “Co-opetition” “Sea-change” “Leveraging” (sorry, but it’s not a verb; the verb is ‘to lever’) and any number of such artificial constructs (sorry Americans\*, but this is one thing about your business/media culture that sets my teeth on edge; the wanton desire to make up words like ‘Educationalizing’ when there exists a perfectly suitable word already). \*[sup]Please don’t take this too personally[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/49 "2001-08-23T12:05:19Z")
It’s the economy, stupid! Whe-e-ere’s the beef?? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/50 "2001-08-23T12:05:51Z")
“Pushing the envelope” “Extreme [whatever]” etc, you get the idea ---
**Author:** ![nerv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85e7bf/32.png) [@nerv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nerv)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/51 "2001-08-23T13:48:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bordelond \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Steve Wright \* > > \*\*“Leverage” used as a verb. For example, “leveraging the synergy across all available paradigms”. (This was a phrase used in a marketing campaign by a previous employer of mine: to this day I have no idea what it means.) \*\* > > **To leverage** means “to take advantage of”. IMHO, it’s a perfectly good and useful verb. > > In general, I have no problems at all with nouns becoming verbs. It is a major boon to the expressiveness of the English language. > > All that said, the sentence you quote is pretty vague out of context. The word “paradigm” is often used as a non-descriptive weasel-word. \*\* Absolutely! In fact, we need to derive a noun form of the verb “to leverage” to differentiate the meaning from plain-old “lever”. I suggest “leveragement”. Should we need a verb derived from this noun, we could use “leveragementize”, and the derived noun form of this could be “leveragementization”. From this we get a new verb “leveragementizationate” and a further new noun “leveragementizationation”. Isn’t English wonderful! ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/52 "2001-08-23T15:33:29Z")
**nerv** , you have a twisted mind. And, possibly, a brilliant future in marketing. ---
**Author:** ![diamud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@diamud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diamud)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/53 "2001-08-23T15:44:01Z")
there’s one phrase that drives me nuts. Not be racially-insensitive, but it is most popular with African-Americans, you know what I’m sayin’? You know what I’m sayin’? I hear it all day long, you know what I’m sayin’? Added to the end of every other sentence, you know what I’m sayin’? So I tell my baby momma to come over, you know what I’m sayin’? YES…I do know what you are saying, you don’t have to keep asking me! And that is my final answer. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/54 "2001-08-23T15:57:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kevja \* > \*\*Not really a catch phrase but, I would like get through a day without hearing the word literally. \*\* Yeah. People who say things like “He literally jumped out of his skin” should be phased out. I currently despise “slippery slope”. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/55 "2001-08-23T16:24:33Z")
> [@](#): > > _Posted by Steve Wright_ > You win a very small prize for being the first person to be able to tell me what “leverage” as a verb actually means. Usually, asking for a definition just leads to a frustrating runaround - as, for example, this conversation with my crazed Australian boss […] Try flooring him with: “As an Australian, don’t you mean _negatively geared_?” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/56 "2001-08-23T16:24:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nerv \* > \*\*Absolutely! In fact, we need to derive a noun form of the verb “to leverage” to differentiate the meaning from plain-old “lever”. I suggest “leveragement”. Should we need a verb derived from this noun, we could use “leveragementize”, and the derived noun form of this could be “leveragementization”. From this we get a new verb “leveragementizationate” and a further new noun “leveragementizationation”. Isn’t English wonderful! \*\* Why do I feel this urge to push broken glass into your eyes? ---
**Author:** ![sidle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@sidle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidle)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/57 "2001-08-23T16:52:55Z")
Mmmm-people who still use the phrase “You go girl!” Typically older women just catching on and those from small towns in Georgia. btw Crunchy Frog- I am so glad I’m not the only one wondering about this “fun size.” Seems to me that for a candy lover-the “King size” would actually be more fun. More chocolate=more fun. So why are the dinky ones “fun”? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/58 "2001-08-23T20:41:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nerv \* > \*\*Absolutely! In fact, we need to derive a noun form of the verb “to leverage” to differentiate the meaning from plain-old “lever”. I suggest “leveragement”. Should we need a verb derived from this noun, we could use “leveragementize”, and the derived noun form of this could be “leveragementization”. From this we get a new verb “leveragementizationate” and a further new noun “leveragementizationation”. Isn’t English wonderful! \*\* Cute. But the English language is a little more self-correcting than that. Nouns have turned into verbs in English since well before _Beowulf_ was first committed to memory by some Norse minstrel. Since the noun-to-verb process HAS, in fact, been productive for centuries, it’s a little late in the game to complain about it now. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/59 "2001-08-23T21:12:28Z")
‘The Future’s Bright, The Future’s Orange’. Trust me, this is a complete lie. ---
**Author:** ![Gilligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Gilligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gilligan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-mr-catch-phrase-i-invite-you-to-leave/77461/60 "2001-08-24T03:09:10Z")
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