"Taking Things to a Whole `Nother Level!"

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For some inexplicable reason, this particular cliché really irritates the bejesus outta me. I'm not sure if it's because of its seeming ubiquotousness or that I'm depressed that people can't think of something more original or interesting to say or because it sort've alludes to video and/or role playing games or what....all I know is that it sends me into fuckin' orbit.

What say you? And are there turns-of-phrase that have a simillar effect on you?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 19 July 2003 04:50 (twenty years ago) link

Huh, that's funny. I never made the video game/rpg connection to that phrase. I always thought of it more like elevators or Macy's or something. But yeah, it's weak -- so weak that its only use anymore seems to come from people like drivetime DJs and athletes at press conferences, people who understand that the actual words they say aren't really supposed to mean anything. It's part of the anti-language -- generic word strings designed to conceal rather than reveal, ritualistic mumbo jumbo that can be linked together in different combinations to impress the rubes. The new Latin.

Personally, I'm past goddam tired of "The American people have moved on." It's like you're supposed to be afraid of getting left behind. Of course, that fits right into the whole eschatological marketing approach of this administration. If you don't "move on" -- to a whole 'nother level, presumably -- you're going to be Left Behind.

Sorry, this wasn't supposed to be a political thread. Just venting.

― JesseFox (JesseFox), Saturday, 19 July 2003 05:05 (twenty years ago) link

Alex I never noticed the video game connection either--that's brilliant.

I think this is one of those filler phrases that people use when they either don't have anything to say or are terrifically bored of a particular question. Hence its ubiquity on MTV interview segments.

Also it's often applied to things that don't, in fact, take anything to any other level.

― amateurist (amateurist), Saturday, 19 July 2003 05:16 (twenty years ago) link

changing the game

some "next shit"

drapes!!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 19 July 2003 06:47 (twenty years ago) link

Isn't it a trivialization of Marxist dialectics? And how is "in orbit" not a whole 'nother level?

― nestmanso (nestmanso), Saturday, 19 July 2003 07:07 (twenty years ago) link

That "orbit" could conceivably be construed as "another level" is not the point. I'm merely decrying the usage of that particular cliché, not necesarily the concept it depicts. For example, if someone were to instead say "Escorts proceedings to an alternate plane of existence" or "Instigates a progression between phases," I wouln't bat an eyelid. It's the lazy reliance on that particularly tired phrase that furrows my brow.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 19 July 2003 08:03 (twenty years ago) link

Oh, ok, I'm enjoying a quantum leap towards understanding.

― nestmanso (nestmanso), Saturday, 19 July 2003 08:27 (twenty years ago) link

oh so many "you do the math"
"it was really weird"
It is lazy in extremis but when I hear a new catchphrase I too am guilty of flounting it around maybe 5 times until I grow weary and try to shake it. Fun is had in corrupting them like "its just a phrase your going through" or "fake it to the next level"

― jeskam, Saturday, 19 July 2003 09:21 (twenty years ago) link

ooh, i hate "you do the math." it's so glib, and it usually means "i can't articulate the end of my story in an interesting or creative way" rather than "i trust you're smart enough to figure out the rest."

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 19 July 2003 09:38 (twenty years ago) link

also see "that's all she wrote."

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 19 July 2003 09:38 (twenty years ago) link

I think of the USA as a place where everybody says "can you say...[x]?" ALL THE TIME, just stop it!

― dave q, Saturday, 19 July 2003 10:27 (twenty years ago) link

"Wonderful", "incredible", "fantastic"...

These are words that should only be used once or twice a lifetime.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Saturday, 19 July 2003 10:33 (twenty years ago) link

Others that should cease if they haven't done so already:

"Don't Go There"

Needlessly repeating "Know what I'm sayin'?" after every declaritive statement.

"You Go, girlfriend!"

"Dude!"

"Ka-Ching!!!"

