Catchphrase purge

    I have, and have always had, an unfortunate tendency towards the catchphrase. Alice always claimed that my NPR program would be called "Be That As It May, with John Dantzler," though I honestly don't remember ever saying that particular one. (I will admit that it sounds like something I would say, though.) In recent years, it has been, "On the short list of really good ideas ISN'T found..." whatever is irritating me at that particular moment, tailgating, say. And I fully understand that it's a silly phrase to latch onto, too cumbersome, too circumlocutious (if that's a word). In other words, on the short list of really good ideas ISN'T found... saying "On the short list of good ideas ISN'T found..."
    This is what comes from spending all your time talking to a kitty. She isn't very discriminating, so long as whatever you say is punctuated with scritches.