Pushing the Envelope

An example of a phrase that is not only overused, but misused.

The term comes from aviation, specifically from test pilots seeking to describe taking a course of action that exceeds the known safe specification of the hardware.  It means to take a risk by pushing "the envelope of safe performance" which consists of altitude, speed, heat, acceleration, turning radius, and so forth.

In business-speak it means simply to "innovate".  Seems like that's the word that should be used, since it conveys the intended meaning.

Ginormous

Word fusion is fun, yes indeed. But like a bomb of banality in a wordy hurt locker, it's gotta be defused eventually.

It's not as if the English language doesn't have enough words for one thing. If Gigantic and Enormous are old hat, there's also herculean, colossal, cyclopean, elephantine, gargantuan, giant, huge, immense, jumbo, mammoth, massive, monster, monstrous, stupendous, monolithic, titan, tremendous, vast, astronomic, considerable, humongous, mega, monumental, prodigious, sizable, towering, very big, very large, whopping and brobdingnagian.

Brobdingnagian beats Ginormous vowels and consonants down. It's even a bigger word.

Like Herding Cats

This clever phrase evokes dozens of cats being driven like "li'l doggies" across a wide pasture, down dusty trails, fording rivers while meowing low in collective bleat (with most of them straying to sniff things and suddenly lick themselves). And the message is clear. Even the slowest amongst us in the herd get what this phrase means.

But as with so many catch phrases, if it's halfway decent it immediately gets overused and shamelessly co-opted by the media and advertising. So pardners, it's high time to bring the li'l kitties home.

Let's come up with another simile for futile effort, which isn't easy these days. In fact it's like nailing jello to a wall.

Sort of

This has become the preferred "verbal seasoning" of those seeking to appear hip.   It is a completely empty phrase, no more informing than "um" or "ya' know".  Even my beloved Coen brothers are seriously afflicted with this affectation.  For an example:

http://thehollywoodinterview.blogspot.com/2008/02/coen-brothers-hollywood-interview.html

In one page, they use "sort of" 14 times.  In no case did it add any meaning whatsoever.  Remove it everywhere it appears, you have the same interview.

It's sort of annoying.

No-Brainer

This one is self-descriptive.

Like

The word like is not like intended as like a pause or like filler fired at like 4700 rounds per minute from the mouth like a HueyCobra door-mounted Gatling-style verbal minigun upon like a village of hapless scrambling listeners below.

"Like" is useful as an occasional preposition, adjective, conjunction, adverb, noun, or even as an interjection once in a blue moon.

Use as directed.

Going/Go Online

This one is not so much overused as it is misused and rather meaningless.  People generally do not "go online" anymore.  There was a time not so long ago when using the Internet required preparatory action: to dial-up a service provider, get some things done, and then to disconnect.   Many people used their voice lines for their Internet connection, and did not want to tie up the line for long periods of time.

Today, connections are pretty much constant, and rarely is a computer turned on but not connected to the Internet.  Add to this the prevalence of smartphones, iPads, blackberries and the like and it basically means that people do not go online anymore.

They are online.