Opinion

How about a return to ‘regular’ English?

Posted February 15, 2012 4:00 am

I’m suffering from a severe case of motion sickness The phrase “moving forward” must be a candidate for the most overused expression of 2011 and 2012. What happened to “in the future,” “next week,” “next month” or other specific dates or time periods?

Persistent practitioners of “moving forward” include President Obama, Republican presidential candidates, members of Congress, radio and TV personalities, educators and members of school boards and city councils. All these people can hardly make a statement without including this annoying phrase.

I have no idea how and when this virus invaded our vernacular. Fortunately, pastors I have heard seem to have been vaccinated against this stilted way of speaking about the future. I move that we return to standard English.

Glenn F. Arnold

Wheaton

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