Pet Peeves

At my age, I’ve had a few and I feel that I’m entitled to them. My latest ones are awesome and amazing.

Oops, that’s not what I meant. Sorry. What I meant to say is that “awesome” and “amazing” are my current pet peeves.

There. I think I said it right. It’s those two ubiquitous words that we use to describe anything and everything. Cupcakes, babies, dresses, experiences, pictures.…you name it. There are many things out there that fill us with amazement and awe but they get diminished when so many of them fall prey to the same description.

Recently, a young man whom we know spoke to a group of people about his challenging and complex venture: growing premium oysters from seedlings. Now that’s truly “amazing” and clearly “awesome” but never once did he use those words. His talk was peppered with enthusiasm, knowledge, determination and humor. And he spared us those over-used words.

His speech was a joy to behold.  And to hear.

Bravo to him and his command of, not only oysters, but the English language.