Death to buzzwords

I've decided to create a blog for smacking buzzwords. I'm talking about the unusual words or phrases that on their own seem to be colorful or artful writer stuff that suddenly crop up with increasing frequency in print and electronic media for no apparent reason.

I've been pointing the buggers out to my wife from time to time and she suggested that a blog would be the perfect way to catalog them. As usual, she's right, considering that I started my professional life as an editor and copywriter for the Sears catalog, and have aged into a word loving geek.  

As I come across them in I'll post 'em here with a link to where I found them. Perhaps this modest effort will help send them to the circular file they richly deserve.

Here we go:

"Wheelhouse"

wheelhouse - an enclosed compartment from which a vessel can be navigated

Published: April 15, 2013 New York Times

Mr. Collier said, “you can imagine that the western genre plays right into our wheelhouse.”

Hey, it's a nice turn of phrase the first time you hear it. After the tenth or eleventh repeat, it seems too cute to be worth the ink. How many ship captains are out there?

"Juice"

Published: April 30, 2013 New York Times. Maureen Dowd column

 ABC News’s Jonathan Karl asked Obama if he was already out of “juice” to pass his agenda

Can't help it. This word's value has dried up!