"Use other words please."

Where did I use 'scribes'? I dread to think.

Glitch is better than squirm at least. I'm too fond of 'glacial' by half.

Not that I'm about to read them all to find out, but you get the idea...

Revolutionary: I believe I was always already aware that this was a technical word, deployed by advertising agencies, to let you know that yr favourite supermarket product now came in packaging no longer cuboid, but TETRAHEDRAL! Yay.

Stunning: No it isn't. It's mildly amusing/surprising/diverting.

Ethereal: As noted over on Indie-a-Genre, this is now a corporate genre-name, acc. Tower records (i.e. like Reggae).

i was thinking of this before the thread was posted, but now i've gone and forgotten all of them and, even worse, i've probably even used those examples in recent writing.

pretentious: salvageable, actually, provided we can make the old big world use it as unalloyed praise

But yeah, sorry.

Sorry? since when did converting to glum stalinism just as your first work becomes a cause celebre (Aragon) or just attacking everyone who ever helped or admired you in print, and refusing lucrative commissions from all the major french newspapers (Breton) constitute a hack dimension? perhaps you're getting mixed up with Salvador Dali?

But •assiduous• curators of their own gallery-of-the-future post-revolution reps: which I just seriously wanna get up between sometimes, and bugger about with. I tht of including Dali, but it wd have taken the heat off the others.

x0x0

I'm not sure what annoys me more: that it has become an ugly shorthand for 'anally retentive', or that it's only used in such a limited 'slag off' way, compared with the original Freudian sense. I'm not an expert on Freud, but I seem to recall an anally retentive character being about much more than alphabetising your CD collection and making lists.

"myth" as in "the rock myth" - was about to use it in the Depeche/League thread and suddenly thought HOLD ON.

too easy and vague by half

(Kid vs scientist: who'd want to be anything else anyway?)

Dinosaurs rooled! For 70 million years!! Badly designed? To get rid of them, the cosmos had to hurl a rock the size of Birmingham — at Mexico!!!

Also (somewhat related, tho not somewhat rock-related): "FAT CATS"

I'm sorry, excuse me, just HOW is this headline shortcut going to help stir up class rage against capitalism?

Cats are great, fat cats are bigger, thus better QED.

Might as well call 'em Honey Bunnies or Wonky Donkeys...

"Chameleon" (Tanya made this point once but she nicked it off me or Pete) - David Bowie a rock chameleon i.e. ever-changing, unpredictable BUT chameleons blend into the background, so it's more like Soup Dragons-y bandwagon jumping AND the only colours they can do are various shades of dull green yellow and brown so 'unpredictable' is a bit off too.

(And this word is doubly evil if used in the same sentence as "punk rock")

Like, yeah, I can even *say* it with a nice French Canadian accent. Where did that stupid expression come from ?

Post Schmaltz should be used more often.

Heh: this just reminded me one of the original OBSCURE STRATEGIES requires you to eat a Red Chili pepper and tape yr mouth shut, then work — write, record, whatevah — in this state.

(gently hug their balls, etc. i'm so sorry.)

I'll agree with whomever described "glacial" as a keeper. Except when you're describing artists from Iceland. I believe I may be guilty of this as well.

Confessions (i.e. more words that I tend to overuse): decidedly, melange, myriad, ornate and, erm (urp!) rawk

It's amazing I still find work..

What are the control conditions?

It's like [something crap], but on drugs!

And most awful of all is any piece containing 'hey kids!' or similar. Don't patronise your readers.

- "of [their/that] ilk" always reeks of smugness at the very least, but is also usually part of some larger, idiotic rant.

- I have an instinctive mistrust of any review that uses the phrase "cutting edge" in its praise of a band.

As in "Here on the G2 women's page we'd almost forgotten Liz Hurley - a far cry from the days when she caused an, ahem, flutter with *that* dress".

In fact that sentence is a compendium of crimes.

EXCEPT when used by people unaware of the word's meaning. I seem to remember Jo Whiley would always use this to describe someone's first album

btw can someone tell me what things i use too much? there must be tons of annoying ones but of course one only really notices that shit when it's someone else doing it.

Imagine X meets Yazoo on the moon and they take crack. The guitars are more angular than ever before in their prolific careers, and they chime, atmospheric in the arid sky. The music they scribe is willfully perverse, rising above their pre-packaged boring workaday ouveres. Now imagine you go fuck yourself.

Please stop.

other ones

other ones

& zeroes, p'haps...

(?(mark s: "no,no,no - use other zeroes please!"))

Look brah, no hands!!

(i often think i'm being too verbose or unlazy in computer posting becasue i seem to post more than other people sometimes)

if another nz band as good (at times) as the dead c popped into view, everybody in nz would be bitchily joking, with in most cases the band joining them

i don't thing anbody who i know that enjoys music and has nz connections really dislikes the dead c

i overuse "apparently."

Ever
Still
Very
Again
Worst
Fail

"might fall apart at any minute"

used just today on ILM

yes it makes your point but seriously: OVERUSED

full disclosure

"make no mistake"

I am guilty of many of these but always hated SEMINAL.

