In fact, in our household it has become something of a new parlor game. Whenever the TV news comes on we count up the number of times these particular words appear in any single story. It doesn't matter if it's about the BP Gulf Oil Spill, or the economy, or the latest adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan - those three little words are guaranteed to crop up.
So far the record has been 5 times in a two minute NPR News segment concerning unemployment. I'm sure the commercial channels can easily top that.
Once you become attuned to this verbal tic it becomes quite a fun game to play, especially if you line up a number of full shot glasses and down one for every hope, hopeful, and hopefully regurgitated by the talking head.
I challenge readers to remain standing at the end of any newshour!
