Sunday, October 09, 2005
"Friendly"
In the PC, touchy-feely world we drag ourselves through, someone got the idea that we all have to be nice to each other . . . even if we're telling each other how to do our jobs. And thus, the following phrase has reared its despicable head into the pantheon of the English language:
"Friendly Reminder"
Just because one calls something friendly, does not mean that that thing is suddenly friendly. Friendly is all in how something is accomplished. Because a "reminder" is just the noun for "remind" -- defined as to prompt. "Reminder" certainly does not connote friendliness. So in the interest of better defining my position, let's replace "reminder" with something else:
"Friendly Rape"
Doesn't make much sense, does it? So what is it about reminders that makes us see the phrase, "friendly reminder" and think -- "Oh, this person is telling me I can no longer do something, but they called it a friendly reminder, so they're not all that bad"? Maybe they did threaten to fire everyone on the e-mail distribution list who violated this reminder, but hey -- it was friendly. Maybe it'll be a friendly firing.
"Friendly Reminder"
Just because one calls something friendly, does not mean that that thing is suddenly friendly. Friendly is all in how something is accomplished. Because a "reminder" is just the noun for "remind" -- defined as to prompt. "Reminder" certainly does not connote friendliness. So in the interest of better defining my position, let's replace "reminder" with something else:
"Friendly Rape"
Doesn't make much sense, does it? So what is it about reminders that makes us see the phrase, "friendly reminder" and think -- "Oh, this person is telling me I can no longer do something, but they called it a friendly reminder, so they're not all that bad"? Maybe they did threaten to fire everyone on the e-mail distribution list who violated this reminder, but hey -- it was friendly. Maybe it'll be a friendly firing.