CHANTEUESE is super lazy for girl who sings, and I'd like to fuck her.

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm

"interesting."

Sure I've whined about them before but apparently not covered on this thread:

"sophomore"

"trope"

"meme"

It's not clever, illuminating or remotely accurate to compare cultural phenomena with genes, so stop it. Thanks.

Also "viral".

"prog"

"languid" (Hello, music reviewers for Metro!)

i can't believe no one's said "plangent"

I've had too much wine to have sexual intercourse.

"meme"

It's not clever, illuminating or remotely accurate to compare cultural phenomena with genes, so stop it. Thanks.

-- Jamie T Smith, Thursday, 7 February 2008 11:57 (1 hour ago) Link

I don't think that's likely. It was a trendy word in the 70s. Now it's just a word.

"soundscape"

Soundscape is quite a good example of an 'invented' word (duh they all are but you know what I mean) that over time becomes a descriptive/technical word. Not denying it's very overused though

Results 1 - 10 of about 187 for "for once believe the hype".
Results 1 - 10 of about 525 for "around the stage like a man possessed".
Results 1 - 10 of about 4,820 for "blistering guitars".
Results 1 - 10 of about 7,360 for "stunning return to form".
Results 1 - 10 of about 294,000 for "highlights included".

"highlights" is probably the one here I'm most guilty of. not that many words for standouts or best songs, though.

"anthemic"

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,020 for "nimble bass lines."

Results 1 - 10 of about 19,800 for "solid follow up".

Results 1 - 10 of about 2,720 for "Krautrock influenced"

Results 1 - 10 of about 853 for "dreamlike soundscapes".

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,780 for "difficult second album syndrome".

Results 1 - 10 of about 940 for "sonic cathedrals".
Results 1 - 10 of about 87,000 for "Cocteau Twins" + ethereal.

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,720 for "my penis is on fire". (0.40 seconds)

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,540 for "commanding vocal presence".

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,990 for "jackhammer beats".
Results 1 - 10 of about 2,950 for "hypnotic riffs".

Results 1 - 10 of about 5,790 for "searing guitar solo".

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,780 for "difficult second album syndrome".

-- mike t-diva, Thursday, February 7, 2008 10:25 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

weird, I've heard a lot of variations on that idea (usually "sophomore slump"), but I can't remember ever reading the exact phrase "difficult second album syndrome."

Results 1 - 10 of about 697 for "whipped the crowd into a frenzy".

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,300 for "left the crowd screaming for more".

Results 1 - 10 of about 190,000 for "perfect pop".
Results 1 - 10 of about 5,780 for "pristine pop".

Results 1 - 10 of about 367 for "poorly received second album".

Results 1 - 10 of about 22,800 for "classic debut album"

Results 1 - 10 of about 45,900 for "critically acclaimed debut album".

Results 1 - 10 of about 10,800 for "your humble scribe".

Actually looking at that Google result, it seems that just about everyone's debut album was a classic. Surely some mistake?

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,300 for "hooks to die for".

not everyone's:

Personalized Results 1 - 10 of about 1,190 for "underrated debut". (0.31 seconds)

Results 1 - 10 of about 2,920 for "a deeply personal album".

Results 1 - 10 of about 48,600 for "criminally overlooked".

Results 1 - 10 of about 59,300 for "criminally underrated".

Results 1 - 10 of about 46,300 for "unfairly maligned".

Results 1 - 4 of 4 for "rubbish debut album".

So there's only four rubbish debut albums. Two of them are Nine Black Alps and Jet.

Results 1 - 10 of about 3,900 for ubercoolische. (0.18 seconds)

Results 1 - 10 of about 2,000 for "enigmatic producer".

Results 1 - 10 of about 32,900 for "talented young artist". (0.26 seconds)

# Massive Club Fire at Great White concert [Started by Alex in NYC (vassifer), last updated 1 hour ago] 3 new answers
# "Use other words please." [Started by mark s, last updated 1 hour ago] 49 new answers

Enormous Venue Burning during Big Caucasian show

?

I've had too much wine to have sexual intercourse.

-- Geir Hongro, Thursday, 7 February 2008 13:00 (Thursday, 7 February 2008 13:00) Bookmark Link

is it too late for a "WAIT WAHT?!" here?

for fucks sake people he clearly posted that on the wrong thread, it's not especially interesting

for fucks sake people

Person, really. It's only me, but way to keep a lid on it.

Also what is the right thread?

I think he said "people" because it's been mentioned on several other threads already.

However, I would like to know this, too:

Also what is the right thread?

sorry, over the top reaction on my part

there was some thread (which i probably won't be able to find now darnit) where song titles were reworded to tone them down or remove slang..

here we go

Here, a thread featuring translations of song titles from their commonly known designation and into ACADEMESE, and then involving guess-work as to the original nomenclature in order to make a competi

i note he did it on that thread as well, so maybe its inclusion on this thread is an attempt at lolz on geir's part????

(so, in short: "use other threads please":)

Results 1 - 10 of about 8,890 for "lush guitar". (0.09 seconds)

Results 1 - 10 of about 7,050 for "sprawling double album". (0.44 seconds)

I just tried this...

Results 1 - 10 of about 4,130 for "conceptual masterpiece". (0.26 seconds)

and one of the results is truly bizarre.

"DVD, Movie, Video: Live a Little, Love A Little, Elvis Presley ...This movie is a conceptual masterpiece amongst the Elvis movies. It is a meditation upon naming & namelessness, the power of orgasm & the failure of logos, ... "

Follow the link, and it carries on in equally strange ways. Either the guy is deadly serious, or seriously taking the piss. I'm not sure which way to go on that one.

Nobody seems to realize that the problem isn't the language, it's the fact that music reviews universally suck.

^^^ this. i was trying to think of why i thought this thread-concept nbit the big one, but there it is. most (positive) music reviews are a gallimaufry of boosterism, reaching, and outright humbug.

At best, a review should be a by-product of an otherwise-directed bit of writing that entertains, informs, or what have you on merits other than its value as a musical consumer guide.

Results 1 - 10 of about 31,800 for "synth stabs". (0.23 seconds)

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,970 for "unalloyed triumph".

Results 1 - 10 of about 552 for "rewards careful listening".

On this 'tip' ("tip"!):
"Chameleon" (Tanya made this point once but she nicked it off me or Pete) - David Bowie a rock chameleon i.e. ever-changing, unpredictable BUT chameleons blend into the background, so it's more like Soup Dragons-y bandwagon jumping AND the only colours they can do are various shades of dull green yellow and brown so 'unpredictable' is a bit off too

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Why is this funny? Coz ANY FULE KNO (well, they do if they watch QI) that chameleons don't blend into the background at all, but change colour in accordance with their mood, which is presumably what Bowie was doing, tho presumably he was not that moody (a commendable thing, no?) coz he left it for an album, possibly two, and at the very least a song, before doing it.

A lurid pink chameleon would be as desirable as, say, Tin Machine?

http://i36.tinypic.com/117te80.jpg

stop posting this image or similar images following a post re: a large number please, thanks.

unless it's OVER NINE THOUSAND

stop being like OMGWTF when bands have 10-minute-long songs. doing this is lame even when it's indie rock bands (television and can had 10-minute songs) but it's even worse when critics act astounded that mastodon have 10-minute songs. duh they're a prog-influenced metal band.

otm

"classically trained"

"wash, rinse, repeat"

OH I GET IT, IT'S LIKE THE INSTRUCTIONS ON SHAMPOO HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!!

repeat? does anyone ever do that?

They did way back when people only washed their hair once a week.

"balearic"

I think I only wash my hair once a week. Or maybe 1.5 times. Ew.

"Asperger's"

In what context? I have to use it for work.

"stan" gets really overused around here

"classically trained"

― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Tuesday, August 11, 2009 9:35 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

In what context? I have to use it for work.

In the context of "let's talk about this socially-awkward person, I bet they totally have Aperger's"

haha, do people still say "classically trained"? I remember when that used to be code for "metal, but, no really, legit!"

Also using "aspie" in ref. to someone who has detailed knowledge of a very particular subject is offensive and mean.

Haha, the other night my husband said I was "classically trained at memorizing every stupid song that's ever been played on the radio."

At least he didn't say I was "aspie" at it.

i feel like i still see it all the time as code for "legit", when it usually means "this person took piano lessons as a kid".

in pitchfork's review of james blake today:

The gifted British producer's new EP is rooted in the piano (he's classically trained)

Yeah, it's always used as though there's some single Classical Institute that is like the Oxford of music or something. It's a little like saying "You probably wouldn't want to get into a fight with X -- he studied martial arts."

"copydeck"

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE WORD "COPY"?? WHY "DECK"?? AAARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH

Is that a verb or a noun? What's going on there?

it's an advertising thing

http://www.katetoon.com/2009/05/how-to-write-a-copy-deck-in-five-easy-steps/

"corny"

Can I just
Fuck with
, son

site:pitchfork.com "classically trained"

About 406 results

site:ilxor.com "classically trained"

About 2,020 results

O_O

ilx has been around too long

"all good things come to those who wait"

site:pitchfork.com "classically trained"

About 406 results

― Damn this thread seems so....different without ilxor (ilxor), Tuesday, February 15, 2011 2:15 PM Bookmark

This isn't even "use other words," it's just "don't use." It's meaningless.

"corny"

^^^^

i'll stop using the word "corny" as soon as someone invents a better word for describing corn

give Blake a chance to showcase his classically trained piano work

... Of late, however, the classically trained Blake has started ...

... Blake is a classically trained pianist, this is a predominant ...

22 year old classically trained pianist James Blake finally releases his self-titled debut album.

The gifted British producer's new EP is rooted in the piano (he's classically trained), ...

While the experimentation of the classically trained British producer James Blake seem carefully crafted

Jan 13, 2011... CMYK, and Klavierwerke) showcased the various talents of the classically-trained young Blake. On his self titled debut James Blake ...

