Chicago Tribune

Pivot. Problematic. Y'all. All the feels. What words make you cringe?

While the year is still fresh, can we establish a few linguistic ground rules?

Can we refrain from cluttering our emails and Twitter feeds and Slack channels and talk-show appearances and Netflix series with the same words and phrases that we reached for too easily in 2018? I understand this is asking way too much, and I recognize this may be a predictable request; every year brings a new list of words and phrases that we have weaponized, overused, abused or just made annoying the previous 12 months. But lists like that tend toward the trendy, once-clever choices of words now growing insufferable.

I'm thinking more about the silent, everyday killers.

I'm thinking, those words and phrases that ran amuck last year less because of flashiness than repetition, an uncertainty of what was meant,

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune3 min read
Cody Bellinger Headed To IL With Fractured Ribs; Cubs Recall Pete Crow-Armstrong From Triple-A
CHICAGO — Chicago Cubs center fielder Cody Bellinger sounded hopeful Tuesday that his collision with the outfield wall wouldn’t cause him to miss much, if any, time. That optimism did not last long. Bellinger became the latest Cub to head to the inju
Chicago Tribune3 min read
Gov. JB Pritzker Says ‘Evolution Of The Leadership’ Needed At CTA
SPRINGFIELD, Il. — Gov. J.B. Pritzker called for an “evolution of the leadership” at the CTA, as embattled agency President Dorval Carter has looked to Springfield for solutions to a looming budget crisis. Carter has found himself in the hot seat as
Chicago Tribune10 min read
After 25 Years Of Selling Tamales In Chicago, An Undocumented Immigrant Mother Returns To Mexico Without Her Family
Claudia Perez’s children could count on one hand the number of times they had seen their father cry. The day their mother left was one of them. Perez had worked her whole life for a dream that did not come true: Save enough money to take her family b

Related Books & Audiobooks