Some years ago people who wanted to be pompous and add depth to a comment used the expression 'this moment in time', when they meant 'now'. Thespeaker wanted to show that aglimpse of eternity had been revealed,a grasp ofan existential truth that was beyond the capacity ofthe rest of us mere mortals.

Once the words 'this moment in time',were uttered, my mind shut down, realising thespeaker believed the apogee of the talk had been reached when, in reality, it was the nadir.Whatever else followedcould only be evenmore laboured prose.

Since then, more gobbledegook has followed.I particularly detest the following cliches:

Re-frame: I believe this means to look at something in another way.

Blue sky thinking: to be optimistic.

Sing from the same hymn sheet: Understand that we're talking about the same thing and are in agreement.

A window of opportunity: We have the opportunity.

Let's run it up the flagpole: Let's see if it's going to work. Let's see where the weaknesses are.

Flown the nest: (I hate this one particularly. Tweet about it in a different way, for goodness sake.)

The children have left home. What's wrong with saying that? If you want to be Fred Flintstoneyou might try: They've foundtheir own caves. Or, they're in their own tepees, caravans, tents, yurts, igloos, palaces, castles. Anything, but leave the nest out of it.

Piled on the pounds/ the weight dropped off:There must be another way of saying this, though I can't think of one.

At the end of the day: Grrr, grrr. Forget 'At the end of the day'. Just say what your aiming for. It sounds a lot better.

I see where you're coming from: I understand (the point you are making).

So, there we are. I've given youthe long and the short of it.