It's rather an audacious title, but Blake is classically trained. ...

"Classically trained" isn't meaningless if the person in question does actually play/sing Beethoven, Brahms, etc.

(I agree it's meaningless in the context people usually use it, ie "this person took lessons from someone")

I've always taken it to mean they were beaten as children when they tried to skip out on piano lessons

shakey mo cornier

what's wrong with corny? would you prefer hokey, cheesy...?

i take it to mean "this person plays the piano", or sometimes "this person plays the violin". and that they were forced to play etudes for a few months in fourth grade.

Jordan otm.

I wouldn't be surprised if that fool in Pomp-la-mousse wasn't "classically trained"

shakey mo cornier

what's wrong with corny? would you prefer hokey, cheesy...?

all these terms are used as shorthand to paper over some seriously unexamined preconceptions

corn-like

kornesque

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e2/Cornology.jpg/220px-Cornology.jpg

I like the word "corny." I think it was used by Lee Konitz to describe Lenny Tristano's behavior during the famous Jimmy Garrison metronome incident.

I almost thought you were kidding but Iguess there was such an incident. No mention of 'corny' though.

http://raggedshirts.com/images/home/oh-me-so-corny-me-so-horny-funny-tshirt.jpg

Ned, that might have been, um, in a private communication. You can see that he does like to use the word, though, by looking here: http://books.google.com/books?id=pc4CsgVHLw0C&pg=PA91&lpg=PA91&dq=lennie+tristano+metronome+konitz+corny&source=bl&ots=g49QKJ9lfr&sig=vGpw6dLBMTLxuAupbDylZlhyJeA&hl=en&ei=VwNbTZKCKciftgf85KSFDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=corny&f=false

"corny" is extremely useful imo

Haven't used it much myself but am about to start. More Lee K
http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/1-18-with-lee-k.html
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=1087

Not so much anymore, but for a while back in the day, Beatlesque was sure used a lot.

comparisons & references to:

Beach Boys/Brian Wilson
Nick Drake
John Fahey
Kraftwerk
etc.

Sorry, to elaborate on that ----

in the sense that if someone is playing music even tangentially related to psych-pop, it automatically sounds like Brian Wilson. or acoustic guitar playing is assumed to be Fahey inspired. singer/songwriter = Drake, electronic = Kraftwerk, etc.

That reminds me: this thread is missing "Joycean prose."

"douchenozzle"

My problem with corny is that I don't really know what it means. For a long time it basically translated as "uncool" and was used by the hip; so you had be-bop guys using the term to talk about some old-fashioned square swing band. But now it often seems to be used in re art that doesn't seem to have anything at all to do with cool, like, there is no imagined cooler alternative in some cases. I guess to me it references a time when ideas of cool were simpler so it has lost meaning.

And that is what I think of corny.

Joycean so otm. Joyce is really kind of inimitable.

"corny" is code for assholes who want to criticize something for being earnest and unironic, without wanting to actually come out and say that earnestness is bad

^corny

^asshole

http://www.theurbanelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/yawn-380x540.jpg

wmc otm

"corny" is code for assholes who want to criticize something for being earnest and unironic, without wanting to actually come out and say that earnestness is bad

lol

corny ----> dopey

I agree about "classically trained" but what's the alternative shorthand (in Blake's case) for someone who reached grade eight when he was 14 and talks in terms of Bach and counterpoint?

"Classically trained" is tough because it suggests some legitimacy over those who have had no training
Which is incredibly dumb.
There's a history of "20th Century Music" textbooks from 1980-2000 completely ignoring any pop musician who didn't have any classical training
Favouring, say, Brubeck over any other jazz musician, Zappa over any other rock musician

Two terms that I'd like to see disappear, or at least elaborated upon, as I think they are connotative placeholders for any actual criticism: "boring", "white"

earworm. why am i seeing this so often all of a sudden? it's a great word but i don't stop seeing it these days...

almost as if it's burrowing into your brain...

maybe because 'Musik von Harmonia' got reissued and people like the track 'Ohrwurm'

seems like that (musical) usage is really common in german, but it also means earwig!

"throbbing techno beats"

"guilt-free cheesiness of '80s rock"

"boutique" - fuck off! just fuck off!!

you fuck off: boutique is a very useful and normal word.

"Triumph". From musicals to albums to acting, Entertainment Weekly won't stop using it.

xpost but it's used to refer to everything now, particularly as an adjective - boutique fesitvals, boutique beers etc.. it doesn't mean ought really.

Hope the 'pop-up' tide is ebbing.

(Aside: item just received by the food mag I'm in at – 'Cupcake Eggs'. These are completely normal free-range eggs in a pink carton. Press release claims they are perfect for any 'fashionista' who loves making cupcakes.)

what is the cupcake thing about?

it just crossed my mind because I have been at many magazines that like using 'boutique' and 'pop-up', and I was horrified by it earlier in the week. I think it is one of the most redundant products I have ever seen a company attempt to foist upon the world.

haven't heard of "pop-up". "boutique" wasn't necessarily referring to journalism, just stuff in general. It was prompted by an advert that mentioned "boutique beers" which makes me irrationally angry for some reason.

