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I hate the rampant use of the phrase "all about". "I'm all about the latest fashions!" "I'm all about vegan food!" "I'm all about using imprecise language!"
If I was a teacher, I'd make a point of teaching the kids that: "Swear words are to be avoided because they stifle the growth of your vocabulary". To me, the phrase "all about" does the same thing. It substitutes a vague catch-all for every instance in which you want to express that you are somehow passionate about something.
This isn't even a situation of the simple substitution of "all about" in place of another phrase; it's a construct or formula that has somehow become acceptable.
I hope I'm not alone on this one. Cheers.
(won't let me edit the title to fix that mistake, oops >< )
Chris, I fixed the title for you.
Rgarding "all about the": I'm not sure I see the problem with it. It's pretty clear to me that if someone says, "I'm all about the benjamins," then they mean, "I am mainly concerned with money." It's a general expression of interest that does its job.
There's a newly revised entry for "about" in the Oxford English Dictionary online which includes as one of its sense, "to be (all) about: (a) to have as subject matter, to be concerned with; (b) to consist of essentially, to have as point or purpose; that is what it is all about: that is the reality of a particular situation or of life in general; (c) to be principally concerned with; to be in favour of or fond of." The earliest citations date to 1400 or so, meaning that to use "about" in the way you're describing is quite old.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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