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 19 July 2003 10:35 (twenty years ago) link

i like "dude." everything else is ON THE PLANE. LOCK AND LOAD.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 19 July 2003 10:38 (twenty years ago) link

"Off the hook!", although I believe that's already gone the way of "Outtie Five-thouttie" and the like.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 19 July 2003 10:41 (twenty years ago) link

I'm actually getting quite tired of....."I'm feelin' you," not used in a literal sense (i.e. a touch or grope), but rather as a means or expressing empathy or admiration.

That said, none of these other contender match the irritation factor as the "`Nother Level" phenom.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 19 July 2003 10:46 (twenty years ago) link

Ooh...two more:

"Think Outside the Box!

Referring to any particular demographic as "nation," ala "Prozac Nation" or "TRL Nation" or "Ned Ragett Nation" etc.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 19 July 2003 10:49 (twenty years ago) link

Four Words: Use Other Words Please

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 19 July 2003 10:52 (twenty years ago) link

Commonly used phrases that inexplicably bug you

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 19 July 2003 10:53 (twenty years ago) link

Can't find it now (what with the Search option now limited), but I believe I waged a thread-based campaign to rid the terms "booty," "diva" and "mojo" from the Vh1 vocabulary. I believe I failed.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 19 July 2003 10:57 (twenty years ago) link

Most irritating cliche/phrase/expression

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 19 July 2003 11:01 (twenty years ago) link

I like off the scale, not so fond of hooks. Sometimes things really are on a whole other level. There might be better ways to say it though. like a long intense description where you grab the person you're telling and shake them.

― Ronan (Ronan), Saturday, 19 July 2003 11:27 (twenty years ago) link

And are there turns-of-phrase that have a simillar effect on you?

I'm EVERYWHERE

― Millar (Millar), Saturday, 19 July 2003 15:44 (twenty years ago) link

Haha with search disabled, blue-writing once again becomes the preserve of the elite

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 19 July 2003 15:52 (twenty years ago) link

man, the one I'm sick of "I'm not putting it in my mouth" : use other words already!

― James Blount (James Blount), Saturday, 19 July 2003 18:37 (twenty years ago) link

Most of these catchphrases annoy me EXCEPT comments about the next-levelness of things. I'm not sure why, but I like when people use it. It implies personal artistic ambition.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 19 July 2003 18:42 (twenty years ago) link

Actually, I just realized that when people express their ambitions, it's often comforting for them to use cliches, lest they sound like Bono.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 19 July 2003 18:45 (twenty years ago) link

it makes me laugh cuz it reminds me of the anecdote someone told on the dmb thread about some acoustic guitar guy performing "all along the watchtower" and introducing it with "here's a song bob dylan wrote, jimi hendrix made rock, and dave matthews took to a whole nother level"

― James Blount (James Blount), Saturday, 19 July 2003 18:46 (twenty years ago) link

plus "Taking Things to a Whole Nother Level" sounds like such a late 60s-early 70s r&b album title, it's like the rare groove "keep on truckin"

― James Blount (James Blount), Saturday, 19 July 2003 18:47 (twenty years ago) link

god that's great. and it brings up another thing I like about the phrase: it's ambiguity.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 19 July 2003 18:47 (twenty years ago) link

It implies personal artistic ambition.

Yeah, like the ambition to get from the "jumping over rolling barrells thrown by an angry gorilla" level to the "jump from platform to platform and snatching magic gold coins" level (or whatever the second level of Donkey Kong involved).

I have no problems, honestly, with the phrases implications, just it's tired language. Find a new way to convey the idea, that's what I sayin'. Knowhumsayin'?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:20 (twenty years ago) link

with the phrases implications, just it's tired language

Pardon me, that should have read: ...with the phrase's implications, just its (no apostrophe) tired language.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:21 (twenty years ago) link

Also, you misspelled 'knowhumsayin'.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:26 (twenty years ago) link

like "I Love you," "have a good time," and "good luck," "...to the next level!" will never be tired language for me.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:30 (twenty years ago) link

Why should I waste energy thinking of new and creative ways to say the same old shit just so some overly-sensitive people don't get their panties in a twist?

