Languages constantly change.
English has, and how!
If not, we would still
Be saying "thee" and "thou."

Sometimes advertising
And the media create a shift
In the way we use certain words
That's annoying. Get my drift?

Businesses, for example,
Have a "free gift" for you.
You think, "A free gift--oh, boy!"
?I like getting gifts, too.

But think about it a moment:
Aren't gifts ALWAYS free?
So "Come in for your free gift"
Is a redundancy.

We hear that someone "went missing,"
Which to me sounds weird.
The expression sounds so clunky.
What's wrong with "disappeared"?

To say "to graduate high school"
Actually makes no sense.
(The number of people who say that
Has grown rather immense.)

Schools graduate students.
How hard does that sound?
We graduate from college--
Not the other way around.

And then there's "close proximity."
That's redundant because
"Proximity" itself means "closeness."
We should all know that it does.

So "close proximity" means
"Close closeness," though you might
Say, "That's what I meant."
I would respond, "Yeah, right."

Language changes aren't
Evil or reprehensible.
Grammarians just wonder why
The changes aren't more sensible.

- by Bob B