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English officers on bridge of destroyer in World War II (User: W.wolny) |
Catchphrases are like epidemics and very contagious. “Sounds
like a plan” is so ubiquitous it’s almost replaces “and” and “the” in frequency
of use. “Being on the same page” is another expression for which there is as
yet no known vaccine, along with “at the end of the day.” “At the end of the
day” is "spot on"(yet another popular one) since it introduces a visual and temporal element into the
monotony of cliché. The end of the day is sunset; it’s also literally then end
of a 24 hour period. It took seven days for God to create the heavens and earth (including a day of rest) so there's a spiritual element tagged on to an
expression which means basically “when all is said and done”— a catchphrase
that's not as frequently used. When someone is stupid, you say they’re not the
sharpest tack, but this is another catchphrase which seems to have gone into
remission. But what has put “wheelhouse” in our wheelhouses? “Wheelhouse”
is like the Zika virus, though it can’t be sexually transmitted; you might have
heard inklings of “wheelhouse” occurring in places like LA where these kinds
of expressions tend to fester, but it’s only recently that there have
been a huge number of references to this or that being in his or her wheelhouse, which essentially means repertoire. When you really think about it, having the bridge of a ship connote the range of someone's abilities is a stretch. However, how such an association came about is a another story. The question is: what’s the next new
catchphrase that going to find it’s way into your wheelhouse? There are more things on heaven and earth, dear Noam, then are dreamt of in your universal grammar.
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