Jen Doll
From A to Z: The worst words of 2012
Gaffe. Noun with political inclinations. From the Wire’s Elspeth Reeve, gaffe is veering off a semantic cliff: “The definition of a gaffe has been broadened to any time a politician says something you can put in an headline and then write jokes about. A gaffe is a guaranteed two-post story — one on the original comment, and one on the follow-up comment explaining the comment. Reporters’ excessive reliance on gaffes to make it through a slow news day was most apparent when a Washington Post reporter was caught on tape yelling across a parking lot to Mitt Romney, “WHAT ABOUT YOUR GAFFES?”
Blowback
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The butt of a joke?
RadClown on December 19, 2012 at 5:51 PM
Didn’t read any further than this because its inclusion makes anything else on a “worst words and phrases” piddling and redundant. I absolutely despise this phrase. It is what made me dread the Duchess of Cambridge’s potential pregnancy for months before it occurred. It is why I ignore all celebrity news and cannot even glance at the links in the right hand column of any Daily Mail article. I hope whoever created this phrase is a dude, because he deserves a swift kick in his own baby-making bumps.
Gingotts on December 19, 2012 at 5:52 PM
How on earth did Swag not get on this list? I very much enjoyed this, and agreed with most of it, especially the “Fiscal Cliff” section.
vegconservative on December 19, 2012 at 5:58 PM
+1 to the article.
rbj on December 19, 2012 at 6:00 PM
Wait, wait. Three comments on this article so far and not one says “Why isn’t ‘Obama’ one of the words?”? You guys are slipping.
radjah shelduck on December 19, 2012 at 6:03 PM
Laughed heartily at this article — my wife and I have been complaining about a good number of these words and phrases and are delighted to know we we not alone in our misery.
Marketing’s incessant abuse of the word “artisan” MUST STOP.
Chuckles3 on December 19, 2012 at 7:25 PM