Irritating Phrases

I guess everyone has a phrase or saying that they find irritating. I remember that my high school English teacher took exception to commercials that contained sayings like “Tide, there is no detergent like it under the sun.” She said that they should say, “there is no other detergent like it.” To say that there is no detergent like it implies that it does not exist.

One of my supervisors at the power company used to get aggravated when someone would say “in the color of red” or “in the color of green”. He said they should just say “it is red “ or “it is green”, everyone knows they are colors. He also hated the term “hot water heater”, he said that it was a “water heater” not a “hot water heater”. Of course he was right that it is a water heater, but most of the ones I have seen operate the majority of the time maintaining hot water so unless they are being filled for the first time or have been off due to an interruption in their source of heat, they are in fact heating hot water for even when the temperature drops enough for the thermostat to come on, the water is still hot. I suppose something that heats hot water most of its useful life could be called a hot water heater. Not worth arguing about since heat is a relative term anyway and he was my supervisor. You have to pick your fights with your boss and pissing him off about a water heater is not one a prudent person would pursue.

This brings me to the sentence that prompted this blog entry. This morning I was writing checks to pay some bills and I came across the bill for my Symetra Life Insurance policy. I pay it quarterly and every time I do, I notice on the left side of the bill the following sentence. “If you have surrendered or cancelled this policy / certificate you have no insurance.” Now first of all, if I had surrendered or cancelled the policy, why would they be billing me and why would I be paying it? Secondly, does Symetra think that this one little insurance policy is the only one I have? I’ve got news for them, I could cancel it, and half a dozen more and still have insurance. I know, I know, it is really not important. No more that saying “no detergent” rather than “no other detergent” or “hot water heater” instead of “water heater”, but like I said, everyone seems to have little sayings, sentences or phrases that get under their skin and the one from Symetra just happens to be one of mine.