The year gone by, Two-Oh-Fourteen,

Wreaked havoc on the verbal scene.

Events concocted dreadful phrases;

Cliches and buzzwords lurked to faze us.

In Syria, an awful crisis

Gave us "ISIL," (some say "ISIS").

From Puget Sound to Pensacola,

We shuddered at killings and cringed at "ebola."

A plane "went missing," Crimea sacked,

Of "sanctions," "engagement," we yakked, yakked, yakked.

The "polar vortex" had us freezing,

While "Common Core" set teachers seething.

The NFL was in a plight,

But vowed they had to "get this right."

"What's trending?" Well, there's Jimmy Fallon,

Who bravely took the "bucket challenge."

We "reached out" to our "frenemies,"

"Emojis" laced our ardent pleas.

"Addictive," "iconic," "at the end of the day,

"(blank) is the new (blank)" — all were cliches.

With "conscious uncoupling," we often drove solo,

As party photos fed our "FOMO."

And business jargon reeked with pollutions:

We "monetized" "skill sets," concocted "solutions,"

As "big data" "pivoted" up to "the cloud,"

And "moving parts" was oft' said aloud.

Then "bitcoin" proved to be a clown,

And "Uber" from cabbies drew a frown.

"Millennials" were there and here,

But mostly in the "twittersphere."

Some were "basic," some were "bae,"

Others "turnt" and others "cray."

They set the language on its sass:

"On fleek," "we in this," and always, "Yaaaassss."

(Where did I get these expressions, you ask;

My teenage daughter was up to the task.)

We started ev'ry sentence "So..."

Or "Look," "I mean" or just "You know."

"That said," we "gobsmacked" lexicons,

Our "tweets" and our "twitters" were always "spot on."

And, yes, "It's all good," and "It is what it is,"

But, "moving forward," it seemed like a fizz.

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