_____ as a goat

It is well known that Tropical Storms and Hurricanes which cause massive damage to both life and property are cemented in history and memory. The National Hurricane Center, and this more imposing organization, commemorate the more infamous storms by retiring their names from the rotation sheets.

While akin to retiring a jersey, which is done in celebration, storm names are retired "in memorial" - not quite in reverence and without too much morbidity. "Rita", while not (yet) as costly, will most likely be retired just as her big sister "Katrina" will be.

(NOTE: I am attempting to create contagion with the moniker "KatRita".)

The call to arms I am championing now is to retire a handful of other words and phrases which have seen usage soar in days past.

They are (in no intended order): "wobble", "hunker down" and "knocking on our door".

That last phrase includes all variations of itself and just one reason to retire it is to prevent further personalization of a storm, when the only reason it is given a proper name is to avoid confusion and create ease through consensus.

This list is not complete, and may soon be joined by "no room at the inn", which has never before been used outside of the X-Mas season. And I don't recall seeing camels during that ordeal. Although, there were some "wise men" bearing inappropriate gifts...

The idea is to quit misusing trite phrases, or better yet, start using them in their proper connotation. Then we'll all sound smarter and know what the hell we're talking about.