Look, Stop Saying "LOOK"

One of the side effects of the rise of Obama and accompanying Obamamania is the newly pervasive use of the word, 'look' to start any sentence, regardless of the contextual irrelevance of that word to the rest of the statement. Its frequent misuse by the man who gets more public face-time than any other human on the planet has created a verbal pandemic such that I now hear it everywhere all the time. In the hallways at work. All over the news and media be it radio, TV, online, or shouted by the town crier. I hear it at formal PTA fundraisers and at the AYSO referee's dinner. People who never thought to in the past start many a sentence with 'look' these days and whether they're saying, "Look, you're really making me angry," or, "Look, I wanted guacamole on my burger!" it has become an unconscious, embarrassing, annoyance.

In the age before Obama, starting a sentence with this word was reserved for bad film and television. It's a very common occurrence in low budget entertainment and often happens when an inattentive director allows it to be slipped-in by a weak actor at the start of a line of dialogue, even though that word is not in the original script. Yes, sometimes a screen or television writer will use the word, 'look' to begin a line, but unless he or she is a bad writer, it will be in the context of a command as, "Look at the puppy," or "Look away before you turn to stone!" So now you know that when you're watching any form of scripted entertainment and the actor says something like, "Look, I'm sorry, I thought your sister was you." Nine-out-of-ten times the "look" was thrown in by the actor and left there by the director (the writer isn't on the set, he's at home getting drunk because of what they're doing to his masterpiece).

Mr. President-elect Obama begins almost every unprepared sentence with "Look..." On the other hand, you won't hear it in his eloquent, rousing, passionate, speeches mainly because he's a fine writer and the speech was written and rewritten a dozen times or more. So why does it pop up during interviews and at press conferences? Originally it was probably a trick to give himself a half-second more to think about the question he was just asked. He may have developed it intentionally or unintentionally in high-school debate or at Harvard Law or even later during his first run for public office. But however Mr. Obama first came to use this word as often as he does is irrelevant because now it's really nothing more than a personal bad habit of speech.

The past eight years may have numbed us to all manner of grammatical butchery and other crimes of speech emanating from the highest office in the world, but those days are soon to be over and it's time for the madness to stop. To that end, I now add another rallying cry to the cacophony of rallying cries trumpeting Barack Obama into the White House in January: "Don't start sentences with 'look' unless you mean it!"

All of us, man, woman, child, Republican, Democrat, Lieberman, must take a stand against the insidious, improper use of this word. If we start now right at the top, we will hopefully, over time, see real change. Don't let our new president spend eight years like friendless W. who had nary a man to set him straight on the proper pronunciation of 'nuclear'. It's like that old saying, "Only your friends will tell you when you have spinach in your teeth." You're Barack's friend, right? Tell him yourself, why don't you? And get that leafy-green out of your own bicuspid while you're at it!

Comments

[GAPeach99]

I'll take a few "Looks" followed by thoughtful, coherent sentences from our new President over the moronic blathering we've endured from George-the­-Destroyer these past 8 yrs. Anyone elsed tired of it being pronounced "Newk-yu-ler"?

[progpro1]

I first noticed the "look" rhetorical device back in the late ninties during the Lewinsky scandal. Almost all of the cable tv right wingnut pundits almost overnight began using "look" to start their spiel. I dont think its by accident - it never is with this crowd. My guess is Frank Luntz trained them to say it, its a clever way of making sure the viewers are paying attention to you. "Look" device has a kind of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) logic to it, it allows the speaker to directly access the internal visual channel of the the viewers mind to better implant the concepts they are trying to convey. A very subtle form of brainwashing.

The really skillful pundits will switch to "Listen" to start their sentence when on talk radio. Same deal, different sensory channel.

[rjmiller]

For some reason it doesn't bother me. My pet peeve is the widespread misuse of the word "irony." Why doesn't anyone know what "irony" means? And "ya know, like a weird twist in a Twilight Zone episode" is not a definition.

[Bill Swadley - Huffpost Blogger]

One of my best friends in the world has this one, too. Because of her I've become much more attuned to actual irony so much so that It's become a bit of a game for me to be able to declare "real irony!" to her.

Why doesn't anyone seem to know? Have you forgotten the moronic Alanis Morisette song that misinformed the masses back in the 90's as to the true nature of irony?

[rjmiller]

Yeah, but I was also given the dictionary definition in Reality Bites (thanks Ethan).

[NoSillyName]

Hey LOOK!! I've heard politicians saying that way before Obama. Just watch MTP or FTN or probably any other political talk show. They ALL say it and it drives me crazy!!!

[Marioli]

I only listened to few of his speeches but I know what you.re talking about. When I speak in front of many people and or am nervous during a talk, I often find I.m using some kind of wording or phrasing again and again. I notice when other people do that, too.
It.s difficult to stop but practice helps. I.m sure somebody already told him. And he.ll look at all his speeches and talks afterwards to see how he can improve.
He is working so hard on his gravitas but slips are natural.

[GDedrick]

Gee, I love it when Obama says that. And technically, Obama starts with "Well, look" ... and when he does, I know it's not going to be a whitewash.

[Bill Swadley - Huffpost Blogger]

"Well, look..." doesn't bother me as much for some reason and he's less consistent with the "well," don't you think?

(Thank goodness he doesn't use "well" by itself to start. That, as you may recall, was Reagan's sentence opener, but I suspect in his later years he was just trying to give himself time to remember who he was and why these people were asking him questions...)

[NoSillyName]

Ohgod, don't remind of that annoying Reaganism. The little tilt of his head. The "There you go again", that Spalin used on Biden. ugh.

McCain and his "My friends..."

Somebody please make 'em stop!!!

[gymbunnybee]

I agree... I really like it when he starts with 'Look...', 'Well, look...' or 'Listen...'
It feels like he's trying to keep his composure while trying to re-explain or re-emphasize an important point. It might have the subtle NLP suggestion effect progpro mentioned, but it makes me want to hear him just that little bit more.

[Pam Bristow - Huffpost Blogger]

I love this post. Absolutely hilarious and right on.

[Bill Swadley - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks!

[blaqntelligence]

This is why I love this site.
That word has been a personal pet peeve of mine during this entire election cycle.
Reporters, pundits, politicians everyone start their sentences with "Look".
And it drives me NUTS.
Thank you.

[No1uNo]

Actually, this goes back long before this campaign. Joe Biden has beginning his answers with "look" for years, and has always bugged me.

[thetravelingtrainer]

LOOK, I find it interesting that the word "look" seems attract attention, but the 7 years of poor pronunciation, articulation, sentences ending in a pronoun, unprofessional use of nicknames in times of crisis (IE; brownie), numerous gaffs as well incomplete sentences (I can go on and on). I find it a welcome relief that we will have an intelligent professor of law (specifically Constitutional Law) that can actually put together sentences. If that doesn't strike a point, keep in mind that we may have been just this close to hearing "ya betcha" for 4 years.