Everything is definitely not awesome

November 9, 2021 â€" 9.00pm

Pasquale Vartuli of Wahroonga is delighted to report the first sighting of Christmas beetles this year, on Monday morning in Wahroonga. They may not be as abundant these days but it’s good news to hear they’re still around.

When her nephew didn’t have his seatbelt on in the car, Judy Gerita Archer of Hornsby said to him, “‘Click it or ticket’. Before getting out, he put his mask on and said, ‘Mask it or casket’.” If wit duels like these are common, big family get-togethers would be interesting.

A request from Neil Christopher of Eungai Rail: “How does one ‘forget koels’ (C8)? Asking for a friend.”

While she is in agreement that tall plants should never be planted on roundabouts, Barbara Rogers of Freshwater cannot fathom how Allan Gibson can refer to the beautiful agapanthus as a “dreaded curse” (C8). “That said, I have always wanted a serious-looking sign on my front fence saying ‘Beware of the agapanthus’.”

Adrian Simpson calling for a moratorium on the word “amazing” (C8) caused an outpouring of bile from Column 8 readers as they nominated their own personal word peeves. The winner, by a long stretch, was the much-overused “awesome”. Jennifer Tidey of Mudgee gives a clear example that explains her antipathy to the word. “I once heard someone describe a peanut butter sandwich as ‘awesome’. No. Nice perhaps, yummy very possibly, even delicious. But ‘awesome’? Absolutely not. The Grand Canyon is awesome, a towering sequoia is awesome, a breaching whale is awesome. Not a peanut butter sandwich.”

Coral Button of North Epping seconds the over-used “amazing” (C8) and then adds “‘wow’ to express that amazement, and ‘incredible’ to express being very amazed” on her hate list. Anne Cook of Ermington nominates “unique” as constantly being used for something just a bit special, not a one of a kind. Julie Apps of Pemulwuy agrees, saying she cringes every time she hears “a commentator say ‘very unique’. It seems most prevalent in describing sporting achievements. A thing is either ‘unique’ or it is not. There are no degrees of uniqueness.”

As a valid word that has been overworked everywhere since the 2019-’20 bushfires, Michael Winnick of Wollombi nominates “unprecedented” as another contender for the list of repellent words (C8). Michael Dunlop of Exeter recommends the addition of his pet hate â€" “cohort”. “It seems to have replaced the much softer sounding word ‘group’. For me, ‘cohort’ rasps like chalk on a blackboard.”

Column8@smh.com.au

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