"You're so awesome, darling."

I have a list of around thirty words and phrases that are overused, incorrectly used or mercilessly abused and debased. Here's some:

Actually

Absolutely

Basically

Honestly

Totally

Amazing

Really

People who use these words repetiviely in conversation and writing are demonstrating how dull and ignorant they are. They are not listening to what your saying so they react by replying with these reflexive words. These are just a few that rankle. But at the top of this list is that once powerful word: AWESOME.

I say once powerful because now it is used to describe the most mundane of things and events and consequently has been totally devalued, leaving it with little of it's potency. I ask you; how can a cup of Starbuck’s Latte be "awesome"? An "awesome" movie? Last night’s pizza was "awsome"? This is nonsense.

Iguazu Falls are definitely awesome.

Hurricane Katrina was awesome.

The Niles's anual flood is awesome.

The Grand Canyon is awesome.

The Himalayan mountains are awesome

Reinhold Messner’s Himalayan mountaineering climbs without supplementary oxygen were awesome.

Felix Baumgartner’s parachute jump from the edge of space was awesome.

The Battle of Britain was an awesome battle.

Michelangelo’s sculpture, David is an awesome work of art.

A fine lasagna, no matter how well made and tasty, is NOT awesome.

I could go on, but I’ve made my point. Awesome has been so devalued and ruined, we can’t seriously use it anymore. We, writers especially, are forced to look for other equivalent words to describe the truly awesome.

I suggest we cease using it. Completely. We should put the word back in its box to rest and allow it to recuperate, rebuild its atrophied muscle and get healthy and strong again for future generations; it will take years to get back its credit. But those future generations will thank us. So the next time someone posts a photo of an ice cream cone on Facebook and tells you it was "awesome", set them straight. And kick a little ass in the process.