“Now, at the end of the day, you may conclude I am barking up the wrong tree, that this matter is not the AWESOME! one you wish me to investigate, but – instead – is behind the curve. Having said that, and with all due respect, I will nonetheless press on to try to get my arms around it. Look … and make no mistake about it; let me be perfectly clear bout this.”

Have you noticed the gobbledygook that is being thrown about mostly by those in politics (and their business partners in finance, education, big oil, etc.) lately? But not always …

Did you notice that Mario was having a tough time not ROFL!

So, here is a listing of some of those “catch phrases” or “polit-speak” phrases that have sneaked into broad embrace by some. We are not certain this form of gobbledygook differs all that much from other inane word use as “like” and “you know”

• At the end of the day
• Make no mistake
• Let me be clear
• Let’s clear the air
• Enjoy! (as used by waiters and writers)
• Have a good one!
• pushing the envelope
• in our world today
• in harm’s way
• as a matter of fact
• playing with fire
• rotten to the core
• water under the bridge
• better late than never
• when all is said and done
• to be honest with you
• best of both worlds
• in a nutshell
• without further ado
• beat around the bush
• at the drop of a hat
• beyond the shadow of a doubt
• off the radar screen
• the bottom line
• raising the bar
• You know what I’m saying?
• Thinking outside the box.
• with all due respect

Recently Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports writer, Gene Collier, in his column entitled “Trite Trophy: A cliche for all (sporting) seasons,” opined about how these trite phrases have found their way into sports reporting.

You may have seen this now-dated Australian comedy video before, but we think it is ironic that the “mock interview” with a shipping executive is a lot like the “for real” interviews that we saw last year during the early days of the BP oil rig explosion and release of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.