Though it strikes me you might mean 'why are people fixated on cupcakes at the moment?' and I don't know the answer to that. Madmen retroism + rise of the hummingbird bakery?

ok "boutique beers" is kind of stupid but i think saying "boutique hotel" makes sense

re: cupcakes-- food trends be trending

boutique beers is at least more honest than "craft beers" which is basically an attempt to slap a more manly word on there to hide the fact that you're drinking fancy schmancy beer.

"pop up stores" makes sense when it refers to temporary stores, but I've seen it being used in reference to permanent stores that are actually, well, more "boutique" versions of major brands.

I want to kill the word monetize

I'm mildly annoyed at pop-up being used for things that are by their nature temporary events in repurposed locations - ie a 'pop-up jumble sale' is a jumble sale. But tbh I like watching phrases bloom and die - with 'pop-up', feels like its mostly chasing-the-pack types using it now.

I guess I know where I am with boutique, and am ok with it, but then a news trawl on 'boutique festivals' is sort of depressing.

doh, I didn't even notice this was on ILM

Feel like I should make some joke about "kraftbeer." Like

Kraftbeer -"I'm the operator of my pocket chugalugger"

Pomplamoose are practitioners of a genre of music I refer to as Cupcake & Ukelele

seem like the kind to play a pop-up gig.

Sorry, should spell it Kraftbier

Similarly "artisanal" -- especially when used in reference to PRODUCE -- this REALLY makes no fucking sense.

farm-to-table is also annoying unless you are actually in a restaurant situated on a farm

I have never heard this usage of "pop-up".

yeah like a "pop up film festival"? you mean as opposed to permanent film festivals?

http://entimg.msn.com/i/500/popupvideo_500.jpg

I am familiar with that usage of "pop-up".

http://trendwatching.com/trends/POPUP_RETAIL.htm

I guess a pop up film festival would be like if an existing festival like Sundance did a parallel 2 day thing at a single theater in NY or something.

"bags of" anything. "bags of talent". "bags of goals". SHUT UP!!

fapping

"fap fap fap"

dear fellow ilx friends,

you aren't really dying when you post *dying*

good 2 kno

whew

*really dying*

actual "actual lol"

yeah, i knew "fapping" was played the instant i submitted that post.

also as a message board we should be immune from that usage since we have our definition of the word FAP http://i.imgur.com/EucaT.gif

i just wanted to indicate that i found the woman sufficiently attractive that i didnt care which shitty rap song she was singing the hook to. next time, i'll leave the jokes at home and just speak from the heart.

fancy a fap?

I think I've posted "actual lol" when I wasn't, actually

how can we ever trust you again?

"un-Googleable"

i think pretty much everyone understands how google works now

but Ungoogleable is an actual thing

but i mean like when you're talking about a band called "the men," i can tell from the name that they are going to be hard to find on the internet. you don't have to tell me that. it's self-evident.

gotcha

Speaking of which, this makes zero sense to me: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/shortcuts/2012/mar/05/coldplay-regret-mylo-xyloto-title
"Coldplay live to regret calling their album Mylo Xyloto
Chris Martin says the title of Coldplay's latest album is a disaster, as it's made up of two words that can't be googled."

The actual text of the article says it's down to being not easy to pronounce. Think this is just a case of the Graun subs getting it wrong.

i know someone who was in an 80's band called *A Band*. still can't find them on the internet...

i've tried googling those words so many times

i know someone who was in an 80's band called *A Band*. still can't find them on the internet...

This could explain their lack of a second life amongst the file sharing community. Am thinking how it would've been prescient of them to release a record called "Album" with, like, numbered songs.

This is a kid thing, but "versing"--as in, "Who are we versing next in floor hockey?" It's got a nice Shakespearean ring to it, but so, so wrong.

i know someone who was in an 80's band called *A Band*. still can't find them on the internet...

― scott seward, Wednesday, 7 March 2012 02:44 (2 hours ago)

not the one featuring neil campbell, richard youngs, and eight million other people, no?

i always thought that the internet destroyed the the.

Or maybe the autocorrect function in word processors?

lol my top result for "the men" (with quotes) is the band

the first page has several youtube links as well!

my first result for the word "men" is my friend's band "MEN"

http://www.myspace.com/men

^^^they are my fourth

~google~

I think there was another American A Band that was on one of the Chuck Warner comps.

Homework series, if I remember right.

Paternalistic

Feels bigoted against dads.

save the dads

smash the dads

embolden
audacity

"Babywearing"

just horrible

please, please, please stop saying "the Mad Men era"

ok

"dafuq"

"jolly good"

"a good look"

"the ___ game" and "on lock" and "has the ___ game on lock"

What if the game is Sonic & Knuckles?

hurting got the pedantry game on lock

dnw any more awesomesauce or amazeballs

^^^^ otm x 1,000,0000,000,0000,000

Why is that pedantic? I don't care about the grammar, I'm just sick of hearing it.

ugh, amazeballs, that is the worst

those two words are the cool beans of today

"Burst onto the scene"

"unlock"

song lyrics or snippets or album covers are not antique secrets held in rustic lockboxes, nor are they Xbox achievements, they're promotional material a label posts, probably regardless of how much their fans do or don't tweet/Like/call. pretty minor, I know, but it's one of the more common examples of PR-speak seeping into journalistic copy and if I'm editing I kill it on sight.

