Saturday, January 15, 2011

passion: christ

Annoyingly, it seems any future wordy rants will have to be run through a sort of pre-posting filter to ensure that there isn't already a YouTube video posted as part of the David Mitchell's Soapbox series which expresses the whole thing far more succinctly than I ever could (and with the advantage of swooshy visual effects as well, to be fair). I'll offer you just one example (as you're perfectly capable of finding the rest for yourself): the hugely irritating constant use of the word "passionate" in the most absurdly inappropriate circumstances. Personally I blame Tony Blair; he was constantly banging on about it: a summary is here, but it's easy to find specific examples here, here and here.

1 comment:

The Black Rabbit said...

I hadn't seen any of these David Mitchell soapbox things - I now think I've watched them all.
The "could care less" one is very funny, as is the "unattended luggage" clip.

That said, in the "unattended luggage" clip, I wish he'd discussed the phrase "personal belongings" - which as you know (I think), is absurd is my opinion.
Belongings - fine.
Personal belongings? Is there any other type of belongings? Are there many types of belongings?

Let's be clear - if something is belonging (to you) - as in your belongings, then, in that case, by definition - those belongings are already "personal".


It's as if Will Self has had a stroke and does all the train announcements. Why use one word, when four will do?

What next?

"Please will you ensure that upon leaving the train at this terminus, you take all your personal personal personal personal personal belongings with you.

It wouldn't make any less sense.

Annnywaaayyy...

Just wanted to say thanks for our conversation today - and thanks for introducing me to these soapbox clips!