Two dispatches from the Word Front ...

— Take Me to Your Thought Leader — Are you a "thought leader"? This trendy, amorphous term, which bears a slightly Orwellian whiff, refers to a renowned expert in a specialized field. But now the phrase is being applied regularly to anyone who has ever had a thought on anything: professors, writers, artists, entrepreneurs, the kid who tells you your socks don't match.

The phrase first appeared in 1887 when it was used to describe someone who actually WAS a thought leader: the clergyman, social reformer and abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher. The term, thankfully, snoozed for about a hundred years, but the ngram search engine shows its use has skyrocketed since the late 1990s.

The American Press Institute recently hosted a "Thought Leader Summit," while the British consulting firm TLG publishes an annual ranking of experts called the "Thought Leader Index."

In 2013, New York Times columnist David Brooks defined "thought leader" as a "sort of a highflying, good-doing, yacht-to-yacht concept peddler," though he may have been parodying himself.

— Choice Words — Donald Trump has proclaimed, "We have no choice!" so often that it's becoming the mantra of his campaign. As New Yorker writer Amy Davidson notes, he's used the term in reference to banning Muslims from entering the United States, building a wall on the Mexico-U.S. border, and discussing his body parts during a debate.

Inevitably, "we have no choice" has been popping up like a virus in political discourse, and not just among Trumpies. When Democratic Congressional representatives staged a sit-in to force a vote on gun-control legislation, Connecticut Democratic Rep. Joe Courtney said, "People are asking why we are doing this. Because we have no choice."

Likewise, the headline over a recent opinion piece read, "Why Are Teachers on Strike? We Have No Choice," and a British commentator on the Brexit vote wrote, "We have no choice but to put on our tin hats, deploy that stiff upper lip and make the best of things."

Meanwhile, a letter to the editor of a Vermont newspaper stated, "The most reluctant vote of my life will be for Hillary, but I have no other choice. We all have no other choice."

Given the unpopularity of both presidential candidates this year, "We have no choice" may become our catchphrase for the next four months. Hold on to your (tin) hats!

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.