Word watch.

Hype works. TV news and on-air promotion are reducing and standardizing our vocabulary. Look what they've done to "devastated," and "horrific." Even news interviewees accommodatingly supply these words to TV editors. In my continuing campaign to heighten your sensitivity to media mental abuse, here are some currently ubiquitous phrases to listen for:

"...when the unthinkable happens..."

"...change your life forever..."

"...pretty much..."