ROTHENBURGER — So, gotta say, thank you so much

COLUMN — I was talking at a media coaching session recently on tips for giving a good interview when I mentioned that “gonna” doesn’t sound good on radio or TV.

I hate it when I hear politicians use “gonna” in speeches and interviews. The premier says it constantly; so do various politicians at all levels. It sounds sloppy and lazy. So focus on not saying it. Use “going to” or “will.”

Probably two minutes later, I caught myself saying “gonna.”

The term is so imbedded in our speech patterns that virtually everyone uses it several times within a few sentences. I think “gonna” has become so common because we like shortening our speech. We avoid using full titles for anything when we can use an acronym. Organizations become known by their letters, not their real names. CIBC, BCLC, TNRD, NDP, USW, IHA. Diseases become CF, ADHD, PTSD. And don’t get me started on texting acronyms.

“Gonna” is a prime example of how we’re destroying our own language but it’s not strictly about talking shorter. Sometimes we add words where there’s no need.

And what is “thank you so much” about? What does “so much” even mean? Is it even grammatical? Wouldn’t a simple “thank you” suffice?

Many’s the time I’ve mentioned how hearing radio announcers begin every question with the word “so” drives me to distraction and I’ll keep harping on it until they stop.

We create white noise for ourselves, like the filler used by auctioneers. There was a time when “awesome” meant awe-inspiring. Today, it’s a throwaway adjective attached to pretty much anything. Awesome day. Awesome car. Awesome doorknob.

And, of course, there’s one better than awesome — totally awesome.

Many phrases are meaningless. Maybe they meant something once, but they don’t now. A friend of mine was talking about someone yesterday and used the expression “shake a stick at.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“What?” he asked.

“Why would you be shaking a stick at something?”

Well, I had him there. He had to admit he didn’t know.

I looked it up when I got home. Turns out nobody else knows, either. The origin of “shake a stick at” is a mystery.

Do you ever grow tired of hearing about “24/7” and the “end of the day”?

“Track record.” There’s one. “I’ve got a good track record.” We know that track record means the same thing as record, so why do we add “track”?

Believe it not, there are people who still insert “like” and “you know” into the middle of every sentence they utter.

If we could go back in time a couple of hundred years, we’d have trouble understanding what English-speaking people were saying. Two hundred years from now, people will play television shows from 2015 and try to figure out what’s being said.

I don’t know what the answer is. I’m gonna think about it.

Mel Rothenburger can be contacted at armchairmayor@gmail.com, @MelRothenburger on Twitter or mrothenburger.7 on Facebook.