Earlier today I posted an article to i On Global Trends, concerning an EU report that an estimated 100 million people in developing countries will fall into extreme poverty because of the economic and financial crisis.According to the report the factors contributing to this tide of human misery are falling aid donations, the economic slump and a fall in capital flows.
Rather than compare these contributing factors to the Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse, some little graduate from the University of Wanky Buzzwords, glowingly described the phenomenon as a "perfect storm'.
Personally I don't see anything perfect about dying from starvation as an estimated 50,000 children in Sub-Saharan Africa are, according to the same report, likely to do.
I do realize that "perfect storm" is used to describe a rare combination events, but its use is bad enough when used in other fields such as media and PR, but when used in relation to abject poverty, including in one of the harshest, driest and poorest regions of God's planet, (vividly depicted in the excellent movie "Si le Vent soulève les Sables" (Sounds of Sands) "it leaps the Wall of Wankiness and lands straight in the Cesspool of Bad Taste.
In 2007, the phrase was awarded the top prize by Lake Superior State University in a list of words that deserve to be banned for overuse. What a pity we can't ban the overuse of gurus and experts.
Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved
