Unprecedented is defined as never done or known before. I looked it up because it is uttered at least once every news show. Sometimes it is politics, sometimes sports, and frequently about weather. I have grown to really dislike and bristle at the word. I nearly lost my nut this week when something was reported as unprecedented while also saying the same thing happened last year! Hello – NEVER done or known before! Not – hasn’t happened since last year!

The word is now so overused that it is meaningless. What word did we use before the pandemic when it became used daily? Language matters, precise language matters. Lazy language is misleading. In a world with so much conflict, mistrust, and disinformation lazy language is also dangerous.

Is there a word that irritates you or that you think is lazy language?