Margaret Serious

Don’t let ‘do’ take over your vocabulary

I keep seeing a worrisome trend, and hearing it, too. People are doing too much! I don’t necessarily mean they’re too active, but any action is being described by the word “do.”

I suppose it started with “let’s do lunch” among executives. But now I’m hearing people saying “I did the onions” or “Just do the beans” in a recipe, or reading a note saying “let’s do (name of restaurant).”

When I saw that note from a friend who will remain anonymous (and thus remain a friend), I had to write back and ask how you “did” this place — eat, play, or what? That came from not knowing it was a restaurant.

And the conversation went well, too, when I had to stop and say “What did you do to the onions? What should I do to the beans?”

Now that I’m conscious of it, I’m hearing and reading “do” all over the place, like gulls at Lake Michigan beaches in summer. (It was snowing as I wrote this, and the artwork warmed me up. I hope it helps.)

Fall not into the trap of saying “do” when you could use another verb — cook, boil, play, eat, whatever you really need. (And if you wonder about me for writing “fall not” at the beginning of this paragraph, think a moment: I wanted to caution you, but I could not use “do not,” could I?)

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Filed under:
Words Worth Defending, Writing