Hack

"______ 101" or "dorm room _____"

(basically anything that means to imply "I have graduated from college and look back on it with bemused condescension.")

"his / her / my truth"

put "owning" in front to be shot out of a cannon

Own your truth

Describing some bit of policy as a "Rube Goldberg device/contraption"

"unhelpful"

"and that's a good thing"

seriously stop telling me what is a good thing and what isn't
similarly, "...what we've learned from this..."

katherine otm some words are just annoying but "unlock" is sinister

my dad invariably describes any movie or actor or scene he likes as "watchable" and it makes my eyes bleed

otm re: "and that's a good thing," ugh. The implied "but," as well as the implied tying of a bow around the goodness of the thing, both just seem so patronizingly "reasonable," and close off objection.

"transitioned"

"deliverable" (noun)

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/04/sotomayor-epic-affirmative-action-ban-dissent.html

Oh shit, EPIC dissent brahhhhh!

technical difficulties

i used that the other day cuz my computer crashed and i lost 2 podcast segments

"_________ is ridiculously good"

so lazy

"Sunday Funday"

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7e/Sunday_Funday_cover.jpg

"you're going to need a kleenex"

gross

"small bites"

shenanigans

That was a fun word when it was rarely used, but now I hear/read it too much for sure.

from what i can tell it's used to make ordinary (even boring) stuff people do when they're drunk sound more interesting or mischievous

are the irish theme bars called 'shenanigans' part of a chain or do they just have the same name?

No clue

earnest use of "shenanigans" def screams drama kid/poly/fedora/libertarian to me

See to me, it signals country/white hat/red solo cup.

For me it's account manager who feels her partying days are over but she still likes to drink wine and gossip and calls that "shenanigans"

curate

'Hilariously'

music writers saying a song is 'all x and y'

reveals

"putting out fires"

alt.shenanigans was a quality usenet newsgroup

exclusive

any ___splaining construction other than mansplaining (straightsplaining, whitesplaining, etc.). None of them work.

splainsplaining

ok, which one of you did it

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/wrg/5176556495.html

Hard to believe there's a lack of decent copyeditors at the Time's

seeing various folks using "lane" a lot

Caramanica re Drake: And that’s true — by creating his own sound, and lane, he ensured no one could best him

agitprop
"agit-pop"

I have to let it out: stop the "at once _____ and _____", where the blanks are essentially opposites.

Everything can be summed up in terms of opposites, which is a neat notion about existence in general, but in most cases I've read this, the terms used are either too vague, or one seems obviously more apt for the music than the other, and comes off as hedged (and lazy). If you're describing music that can be at once "this" and "that", then why not also describe "the other", or each of the millions of alternatives? Or, you could just do the much harder thing, and attempt to describe what the music actually sounds like, or makes you feel, without setting these weird limits that traverse almost infinite detail.

I get why it happens, and I'm sure I've done it many times myself - performing this act of reaching for an ineffable thing. It's a construction riddled with pathos - basically trying to catch something of what "bittersweet" conjures with regard to personal experience. But not actually that descriptive... should be dashed away by the same editors who should be catching strings of effusive modifiers that are all near-synonyms for each other.

yeah, I know I've done it in the past too -- I think that's why I hate it so much

confess to overusing 'at once x & y'
also to 'strings of effusive modifiers that are all near-synonyms for each other'
(bbbbut distinct shades of meaning!)
(have to) make an effort in editing to cut that stuff out

never thought it would happen but i have tired of a function word

"this"

"swear" as a noun (e.g. "he said a swear") Is THE WORST.

"mainstream" and, far worse, "underground"

"this"

― La Lechera, Thursday, September 3, 2015 4:38 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

""this""

"Disconnect".

I'm not a prescriptivist (I speak and write in non-standard English every day - heavy Glaswegian dialect). And I'm not opposed to nominalisation in principle (certainly not the word "disconnection"). But there is just something about the proliferation of that word, especially in British print journalism when it's so clearly an Americanised turn of phrase, that just makes my blood boil.

I want to call time on "did a thing" on social media, as a coy substitute for "wrote a feature" - e.g. "I did a thing for the New York Times", as if you just scribbled a few lines in your downtime.

Yep, similarly the use of 'so this happened'

don't much care for 'did a thing' but that's mainly because it sounds twee as fuck

speaking personally here, I tend to be comparably self-effacing about stuff I've written because of my gnawing sense of shame about failing to have learned any skill apart from writing about minority interest topics

'denier'

when did ppl start saying "drop dead" wrt deadlines? it drives me crazy

as in "what is the drop-dead date?"

I heard somebody use the words "moxie" in two separate sentences last week as if that's a thing that real human beings actually say.

