Fucking Grammar

A few years ago, the word "tsunami" was all the rage in the media. You know, "a tsunami of bad news," "a tsunami of dissent," "a tsunami of spouse-cheating governors." That kind of thing.

These days, the overused word du jour is "fraught." The annoying thing about it, aside from the constant overuse, is that just about everyone uses it wrong.

For example, just today I heard a guy, a journalist talking on the KPCC show The Business. It's a show about the entertainment industry, and you can podcast it if you like. Anyway, the dude being interviewed writes about the video gaming industry for a living, and he said that the gaming industry has always had a "fraught" relationship with Hollywood.

A fraught relationship.

What the fuck?

Fraught means full. For example, telling your wife or girlfriend she's mad at you because she's riding the cotton pony is fraught with peril.

It is not simply fraught.

From the guy's tone, I think he meant to indicate that the video gaming industry has had a strained relationship, or a relationship filled with tension--fraught with tension, you might say.

But not fraught.

So, to journalists everywhere, I ask this: You are getting paid to use language. Please use it well. Dumbasses.