I'm here for it

I don't know about you, but I am endlessly fascinated with the catch phrases that permeate our normal speech.  And since I'm in my 60s, I've heard a lot of faddish phrases throughout my life.  I'm a fan of language, obviously, since I'm here writing this now!

The title is one such phrase that we'll come back to later, but one that I like!

So let's go back...WAY back!  When I was little the word "cool" floated around for a while and then sort of lost its cachet.  Think how often we all hear or even say something or someone is "cool."  To be fair, my parents were way too unhip to ever use that word in that context.  At our house, "cool" described the weather or that a dish or cookies straight from the oven were now at a suitable temperature to eat.  Or that I needed a jacket if leaving the house!

As I reached my pre-teen years, there were many, many euphemisms that were employed to describe a girl or boy who was attractive.  An earlier generation might have described someone as a "dreamboat," but my the time I knew what a girl even was, all of my fellow males would use the word "fox" as a compliment but never to a girl's face!  Then, somehow, came the word "tough" to detail how appealing the same girl might be.

I'd say around the same time the word "superstar" became the norm to describe an accomplished athlete or actor or singer.  That one still fits, but it way over used.  If you've ever watched one of the holiday variety shows that NBC still televises now and again, you've heard people with whom you're entirely unfamiliar being described as a "Broadway superstar" or "country music superstar."  Like any positive nickname, it's overused.

We're in a presidential election cycle and unfortunately I'm interested enough to listen to podcasts that address our political scene.  Commentators will often use the word "athlete" to describe a candidate's political skills, as in "he is a real political athlete."  That's a stretch, in my book, but we all have our opinions!

And let us not forget the word GOAT, as that has been used and used to describe people who are the "greatest of all time" in their chosen field.  I, for one, do not care for Tom Brady, former Patriots and Buccaneers quarterback who was the winning quarterback in many Super Bowls and is commonly called the "GOAT" of professional football.  Statistically there are others who have gaudier statistics for passing skills and such, but Brady won so much, especially as a part of the New England Patriots, that he is called that pretty regularly.  Guess we'll see how he measures up as a television analyst when the NFL season starts in a couple of weeks.

Now the phrases that come and go, and arrive and stay, in some cases.  

Business is loaded with cliches and phrases that don't always age well.  People say they'll "circle back" later to resume a discussion, and talk of "low-hanging fruit" to describe easy successes within reach.  I'm not really a fan of catch phrases and buzzwords like "synergy" or "alignment" or many, many others.  Managers are often overcome by the responsibilities of their positions and fall into speaking a somewhat alternative language in their roles.  Unnecessary, but common.

But pop culture is rich with phrases that are easy to incorporate into one's language, and social media seems to accelerate their usage.  For instance, the country has only recently gotten to meet Minnesota Governor and now Vice-Presidential candidate Tim Walz, who was a longtime public school teacher, his wife Gwen (also a teacher), and their kids Hope and Gus.  Gus has a nonverbal learning disorder and when his dad spoke at the Democratic National Convention this week Gus was moved to tears, came to his feet and started shouting "that's my dad!"  I didn't see it live, but I still get teary-eyed thinking of it now.

Well, people who are less than kind began to make fun of this young man and people who have better sense warned, sort of, that these trolls should not be making fun of a good young man who is proud of his father for a great accomplishment.  And a few were saying that they would make it their business to get back at these critics, saying "we ride at dawn."  I actually like that phrase, even if there's no riding involved, but it speaks to action and resolution, which is not always a bad thing.

In relation to this week's DNC and the acceptance speeches by Gov. Walz and the Democratic Presidential candidate, Vice-President Kamala Harris, there was a very celebratory tone to the week's events and many folks posted on Threads and elsewhere that "I am here for it."  Like that one, too.

I suppose we could say that the Democrats and met and did "all the things" that needed to occur to officially nominate these candidates to represent their party in the presidential election.  See what I did there?

I haven't yet had a full cup of coffee so am not thinking of any more really good catch phrases, but I'll bet you can when you read this!

So, to use one last such phrase, "I'll be seeing you....."