8 - Most Overused, Misunderstood and Butchered Word in English

Hey ... before I get to the reason for this post let me tell you that I am in the middle of a 5 day weekend. That's right, count 'em .... 1 ... 2... 3 ... 4 ... 5

Sounds great doesn't it? Not so much because I am painting all of the exterior trim on the doors and windows of the house. Because of my motivation issues and the ease with which I can abandon any project, I am working on a schedule. On Saturday I scraped and sanded the old paint. On Sunday I taped and puttied (where required). Today was painting with a primer. So far so good except that there was nothing in the weather forecast today that said anything about thundershowers!!!

There I was, sweating my balls off (it has been hot here for the past week) when a few minutes later it was nice and cool. Looked up and the formerly cloudless, sunny sky was covered with clouds of the grey variety. I rushed on the last window that I was priming and 10 minutes after I had finished it, the rain started to fall. It rained and thundered for a few minutes and then it was over. I have not yet gone to check the damage but it should be OK. It was only primer and dries very quickly (perhaps not as quickly as the rain fell). I think I'll be OK. Tomorrow is finish coat #1 and Wednesday should be finish coat #2 but the forecast says rain on Wednesday and a chance of showers tomorrow morning. I might end up having to get through both coats tomorrow.

I live in an old stone house, built in 1888. The stone is all greyish, beigeish and generally pale. The trim has been white since I moved in here so I decided to change it up a little. The white trim is going to become dark green. I think it will look good.

On another note, Welsby had to return the the Ontario Veterinary College today for a post operation 2 month checkup. The surgeon was very happy with the progress the boy has made and he can now run, jump and play like any other puppy. While he does not have 100% mobility in his front legs, he is doing great. Now all I hope for is that he doesn't get worse but that will probably happen at some point in time and will require more surgery, years from now and not a day sooner.

OK ... I have a pet peeve about a word that is so overused that it no longer means anything in my opinion.

The word is 'professional' and it denotes something special.

A professional is a member of a vocation founded upon specialized educational training.

The word professional traditionally means a person who has obtained a degree in a professional field. The term professional is used more generally to denote a white collar working person.

In western nations, such as the United States, the term commonly describes highly educated, mostly salaried workers, who enjoy considerable work autonomy, a comfortable salary, and are commonly engaged in creative and intellectually challenging work.

Because of the personal and confidential nature of many professional services and thus the necessity to place a great deal of trust in them, most professionals are held up to strict ethical and moral regulations.

Main criteria for professional include the following:
Academic qualifications - A teaching degree (University doctoral program), theological, medical, or law degree - i.e., university college/institute.
Expert and specialized knowledge in field which one is practicing professionally (architecture, accounting, engineering).
Excellent manual/practical and literary skills in relation to profession.
A high standard of professional ethics, behaviour and work activities while carrying out one's profession (as an employee, self-employed person, career, enterprise, business, company, or partnership/associate/colleague, etc.). The professional owes a higher duty to a client, often a privilege of confidentiality, as well as a duty not to abandon the client just because he or she may not be able to pay or remunerate the professional. Often the professional is required to put the interest of the client ahead of his own interests.

Reasonable work morale and motivation. Having interest and desire to do a job well as holding positive attitude towards the profession are important elements in attaining a high level of professionalism.

In Britain and elsewhere, professionalism is often designated by Royal Charter.

In narrow usage, not all expertise is considered a profession. Although sometimes referred to as professions, such occupations as skilled construction work are more generally thought of as trades or crafts. The completion of an apprenticeship is generally associated with skilled labor or trades such as carpenter, electrician, plumber, bricklayer and other similar occupations. A related (though not always valid) distinction would be that a professional does mainly mental or administrative work, as opposed to engaging in physical work.

So, here is my peeve ... in the past weekend I have seen signs for professional pet grooming, professional nail polishing, professional car washing, professional house painting and a few others, equally as asinine. If I am really good a masturbating (myself or somebody else) can I call myself a professional jerk off artist? If I work with a crane putting up tall buildings, can I call myself an erection professional? I might be the best in the world but there is no way that makes me a professional.

The overuse of this word has pretty much made it worthless as it no longer denotes a special occupation, only acquired after lengthy studies.

Would a professional nail polisher do a better job than an amateur nail polisher?

What words do you think are inappropriately used?