It’s a certainty that not everyone will understand the difference between a googly and a bouncer
I’m pleased that it’s not just me who gets annoyed by the ease with which ghastly words and phrases enter the language and then become commonplace.
Paul Bisson, from Shrewsbury, got in touch recently, steam justifiably emerging from his ears: “Two of the worst neologisms are ‘uptick’ (ie increase, eg: ‘There has been an uptick in sales’) and ‘get-go’ (ie start, eg: ‘Government policy has been disastrous from the get-go’). Why is it not possible for people to use words that already exist and are understandable by most people?” To which I would say hear, hear. To his pair of horrors, I would like to add the following: Boris Johnson said last week: “August 16 is nailed on, there’s never been any question of a review date.” If he means it is a certainty, I do wish he’d say so.