"double-down on (something)"

"...if that makes sense."

a rare sentence-final hedge!

"incestuous" to describe a tight-knit community who prefer to work/associate with each other rather than with outsiders. Don't try to make it salacious, it's not that interesting a scenario.

sarcastic "it's almost as if"/"it's almost like" construction could do with some time on the bench

yeah i wilt at verbose sarcasm. one of the reasons i can't handle john oliver.

"it's almost as if"/"it's almost like"

yeah have consciously retired this in recent years.

"perfect pop"/"perfect pop song"

you guys would put john oliver out of business

"...if that makes sense."

i'm really good at this one

music writers saying a song is 'all x and y'

i'd like to yell everyone about this one though

Xxxpost ooh, good point! let's also add asides of the form '' --- and this is true ---''. been losing potency ever since dave barry wasn't making things up 25+ years ago.

"for white people" is gross, both in it implication about white people and non-white people

"blew us away"

"batshit insane"

had a great run, truly wonderous, but now it's time to fucking stop

"tasty," in general, but especially for describing music. just visceral skin-crawling ick

i like it for describing a situation that has just gone from bad to worse

"i wouldn't go out there, miller - it's gotten pretty tasty in the last hour"

visceral skin-crawling ick

― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Monday, February 20, 2017 4:50 PM (thirty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I thought "bonkers" is the new "batshit insane".

What if… certain journalistic clichés merely mirror the hackneyed musical material under review?

haha katherine ok

Some riffs are tasty and that's all there is to it I'm afraid.

I have to say I can kind of identify, the person i know who uses that word the most is a kind of posh dude who makes my skin crawl in a number of other ways. I think I like it because it's so exotic to my American ears..

"stripped back"

"copious amounts" - why does this phrasing shit me so much?

it's very "I just finished my sixth-grade vocabulary lesson"

everything counts, in copious amounts

buttloads is way better

It's like copious is already an amount, so it's like saying "excessive amounts amounts" maybe.

"a myriad of" when you can just say "myriad"

or drop the preciousness a bit and just say "many"

or if you want to be extra precious go with "divers and sundry"

"what's not to like"

"frothy"

had hoped one of dan savage's redeeming factors would be to remove that from the non-ironic lexicon

santorum has def ruined 'frothy' forever

simultaneous santorum

dumpster fire
garbage fire
fire

huh those are both totally different from the contexts I was thinkingof - music criticism (Pfork on Katy Perry's "frothy pop") and financial/market analysis ("tech stocks are getting a little frothy lately")

I guess my distaste is because it does have this animalistic sexual connotation, like frogs mating

My brother in law refers to beers as "frothies" and it makes my hands clench and unclench.

dumpster fire
garbage fire
fire

YES! These make me want to jump out a window. Also "garbage person," "trash person," etc.

In regards to guitar effects pedals: "creamy." Usually used to describe distortion or fuzz pedals.

Just, no.

'cockwomble' really needs to fuck off right about now

if there's one word that shd have a prison-term attached it's "wondrous"

(prison-term for me not unlikely: i want to slap writers who use it, even and esp.when they are ppl i otherwise have time for)

only should be used by evil wizards when describing cursed delicacies they are tempting our heroes with

*must not post Jon Anderson on this thread*

i too hate wondrous

what do people mean by "vibey" wrt music? i know what a vibe is, but vibes can be anywhere, on any spectrum

I don't know if I've heard/seen that, but it reminds me of 'evocative' in its lack of specificity.

it means it's got a lot of bass, man

Roy Ayers and Bobby Hutcherson and the like

its a dance thing

drugs

Sounds like I could use a refresher course in vibeology.

v-i-b-e-ology

i have no idea what vibey means

evocative sounds otm

paging Milt Jackson to thread

I agree with the vibe spectrum assessment. I would probably infer "vibey" to mean laid back and stoned - lots of reverb, modulation, synths. I don't think I've ever read this term in context though, so god knows.

I'm hearing it everywhere

music called a "balm" and/or "tonic"

Last night I was listening to NPR and I started predicting and saying the cliched phrases along with the announcer like I was in a freestyle battle clowning the other guy for using trite rhymes.

use non-other threads please

"sticking out like a sore thumb" is an unsalvageable cliche. "sticking out like the proverbial sore thumb" is not a clever way round this fact.

lol

while we're here can i express the confusion that arises whenever i hear someone say "to coin a phrase"? because they always say it after repeating some old chestnut. is it irony??

in-built ambiguity in the term "coin" used as a verb i think: mint as in "new and fresh" versus the mint where every single identical coin is made year after repetitive year :)

BAH

it makes me so mad!!

i mean basically they shouldn't say it at all: if anything using it wrongly is breaking out of the prisonhouse of cliché

(albeit into another prisonhouse, also ultimately of cliché)

to coin the proverbial phrase

and take it to the bank

I'm of the opinion that people in the main are much less interested in coining new and fresh phrases now than they were when "to coin a phrase" was a popular phrase in its non-ironic sense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No82kn1EfPk

Love is so simple, to quote a phrase
You've known it all the time, I'm learnin' it these days

I remember that The NME in the 1990s used the word "angular" a lot. A bit of googling throws up this feature in the NME from May 1995 in which they describe Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood as angular. On the cover: Dodgy. They must have described Menswear as angular at some point but I'm not googling that. To be fair Jonny Greenwood does have thin arms.

