cataloging words and phrases that seem to pop up everywhere all of a sudden

that is not a last few years thing. that is a since dudes been talking baout dudes thing.

that usage seems to be all over p4k rap reviews xp

Dayo's nailed it - it's a total "goons" thread phenomenon

knock it off with the "first world problems" already

^^

http://i.imgur.com/CgBGk.png

Tumblr whites have been saying "the law of diminishing returns" like crazy in the last few months because it was on a <i>Community</i> episode

I sure wish you never invented, and constantly employed, that stupid phrase "Tumblr whites."

Yeah, like "first world problems", it smacks of guilt/self-loathing and says more about the utterer than the "issue" it's meant to describe.

Tumblr ilxors

Catch phrases have been around since time out of mind. The trick to launching your own is tapping into the zeitgeist and catching a wave of popularity. Then the sky is the limit! With luck and pluck, your newly minted phrase will live long and prosper as a canonical cliche, forever young, and shiny as a new penny.

"HAT TIP"

what the fuck is a hat tip?

STOP SAYING THIS, PLEASE.

A hat tip is used to signal one's satisfaction upon the execution of a hen fap.

like you're tipping your hat to someone who showed you something cool/interesting/whatever

http://i.imgur.com/3yuw8.jpg

yeah I know what it means

it's just dumb. say "courtesy of" like a normal person.

or "shoutout to ______" or ANYTHING BUT "HAT TIP". WHO TIPS THEIR HAT IN 2012?!?

I used to say s/o but now I say h/t

I think it's just funny imagining people tipping their top hats while using the computer

WHO TIPS THEIR HAT IN 2012?!?

Gentlemen.

this is only british people obviously but "innit" please stop saying this

poors, olds, dumbs

"game changer"- very tedious.

wheelhouse

There was a real "herding cats" thing goin on abt this time last year

My boss is a herding cats fanatic. I'd barely heard it until he started dropping it into almost every third phone conversation.

I'm afraid I use this phrase on occasion. It's quite apt, so what ya gonna do?

I don't mind it, but his overuse of the phrase got on my nerves. He has a rotating repertoire of phrases he uses to make himself sound more intelligent/witty.

I used "herding cats" twice this week at work. u_u

yeah, i heard it too the other day.

i used it unironically last week

were you herding some cats?

sure why not

was actually herding cats "like herding cats"?

I actually used this in my personal statement for grad school apps. Unironically. But in quotes. I am a horrible human being.

imperial phase

'Labour's Union Links' is a golf course, right?

closed shop sossidge innit

the new normal

is it me or has "offer" in that horrible noun usage meaning "the services or goods a company provides" sprung up everywhere in the last 3 or 4 months?

"kill (it / them / him /her) with fire" seemed to be popular a few weeks back but thankfully I think it's died down.

Our postgraduate offering is really good.

Right-sizing

Sigh

I'd never heard of Right-sizing before!

amaright-sigh-zing

Our postgraduate offering is really good

"offering" i could live with but "offer" seems to be the preferred word of the evil

xpost

you will...you will

it's the latest innovation that allows you to save crucial time and money by not having to say "our thing is not the correct size; we will change the size of the thing"

One construction I've noticed in different places is along the lines of "fascism happens slowly, then very fast" and "how do you go bankrupt? first slowly, then quickly." Googling the bankruptcy variation, I was pointed to this exchange from Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises:

“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked.

“Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.”

Anyway, I don't know that I'd ever heard this prior to a month ago. I was wondering if anyone else noticed the phrase recently becoming more popular, or is this more a case of me now knowing it and so seeing it everywhere.

"clear eyed" and "unserious" both seem very popular at the moment.

They don't "bug the shit out of me," and "favorite" would be going too far. If we had a thread for phrases you think are "timely, useful and that you maybe mildly like?" I would put them there.