There’s one thing that I have been thinking out loud (in my head) and how I would cringe each time I hear those words.

They have been repetitively amplified such that I cannot bear to hear or use those words anymore. So much so that I feel that the true meaning of what these words truly mean have lost their authenticity. 

See that? I’m cringing as I typed these: 

• Tremendous
• Terrific
• Fantastic
• Beautiful
• Wonderful
• Amazing
• Fabulous
• Great

These days, the sheer innocent stumble of those words while reading or overhearing multiple times over from audiovisual channels annoy me. I am even refraining myself to use them because I just.cannot.bear.to.use.them.anymore.

Say enough and and they sound fake. Repeat them some more and they mean nothing. Maybe that’s just the cynic in me talking. 

Then I’ve got the visuals of those hand gestures and pouty mouth stuck in my head. I have personally found them to be obscene. I cringe and I shudder.  Add them all up to those words and I feel like I’ve been assaulted.

Every where I turned, I am reminded of how annoyingly fake people can be. And how misleadingly dangerous those words can be.     

Yet in their truest terms, these words are so much more. In a sincere and genuine situation, simple words like those mean a lot. And they should. Perhaps, they need to be used sparingly.Where should we draw the line?  

Funny how this bothers me for over some weeks now. At least enough for me to contemplate to scrape the word “Fabulous” from my regular weekly Friday Flavours or substitute that with something else.

If I have been conscious of using those words before, I am even more conscious of using them now. Those are the words I want to ban from my own dictionary…but can’t.

Because to me, those words are not flippant. They mean something and when used I mean what I say. 

The Year of the Fire Monkey has officially come to a close today with the arrival of a fresh new year in accordance to the Lunar calendar. On 28th January 2017, this brings us to the Year of the Fire Rooster. 

With lots of monkey business happening last year with many unpredictability and surprises, the Year of The Rooster, however is purported to be a time for when things would start to feel more grounded.

That’s only because, in the Chinese astrology, the Rooster is known for its practicality, meticulous planning and taking calculated risks.

It would be the year to get organised and being truly grounded while architecting the next step-by-step move of the whats and the hows to get to your goals. In short, it’s about stepping up, steering the course and taking control your life.

But you see, I am not a certified astrologist. So given my fascination with anything astrological, I am only quoting what this year may bring from the various sources that I have read. 

I do know that in plain English, the rooster is also known as a cock. I also do know that in Singlish, the word “cock” is also used to describe something(or someone) as being nonsensical, rubbish and no substance or sub-standard. 

Pretty benign given the seemingly crude connotation attached to the word cock. But I digress.

Like every other year, we don’t celebrate Chinese New Year in our household but there was still some sort of celebratory sentiments during Chinese New Year while we were still living in Thailand. 

Here in Europe, we are too far away from the festivities. So much so that I did not even think about it; let alone getting the kids their annual Chinese New Year costumes for which I would not have known where to get.

And really,  if not for Social Media, I would have completely forgotten that today is indeed the start of another brand new year as with the Chinese Calendar. 

And really, if not for that, I would also have not found this: 

Now you see why why I had to digress and explain the word “cock”in Singlish earlier. Because when I saw this, I can’t help but to laugh my guts out. Especially since this truly resonated well with what has already transpired in recent times.

The fun begins.  Oh boy. 

Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!