<rant> I am mourning the death of the English language. It has been in its death throws ever since DJs started saying “Rocktober” each Halloween but now it is official. The English language has been killed.

How did this happen you ask? The election is to blame. And of course, truth.org’s awful television commercials. They make me want to take up smoking just out of spite. But I digress.

A single word is continually being misused to the point of utter ridiculousness.

Big.

That’s right, big. Ask yourself, “How many times in the last eight weeks have I heard the phrases: Big Oil, Big Money, Big Tobacco, Big HMO, Big Energy, Big Business, Big Gun, Big Foot, Big Bang, Big Boy, Big Sale?”

OK, maybe the last four are legit. But I know I’m not the only one whose getting really sick of hearing the word “big” misused.

Stop. Just stop. Only four-year-olds are frightened by the word “big.” It doesn’t magically turn companies into nameless evils. They already are. We don't need “big” turned into a prefix to legitimize the existence of corporate greed. It was there all along. </rant>

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