In terms of what?

Seen in this morning’s Herald, in the letters section:

The dreaded use of “absolutely” seems to have abated. Can we now get rid of the lazy linguists’ use of “in terms of”?

Garrett Naumann, Cammeray

But what on earth is he talking about? Do linguists overuse the expression in terms of? Even if we do, is its use considered ‘lazy’? I’ve never heard any such sentiment. Can anyone shed some light on this? I’d be absolutely interested.

2 Responses to “ In terms of what? ”

Comments:

michael says:
February 18th, 2008 at 11:32 am

I’ve certainly heard “in terms of” derided. In fact I myself kept tally of the instances of its use by a fellow student in one of my undergraduate classes. But that was mostly his overuse that bothered me. Not the term itself.

My guess regarding Mr Naumann’s lament is that he believes that anyone who uses the term (too much? at all?) is being lazy linguistically. Ergo therefore and thus: lazy linguist.