"To be fair", or TBF, that's another one. I write "in their defence" instead. Amirite?

How about “angular” to describe music — “Wire’s taut, angular post-punk,” etc.

Reminds me of the days when “muscular” drumming seemed to be everywhere.

I mean, describing Greenwood as angular is a lot more tolerable than describing music that way!

Physically and musically angular: Jonny Greenwood, Tom Verlaine...

When the word "Because" is used as both a subordinating conjunction and a preposition. ("Sentences" that solely consist of "Because ____, I guess.", or a similar linguistic silliness.)

____ is usually 'reasons'

or 'communism'

I feel like that was a cutesy Internet trend that has largely run its course?

The use of it as a clever and unexpected sentence structure has largely run its course.
The use of it as a lazy joke is probably years from petering out.

Language is bad.

howard cosell used to call philadelphia eagles wide receiver harold carmichael (who at 6'8" was the tallest WR in NFL history) 'the angular one'

probably a topic for another less lawn-defensive thread but i'm intrigued how and why some usages pall and others just bed in for eternity w/o anyone minding

"most ambitious work to date"

For some reason "angular" to describe vaguely post-punk guitar riffs has never really bothered me. Yeah, it's a cliche, but I also know exactly what it means when someone uses it.

It's mentioned a bunch of times here, but "seminal" is the one that really bugs me. I always read as "this foundational work that was literally jizzed into existence."

my absolute least favorite is when musicians who are perpetual side players or have played with a lot of different bands are described as "promiscuous"
no.
and yes -- i am aware that the word can be used in a non-sexual way but according to the definitions i have found, all of them carry a vague to serious negative connotation.

demonstrating or implying an undiscriminating or unselective approach; indiscriminate or casual.
"the city fathers were promiscuous with their honors"
synonyms: indiscriminate, undiscriminating, unselective, random, irresponsible, haphazard, thoughtless, unthinking, unconsidered, casual, careless
"the promiscuous popping of antibiotics hasn't helped his T-cell count"
antonyms: careful, selective

"in-demand"?

sure beats "promiscuous" and is more accurate

I've complained about this before but "kiss-off." not every breakup song is a sassy emoji!

The phrase "torturous path" is an indication that with 95% probability, the author doesn't realize there is a separate adjective "tortuous" meaning "twisting, turning, winding".

If cover blurbs are to be believed, every book of history is 'magisterial' and many history reviewers need to buy a thesaurus.

The "artist / album does blank, blank, and blank—-sometimes all in the same song" construction really needs to go

Haha, paged away from this comment and immediately encountered your likely inspiration:
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/100-gecs-1000-gecs/

Feels like a pretty effective summation of the 100 gecs appeal in this instance, though.

ick

wouldn't mind never seeing "rootsy" again

“Closer to You” is all snarly synth bass, clattering trap percussion and processed vocals...

I’ve always disliked this particular cliché — “song x is all attribute attribute attribute...”

my absolute least favorite is when musicians who are perpetual side players or have played with a lot of different bands are described as "promiscuous"

forgot what thread i'd opened and was struggling to tie that description to "Get Closer" by Seals and Crofts

From the 'pitchfork is dumb' thread, this exchange made me let out an involuntary guffaw:

I am in favor of descriptions that describe the actual sounds, especially if they have points of reference — I’ve found old albums or bands to listen to that I hadn’t heard after reading a review of a new one I liked.

The reviewer should not, however, say that a song sounds “like artists X and Y had a baby”

― untuned mass damper (mh), Thursday, August 15, 2019 6:34 PM bookmarkflaglink

what if the baby took acid tho

― Οὖτις, Thursday, August 15, 2019 6:36 PM bookmarkflaglink

in the last few months I've been seeing people misuse (intentionally or unintentionally) "gaslighting" to mean a variety of things that are very far removed from gaslighting. People seem to be using it as shorthand for "you are disagreeing with me on this thing and I think you are a moron for having an opinion that is so obviously wrong". It's been misused that way on ILX on a few rare occasions. It was misused that way by butthurt Star Wars fans who were upset that John Boyega had the audacity to say that Reylo made no sense as a shipping. I saw two people arguing today about a festival lineup and one of the two accused the other of gaslighting because they suggested that the only reason they didn't like the lineup was because they were elitist and narrow-minded (???).

a lot of it seems to be thin-skinned people who can't bear to have their worldview challenged and weaponize it in an attempt to shut down the debate. it's frustrating because though we're a long way from it, like "fake news", it's a word that can easily be stripped of its meaning fast if certain bad actors repurpose it.

“butthurt” is probably also a good word to avoid ;)

it's been imprinted within me after years of ILXing, old habits die hard.

trolling = disagreeing now, losing any sense of meaning it may have had

psychedelic

Still better than 'on acid'.