Pulling the trigger and picking up

[skipgilles]

I love language and I do appreciate the evolution of language. Two things however have begun to annoy me on this forum.

1) "Pulling the trigger" Used in the sense of "deciding to buy" at least about 85 times on the entire nord forum. The first one who used this idiom did a great job in describing how you can feel when you have been hesitating for a long time and finally just buy the instrument you have been wanting to buy.
However, this original wording has become so popular and overused that it currently just means "I decided to buy", sometimes even used simply for saying "I just bought". Come on, we are all artists, here, right? Why are you copying others with your wannabe cool language?

2) "picking up" Used in the sense of "buy" at least about 100 times on the entire nord forum. This one is so terrible, I hardly have words for it. It's a true disgrace evidencing the complete submission to the church of commerce. Who are those people using that idiom? Do you really wanna communicate that you don't really bother spending over a thousand euro's? That's a terrible attitude! Do you really want to show off that an instrument to you is just a thing you buy? That is so loveless! You spent a whole lot of money - an amount so big that the average village in the world could eat at least a week from it - and you are happy to show you don't care?

I have been thinking really long to by my Electro 3, years ago. I was forced to "pull the trigger" when my previous board (a Hammond Xb-1) was "picked up" by a burglar from our rehearsal room. I was so happy that I could afford such a great instrument, that I, 10 years later, still love and play at multiple rehearsals each week.

Thanks for reading my rant.

[ajstan]

I wish you would have considered "pulling the plug" on this rant before posting it!

[fieldflower]

I'm thinking that when this type of issues are real problems, You must otherwise be truly blessed in life in having few and small problems.
I like that.
Slightly envious, but very glad for You!

[pterm]

Hi skipgilles,
I agree completely with your point: At one time I worked for a large multinational corporation whose Language and Style Guide taught that using idiomatic English and "passive voice" makes one's writing particularly difficult for non-native English speakers to understand (and presumably makes accurate on-line translation difficult also). I try to avoid these in my posts.

I find the use of the phrase "reached out to" as a substitute for "attempted to contact" annoying:
For example: "After I had decided to pull the trigger, I reached out to the vendor about picking up my new Nord".

[skipgilles]

Haha, so happy to read someone agrees I must add that I do not have anything against ornate or original writing. It's just that once such idiom has lost all its original playfulness through people copying and copying, what you're left with is a harder to understand word for the original "(decide to) buy". Indeed, the same holds for "reach out to". It probably once was a line by a very inspirational speaker, haha.

[JayDee]

I went for broke when I tracked down my Nord, and round it up at a local music store.

[baekgaard]

Don't forget that this is an international forum. A lot of us are not native English speakers, and I think it's a common move to copy what you read when you post.

In my language I'd say "købe et keyboard" (yes we borrow the word keyboard). If I were to post here for the first time and would see others use the idiom (or even euphemism, as you hint at) "to pick up" I might use that, just to make sure I would be understood.

I'm personally more annoyed by sloppy spelling... Oh yeah, that and the stupid autocorrect that makes half of the sentences meaningless!

But I think there are other more important things in life

[cphollis]

Native american speaker here. The meaning of each phrase in my circles is fairly precise. "Pulled the trigger" means I've thought about it long and hard, and finally decided to proceed. "Picked up XYZ" means I bought something that was straightforward and didn't require much thought.

Hope this helps.

[DJKeys]

I think "Thinning the herd" (selling gear) is far more annoying

[skipgilles]

I think "Thinning the herd" (selling gear) is far more annoying

Ufff! That one almost hurts physically.