Random bits of wisdom

You cannot center around. The very notion of centering means you are focused on the point in the middle of, for example, a circle. When that point is centered, it cannot go around anything.

You cannot be very unique … or really unique … or any other modifier with unique. The word itself comes from the Latin unicus, which means one, sole, alone of its kind. So, you can’t be very one of a kind.

“Yep” is not an appropriate customer service response. True story: A customer ordered a meal at a fast food restaurant. When the order came out, the restaurant employee called the customer’s name and dropped the bag on the counter. The customer said “thank you” and the employee said … wait for it … “yep.” How many things can you find wrong with that picture?

Gonna, gotta, wanna, shoulda, coulda are not words and should not be used in business communications. However, as has been noted previously, language is evolving and the more words are used, the more acceptable they become. This is not always for the better of the language, as we have seen in many situations.

Zoom is a brand name. Just like Kleenex or Xerox, Zoom has been misused in a generic context. Any description of a video call over the past couple of years tended to refer to it as a Zoom call when it could just have easily been a Google Meet or Microsoft Teams call. Either way, fairly certain we’re all ready for a break from “you’re on mute” and “I’m only seeing your forehead.”

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