Has anyone else noticed how overused this phrase is recently? Especially with respect to Iraq, it's all "going forward" this and "the way forward" that. I even heard a reporter ask two students who captured footage of police descending on VT during the shooting incident, why, given that they (the students) weren't sure what was going on at the time, they had decided on, "going forward" (read, "to continue filming what was taking place").

It's driving me nuts, because, well, it seems to say something while saying nothing at all.

Going forward

Is there a term for this kind of "specious specificity" ?

Perhaps "fluff", or possibly "filler"? It makes little sense without one's being on a ship or similar craft.

Overused perhaps, but they could also be going backward, going home, or going nowhere.

Metaphor?

I don't think there's a specific term, other than something along the lines of 'currently popular expression'. We had a discussion here one time about the phrase 'growing a business' . They make sense in one kind of (twisted) way, but. A former pastor of mine used the term 'baby Christian' all the time, and that REALLY got on my nerves.

"Equivocal" is close but not very. I think Jackie is right but you might consult your friendly local thesaurus

http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/#lookup

,entering words like "unspecific," "misleading," "ambiguous,"etc

My English teacher (flash back!)called them weasel-words and disliked them almost as much as she did wimpy-words which were overused, boring adjectives such as "nice."

Oh, yeah! "Have a nice day". And ever since somebody asked on here about hearing 'graduated high school/college', I hear that all the time; thanks a lot!

It seems like 'buzz words' stay in usage for shorter periods of time but with broader coverage. Think about words like 'groovy'--popular for years, in different regions. Now, if you say groovy, you're either a throwback or discussing records (which may qualify you as a throwback).

Now, if you say groovy, you're ...a throwback
Or so far behind you are ahead - again.
I'm of the opinion that there is a Cabal Of Intriguers (COI)
who decide on a phrase, arrange to have it dropped into printed and spoken language for the sole purpose of annoying people. Since these words/phrases cause much tooth-gnashing I suspect COI has a good many dentists in its membership.
And of course at meetings the COI gleefully peruse language forums like this to see how well they are doing.

Would there be a nicer word than nice then? Isn't nice just good enough? One of the die-hard words?

At one point in The Maltese Falcon, Kasper Gutman (aka the "Fat Man") says to Sam Spade:



As well as "pleasant" and "kind", nice means "fine or subtle" as in "a nice distinction."

I like boring words which have interesting but usually overlooked additional meanings. Another example is "report" for gunshot, and "sensible" for "able to notice or appreciate" ("we are sensible of the difficulties he faces.")

"sensible" for "able to notice or appreciate" Isn't that kind of ...well, old, for lack of a better term? I recall reading it only in books that were written many decades ago. I would be happy to learn that it's still being used.

Did I debate you in high school?



I volunteer to find this cabal, seduce them into compliance, gain entry to their secret happenings and then expose them to the world to end the abuse of innocent slang!

Her disapproval was for the overuse by highschool students who didn't bother to try to find/learn/use words which were more interesting or appropriate.

"This was a good book. It was about two guys. One was nice but the other wasn't. Then they went on a trip and their plane crashed and the other guy learned to be nice too. The end."

I also like the interesting associated meanings of common words. Another one that comes to mind is "hand", meaning a person whose chief work is with his hands: a laborer, sailor or a "hired hand".

I should be able to come up with other examples, but my mind is drawing a blank. Maybe this is fodder for a separate thread?

From your post, it is not entirely clear to me if you are complaining: (a) about the habit of calling any arbitrary direction "forward" or (b) the over-use of the set phrase "going forward".
(a) is not strictly a linguistic problem, but more related to pervasive hype and marketing.
as for (b): What about "going ahead" which, to my ears, sounds more elegant and means just about the same.

I'm coming to the conclusion that there's a Cabal of Complainers who pick some poor defenseless phrase and decide to pule and micturate about how it sets their teeth on edge or is worse than fingernails on a blackboard or some such nonsensical complaint. Pick some of the typical phrases complained about and see if there are more ghits where it's being used or where it's being complained about.

Well, crum--I was hoping to offer a replacement for puling; one that would fit the more common expression of what micturating means and moaning, but the thesaurus only came up with common words for moan, groan, and whine. After that I gave up. Though at least I understand now the meaning of tsuwm's thread I just read before this one!

By the way--what is that Red Orbit thing that comes up sometimes now, unasked-for? (I went to thesaurus.com, and suddenly I was looking at the Red Orbit page.) If it's a pop-up, it's a kind new to me: this is a full-screen page of what looks like news. Um...maybe I should run my spyware detector.

You got the M-word right, Jackie.

I volunteer to find this cabal, seduce them into compliance, gain entry to their secret happenings and then expose them...

To late! We--Oh, I mean They -- They are on to you!