Last year, the following drugs made their pharmaceutical manufacturers over $9 billion… each. Their names read like a bad eye-chart test or Harry Potter/Da Vinci Code mystery in which drug names are meant to bewilder, yet hopefully resolve issues. Keytruda, Humira, Ozempic, Eliquis, Biktarvy, Dupixent, Comirnaty, Stelara, Opdivo, Darzalex, Eylea, Trikafta. The profitability key apparently stems from throwing spaghetti letters onto a wall and then simply re-arranging them onto an unfathomably bizarre label.
Weird words remind me of the mind-bending, bizarre Mister Mxyzptlk, who first appeared in a Superman comic book 80 years ago. Or “ ‘Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe (“Jabberwocky”, from Lewis Caroll’s “Through The Looking Glass”). Slithytove sounds like a best-seller drug for controlling irritable bowel syndrome. Letters are tossed around, and the possibilities are endless!
Moving on, here are a few tired phrases that perhaps we can stop tossing around: “To be honest with you…” When I hear that one, my first thought is, “Oh, so everything up to now has been a lie?!” Shouldn’t we assume honesty? But in 2024, the truth is far more nuanced, twisted, subjective, or unimportant, so maybe this expression remains relevant.
“Take it to the next level.” Ok, how about we just “increase?” Can we actually skip a level… and go up two levels?!
“It is what it is…” An overused summation used to end discussions; it can sometimes be exchanged with “…the train has left the station.”
“At the end of the day…” Another overused way to neatly summarize (or dismiss) a discussion. But in today’s over-stimulated, digital world, some might suggest there never actually is an “end of the day,” what with chats, emails, texts, alerts, and messages ad nauseum. Stimulating complexities nowadays make it seem more like “at the end to the daze.”
“Think outside the box.” I’ve commented before: who’s box? Would a circle or triangle be better to think inside of, or out? Ah, you want innovation and inventiveness? OK, let’s start by never suggesting that we “think outside the box.”
“On the same page.” Oh, you mean “agree” or “working together?” Frankly, not enough people have/make the time to read these days, so they’re really not on any page.
And to be clear, it’s pronounced real-tor, not real-a-ter; jewel-ry, not jewl-ary; nu-clear, not nuc-ular. I know what you’re thinking: he should just “get a life.”
Think about it…