Expressions We Shouldn't Carry Into 2016

Just like fashions change from season to season, there are also fads in language.  I know how the clothing changes.  There are designers that intend to have millions in skinny jeans for a year even though they told them everyone should wear bootcut the year before.  I can tell how it happens in language, but it does.  From Twitter to the board room to teacher conventions, there are certain expressions and phrases that are the hot buttons for a while.  While anything overused in this way can be annoying, there are some expressions we should just stop using altogether.  While I don't believe in resolutions, the new year seems to be a good time to drop these expressions from our vocabulary.  These are my top three expressions to abandon.

3.  Leverage - I was at an educational workshop in which I swear this word was used as a verb over a hundred times.  The workshop was only four hours long.  Unless you are talking about the physics of exchanging force for distance by use of a fulcrum, this word just means use.  Saying you can leverage an app with your students might make you feel smarter, but it doesn't make you sound smarter.  If you mean use, just say use.  (On behalf of my friend, Cheryl, you can place the word utilize in the same category.)

2.  What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. - Contrary to popular belief, this didn't first appear in a pop song.  When you say this crazy sentence, you are quoting atheist German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.  Thanks to the power of pop music, it has resurfaced.  It is now used for every situation that involves suffering of any kind.  Some well meaning but trite friend will try to make you feel better using this inane sentence.  Among other problems, it just isn't true.  The pneumonia I had in 6th grade did not kill me, but it absolutely didn't make me stronger.  A bullet wound might not kill you, but it certainly will not strengthen you.  The only person ever made stronger by overexposure to gamma rays was Bruce Banner; everyone else just gets radiation poisoning.  The song may be catchy, but we should stop saying this stupid expression.

1.  It is what it is.  This is my number one most hated expression in all of modern English, and I can't get through a day without hearing it.  What does it mean?  If you take it literally, it means nothing.  Most people don't mean it literally, so what does it mean in practice?  It means I GIVE UP.  It implies that a situation can't be changed, so why bother.  I've thought about this for a long time, and I cannot think of a historic figure I respect who would use this sentence.  John Adams, fighting the Continental Congress for the passage of the Declaration of Independence would never say, "Oh, well.  It is what it is."  William Wilberforce in England and Frederick Douglas in America would not have used this sentence in their fight against slavery.  The Apostles traveled the known world to carry the gospel of Christ, and it wasn't because they were content with the state of the world as it was.  Can you imagine Jesus saying it?  I can't.  Name anyone who has accomplished something with their lives, and you will not find this sentence.  Could we please put this expression behind us tonight?

As we head into the new year, let's examine our own speech.  Let's say things that are true, helpful, and meaningful.