Have you noticed the recent cliches going on in America? I have and they are starting to get to me because they are used so much. It is almost so bad as to get on my hated words list. The first word I am going to talk about is the word "look". In essense what "look" means is, I am thinking of something to say but it may be bad so you better be prepared. Obama likes to use that one alot, especially to the press corps. And I think it is catching on in the US. Like when they ask "Is the economy going to get better". The response is "look...it may or it may not." That word is used alot as if we can actually see it in his mind. Another cliche that has been given popularity is "here's the thing". It also means "I've got something to say and you may not like it." So when someone uses the two cliches together you better run cause you are getting some bad news - "look, here's the thing."

A good managerial cliche used by leaders is "going forward" or "moving forward" and "the road ahead". That means you are thinking about the future and want to forget what happened. Like,"Sure the economy is bad, but going forward it may get better. The road ahead looks better." The most popular one last year was probably "perfect storm". This year it is probably "bailout". The word "socialism" is also making a comeback, let's hope not for long. Towards the end of last year "main street" to "wall street" were big ones. If you are not an executive apparently you live on "main street". Other popular words include insurgent, recession and depression. So whay do I point these out? Look, here's the thing, maybe if we become aware of our using these words so much, moving forward the future socialist economy brought on by the bailout of the recession will help main street out of the depression as well as wall street. Or maybe it won't. As long as the road ahead is better we are good. Or are we just fooling ourselves with clever cliches?