The Most Overused English Language Word

There was a time when we all had fun in Year 10 English with Mrs Mary Cheatham. In one particular class she stood up the front and took her glasses off and gave us a very serious look. As she did this she asked a question.

"What is the most overused word in the English language?" And before anybody could answer she said...

"Oh, no. I can't believe that she is going to say 'f*#k'" I thought.

"It's 'bloody'". Phew.

I have come across a new word that I feel is more appropriate for the title. It's "terrorist". It pops up everyday and in almost every utterance from the Bush Administration puppets. Little Johnny Howard has picked up this new word and brandishes it about at every opportunity.

Don't you think that some of the aura surrounding "terrorist" has disappeared? It is so passe these days to call someone a terrorist. It's almost like a swear word that has lost its effectiveness.

What Does The Singaporean Government Think Will Stop The Terrorists?

While we are on the subject of terrorists, I read an interesting article today. The Singapore Government wants to crack down on prepaid mobile phones because terrorists use them. Simple as that. Prepaid mobiles allow the user to remain anonymous and terrorists seem to quite like the idea of anonymity. Who would have thought?

Let's not stop at banning that tool of terror, the prepaid mobile phone, let's go the whole hog. Why don't we ban Combis (if that is the van of choice of the terrorists), how about the clothes that terrorists wear, maybe the brand of cigarettes that they smoke? How come email is still allowed to be used by the general public? After all, it allows terrorists to communicate with a fair degree of anonymity and could be considered to be a tool of terrorism. Gosh, if they were all Arabs why not ban the speaking of Arabic?

What a stupid stance the Singapore Government has taken. That's right - take away the liberty of people who do no wrong because of a few bad eggs. I am surprised that TVs are still used in Singapore because people can swear on TV and offend millions of people.

Are there no forward-thinking statemen anymore? How blinkered can governments become?