Describing how we kill stuff like exams, exercise routines, and/or big meals, reflects a shortcoming of creativity in North America (where such phrases are used most often). I believe that we should stop “killing it”.
The casual language and colloquialisms with which we speak and write say a lot about our communities. I’m quite confident that every reader of this website has come across some iteration of the idea of “killing” or having “killed” something. Whether it’s an opponent in sports, a presentation, a dinner, or a difficult mid-term exam, we’ve all killed something or someone.
Examples of the expression include, but are not limited to, the following:
“Look, this product is a failure. Let’s kill it.”
“I’m hangry. Totally gonna murder this pizza right now!”
“Alright, let’s go kill the Grouse Grind today.”
But killing people and things is wrong, right? Well over 50,000 people are killed or take their own lives each year in North America (approximately six times as many people kill themselves as are murdered in Canada). In the United States, tens of thousands of people are killed or injured with guns – whatever side of the gun violence epidemic on which you sit, I think that we can agree that encouraging the killing of things is at best problematic and at worst horrible, regardless of the historic victory-in-battle metaphor that killing stuff conjures for humans.
If it’s so horrible, why do we do it? My theory is that human beings have long enjoyed killing tangible (the lights or wildebeests) and intangible (time or potential) things, well, forever. When I crowd-sourced some explanations for the phrase, Mike Boronowski wisely espoused that “it’s related to the metaphor of conflict or a battle. Success for much of our history has meant killing something – for food, to protect our territory.” Many of my Facebook and Real Life friends confirmed this opinion.
If you’re a like me and you’re interested in underscoring success with more positive language, I have a solution. Technically, I have several solutions. The next time you’re thinking of “killing it”, consider one or two of these fun options:
“I totally conquered this project.”
“I totally won over this exam with thoughtful study-preparation and my enthusiastic attitude!”
“Cuddled it!”
“Michelle, you totally rocked that presentation!”
“Hey, that was awesome. And, you know what, you’re awesome.”
“I accomplished success!”
“Laura totally triumphed over adversity!”
“Occupied it!”
“Dominated it”
“Awesomed it!”
“Ruled it!”
“Hashtag. Awesomeness.”
“I Won – multiple times”
“Kion totally potentialized Bike to Work Week.”
Okay, I’ll admit that the last example was totally self-serving. Language is a complex, yet simple thing that we really don’t think about – especially when phrases like “killing the lights” or “killed it” are repeated so much that they become normal and okay.
Perhaps people just lack the capacity for creativity and need a few ideas about how to celebrate their successes and those of their community. From my perspective, enhancing community well-being comes from enthusiastic acknowledgement delivered by positive language. So, the next time you want to celebrate someone for “killin’ it”, don’t. Because they totally rocked it!
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This article was originally published on June 29, 2013.