It is time to eliminate outdated phrases

Let us start the new year by eliminating outdated and meaningless phrases we got in the habit of using.

The phrase “more forgiving” was adopted many years ago to give some inanimate object a seemingly “more forgiving” personality. As early as 1975, a friend of mine working in a sports shop convinced me to buy a pair of snow skis, because they were — more forgiving. I wondered if they would apologize if I fell whilst skiing. Recently, I bought a driver for golf. The salesperson said, “You’ll like this one, it’s more forgiving”. I later found out that the driver didn’t really care that I had a bad slice.

I know it is supposed to mean that no matter how crappy my swing was, the club would somehow ignore that and hit the ball straighter than my wobbly arms could muster. Maybe the club was not ready to forgive me.

I would prefer a phrase like “bad golfer enhancement” or “bad skier enhancement.” It has a positive slant to it and doesn’t retain the fact that you are bad and will always be bad and the item must somehow forgive you. So, if we agree, let’s all kill that phrase. I’ll be much more forgiving.

LYLE DIEDIKER

Hope