Although I have no proof, I'm reasonably certain that somewhere in South Florida, small groups of friends gather weekday nights between 5 and 6:30pm to play a drinking game during Local 10's evening newscast.
Object of the game: Down a shot every time anchor Laurie Jennings uses the word "amazing."
It can be a dangerous game.
Laurie uses the word frequently.
This week, on the same day Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation, a photographer captured a shot of a lightning bolt striking St. Peter's basilica in Rome. Local 10 showed the photo on its 6pm newscast...an image that Laurie called, "amazing."
During a segment on tonight's newscast discussing Sen. Marco Rubio's speech last night, Laurie used the word "amazing" to describe the senator's mid-speech water gulp,
And here's a video clip from last year of Laurie using her favorite word - twice in the space of 8 seconds.
Even though Laurie's in the news business, she apparently doesn't bother to read any actual "news" that's not on a studio Teleprompter. That includes this 2012 story that reported on an annual survey that ranked "amazing" as the year's most overused word.
A correspondent from British Columbia agreed, saying that "the word which once aptly described the process of birth is now used to describe such trivial things as toast, or the color of a shirt".So, here's my offer to anyone at Local 10: Buy a Thesaurus and give it to Laurie. Take a photo of her holding it, send it to me and I'll buy you dinner!
And, if you're reading this Laurie, why not click on this link and see what other words you can substitute for the word "amazing?"
You'll be amazed at how many there are!