― oops (Oops), Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:31 (twenty years ago) link

Forcing yourself to express the same old shit in different ways might make you think in new ways too.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:35 (twenty years ago) link

True.

― oops (Oops), Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:37 (twenty years ago) link

"dude" is the worst word in the history of the english language and all people who use it should be forced to fuck a pregnant camel. end of. period.

― sean g, Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:38 (twenty years ago) link

dude!

― James Blount (James Blount), Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:39 (twenty years ago) link

For some reason 'period' is much more annoying than 'full stop', especially when it's its own sentence. I'm not generally anti-American English, I should add.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:40 (twenty years ago) link

It somehow sounds more self-satisfied.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:41 (twenty years ago) link

anybody who gets this incensed about someone's choice of words seriously needs some psychiatric help.

― oops (Oops), Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:42 (twenty years ago) link

I really don't get incensed, I promise.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:44 (twenty years ago) link

You were the one person I definitely wasn't referring to, I promise.

― oops (Oops), Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:47 (twenty years ago) link

haha u fucks didnt get my pregnant camle joke DUDSE

"oops" is a pretty annoying word

― sean g, Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:47 (twenty years ago) link

Was it about fucking a camel at the end of its period? Are they hotter then?

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:50 (twenty years ago) link

"dude" is the worst word in the history of the english language and all people who use it should be forced to fuck a pregnant camel. end of. period.

if only it were that easy to get some pregnant camel fuck action. and no, I didn't get the joke either.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:50 (twenty years ago) link

Maybe he just meant that he was ironically using the cliché 'period'. Which I realised.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 19 July 2003 19:54 (twenty years ago) link

A thread about "taking it a whole 'nother level" with no mention of Emeril?

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Saturday, 19 July 2003 21:15 (twenty years ago) link

words that I will never be able (or yea be willing) to expunge from my personal lexicon:

totally
dude
awesome

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 19 July 2003 21:29 (twenty years ago) link

for me:

thing

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 19 July 2003 21:30 (twenty years ago) link

well obviously

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 19 July 2003 21:31 (twenty years ago) link

two months pass...

after hearing Robert Schneider (head stunted child of Apples In Stereo) comment about he's lyrics being taken "to the next level" in his new group and reading in MOJO about how the Kings Of Leon feel they're taking southern rock "to the next level" I have realized I probably loathe this phrase just as much as Alex now. It's not funny anymore.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 25 September 2003 01:31 (twenty years ago) link

You took your hating of it to the next level!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Thursday, 25 September 2003 03:33 (twenty years ago) link

It's still better than "Let's kick it up a notch!"

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Thursday, 25 September 2003 03:57 (twenty years ago) link

Americans take note: "you do the math" is unbelievably annoying to English people. It's "you do the MATHS". Period.

― gobemouche, Thursday, 25 September 2003 08:29 (twenty years ago) link

On my wick:

Who knew?

― Enrique (Enrique), Thursday, 25 September 2003 09:12 (twenty years ago) link

But what if you're just talking about one math?

― NA (Nick A.), Thursday, 25 September 2003 11:05 (twenty years ago) link

six years pass...

uk politicians have started saying "step up to the plate" all over the shop

we have creases not plates, son

tho i guess we did invent baseball so

― long time listener, first time balla (history mayne), Wednesday, 26 May 2010 11:44 (thirteen years ago) link

They probably think it's a boarding school dinnerhall metaphor.

― every time i pull a j/k off the shelf (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 26 May 2010 11:47 (thirteen years ago) link

only a matter of time before they start describing successful schemes as 'all net, baby'

― May be half naked, but knows a good headline when he sees it (darraghmac), Wednesday, 26 May 2010 11:50 (thirteen years ago) link

hahaha

― long time listener, first time balla (history mayne), Wednesday, 26 May 2010 11:51 (thirteen years ago) link

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