"Controlling your own destiny" is a timeworn stock phrase used by sports commentators and pundits in reference to a team that will go to the playoffs if it wins its final games, regardless of how other teams do in other games.
The fallacy of the phrase was explained by UCLA football coach Chip Kelly, when asked whether he was aware that his team controlled their destiny: "No, to be honest with you. Grammatically, destiny is a predetermined
set of events, and if it's a predetermined set of events, you can't control it. Think about that one."
This is right up there with another pet peeve of mine: "You create your own luck!"
ReplyDeleteEr, no, by definition, you can't--luck is the portion of events that are beyond your control. You may be able to achieve more favorable odds. You may be able to determine to some extent how much of a role luck will play, but it will always pay a role.
Or the abuse of one hundred percent, as in "I'm going to give it one thousand percent!!!" No, by definition, you will give one hundred percent effort. If you give it more than that, it simply becomes redefined the new one hundred percent baseline.
There was some document going around work recently that told us we should be "proactively reactive." Seriously, I'm not making that up.
*Sigh*
Don't forget pulling yourself up by your bootstraps as a physical impossibility.
DeleteTaking language literally, yay! This clip may interest you.
ReplyDelete