Is it really that AMAZING?

Overused word alert: the world really can't be as AMAZING as it is being cracked up to be these days.

The first sector I heard it from was the highly religious. I think it was intended to replace "flippin' sweet!" Now, it is permeating everything in every media format that I see or hear. Yesterday, I had the radio on for several hours and heard no less than four different commercials touting something as "amazing".

You ever ponder a word again and again and all of a sudden it starts to take on a different meaning or implication? Well, I'm starting to see a skinny dumb guy straightjacketed on a white hospital bed--he's staring, open-mouthed and drooling, at one of those baby mobiles that gets hung over a crib.

Look at the pretty colors!

I have to admit that I'm pretty sensitive to that type of word hang-up. One time, when I can home from summer camp as a kid, I was stuck on the word "Oi!" I quickly became conscious of the fact that I would use it about 3 times per minute, and I couldn't help myself. It just seemed to fit every occasion. I used it in the same way most people would use the word "duh". As in "Duh, Mary! Everybody knows that..." So, it was a convenient way to be both offensive and annoying.

"Oi!" seemed to last for several months before, one way or another, it got knocked out of me.

Another one that I use quite often is "man". You know: "Hey, man, how's it going?" This immediately makes me sprout an Abbie Hoffman beard and make me want to listen to Jimi Hendrix (I had a drum teacher name Jimmy Hendricks). And it drives Fran nuts when it is said to a woman, specifically her. But sometimes the world just cries out for a confusing appositive.

And then there was "like". As in, like, you know, like. That was one that I swore I would never get stuck on. We used to, like, make fun of people who talked that way--like "Valley Girl". But eventually it wormed its way into my head, and now it comes out sometimes.

So, I just felt like calling out "amazing", and seeing if anyone else had noticed this trend...

By the way feel free to list any overused words so we can banish them from the vernacular.