Thursday, February 17, 2011

Whatever Happened to "the Bottom Line"? Now it's "the End of the Day"

A few years back, everyone was abuzz about the bottom line. We'd hear the pundits on talk radio and TV news programs talking like this:

"Well, Charlie, the bottom line is this: we're in deep trouble."

OR

"There's more to argue over, but the bottom line is that we can't keep spending so much."

OR,

"Let's get right to the bottom line and cut the xxxxx (you can fill this one in).

When was the last time you heard one of these pundit-types say this much overused phrase?

I'll bet it's been quite a while because now all the pundit-types are switching to a new favorite and hideously overused phrase. Now, it's "at the end of the day." I would bet money that political commentators and politicians (they can be some of the worst abusers of the English language) use "at the end of the day" at least twice every two minutes they speak.

Let's all resolve to be aware of and ferret from our vocabulary such bloviated, unnecessary, ridiculous cliches. Please.

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