Hackneyed

Sorry for my lackadaisical blogging. I’ve been working on some wonderful editorials for CHARLIE magazine. (Stay tuned, folks!) The added workload has consumed my available time, energy and whatever brain functionality is leftover from my 9-to-5 job.

Never fear, I’m back and I’ve got some opinions that I just can’t hold in anymore (but I probably should).

As a writer and public relations professional I both create and consume a lot of content.  A lot of content. The first thing I do when I wake up is turn on NPR for my morning news briefs. Then, it’s on to reading industry blogs, news wires and scanning Twitter for the day’s stories. Not everything applies to my line(s) of work but those who don’t care about the news are just as dangerous as those who can’t be troubled with details. 

They also make lousy trivia team members.

Lately I’ve noticed a complete and total over use of the following words: amazing, fabulous, wonderful, chef-inspired, gourmet, artisan and offerings. Have you ever repeated a word aloud until it somehow becomes foreign to you? The same applies to the written word. Amazing, fabulous, wonderful, chef-inspired, gourmet, artisan and offerings are becoming hackneyed parts of our vocabulary. You can blame food giants like Quiznos, Domino’s and Healthy Choice for using these words inappropriately, because that’s what I’m doing.

Here’s where I probably will get into trouble. 

Can anyone--seriously-- tell me which chef inspired Quiznos’ chef-inspired toasty subs? Tom Colicchio? Julia Child? Thomas Keller? I didn’t notice a pearls and oyster sandwich on Quiznos’ menu. Sure, technically Quiznos employes chefs to create new sandwiches. To me, that’s not what being a chef is all about, call me provincial. It cheapens the chef title. Also, shame on Top Chef contestant Fabio Viviani for saying that Domino’s makes “art-ee-sahn pee-zuhs” -- technically every pizza is artisanal. You know why? Artisan = handmade. 

Sure, to some, this little rant means absolutely nothing. If, however, you’re a fan of great food you’ll understand how cheap you feel when people use the same words to describe a sandwich you can find everywhere with a meal you would describe as transcendent. 

The end.