These Words Must Go

   Patricia, the grammarian extraodinaire (my word, not hers), went on a mission several weeks ago to encourage the Small Town Toastmasters to eliminate the word 'great' from their vocabulary. It's not that she has a problem with the word great, to her, it is being overused. There are many much better and more descriptive words that can be used instead. She handed out a list for us to use as a reference.
  Ever since she did that, I have been pondering words that I wish would become extinct. The English language has so many words, surely there are better ones to use. I present a few on my list for your amusment.
  These first two are the ones that annoy me the most. They are 'baby bump' and 'old school'.
   I'm not sure when baby bump first started to be used. I find it annoying. It sounds like some sort of abnormal growth. Bumps are not known to be desirable things. There is a bump on the road, bump and run, acne bumps, none of these are good things. I'm also tired of the whole focus on a pregnant woman's figure. Whole articles have been written about whether a given public figure has a baby bump, how the baby bump is dressed and if it is all right to let a baby bump show.
  Right now there are likely a few people who are thinking that since I've never a child I must be writing this out of jealousy or spite. This is far from the truth. As someone who has studied anatomy and physiology, I am in awe of the way humans and other live born creatures are created. The complex process that turns a few cells into a child,a kitten,a puppy,a foal or a calf are all amazing to me. It's amazing with all the things that could go wrong during the process that the majority of the time all goes as it should. To me, labeling this process as a 'bump' is trite. It's borderline demeaning.
  Old school is another phrase that needs to go. There are so many other phrases that are much better. Outdated,old fashoined, classic, low tech are just a few that come to mind. What contstitutes old school anyway? Is it one year, five years, ten years? Is the opposite of old school new school? How come I never hear anyone saying that he or she is 'new school'?
  Whatnot needs to go, unless it's being used to descibe a set of shelves used for displaying ornanments. I know one young man who seems to use it in every other sentence. It's a generalized term that doesn't really mean anything. It's almost like a filler word.
   I would like to see the word "liberal" disappear unless it is being used as a synonym for generous or plentiful. Lately the only time I see it used is in the comment section after articles and it is used as an insult. There are so many negative words in the world, why do we need to make positive words negative?
  'It is what it is' should go onto the garbage heap of language. The only thing this meaningless phrase is good for is to fill up space when there is nothing to say.
  I have to end with one from C's list. Sometimes he will say something that is obvious to me and I would answer him by saying "Ya think?" I had been doing this for several months when he asked me to please stop. To him it was rude and obnoxious. After thinking about it I had to agree. I now replace "ya think?" with "really?" or "surely you jest." Maybe still slightly obnoxious, but less rude.
   I was amazed to find that my list was so small. I looked online to find lists of seven up to 100 words and phrases that annoy people. I feel grateful. I must not be as easily annoyed as I think.