‘We take this very seriously’...

Buckingham Palace has also used the buzz phrase ‘ We take this seriously’ in response to the recent criticisms of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan. — Reuters

EVERY so often in the US, like cicadas, a buzzword emerges from the popular dialect and becomes omnipresent in the media lexicon. In the early aughts, the word “nuanced” exploded across the cultural landscape to excuse a politician who couldn’t speak straight or a writer who couldn’t write. In 2004, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry called his ever-shifting position on the war in Iraq “nuanced” as a way of explaining why he was for it before he was against it. Since then, virtually every politician adopted a “nuanced” position on major issues until, finally, George W. Bush proclaimed “I don’t do nuance.”

The current cliché working its way to iconic status is the phrase “we take this seriously.” Or, to show they really mean it, “we take this very seriously.” The phrase is now almost mandatory in any corporate statement of apology, regret or acknowledgment of allegations of sexual harassment. In a recent case, the Ford Motor Company responded to a lawsuit claiming sexual harassment in the workplace by stating “Ford does not tolerate sexual harassment or discrimination. We take those claims very seriously and investigate them thoroughly.” Countering claims of sexual misconduct, an Ohio bishop in with United Methodist Church said, “we take this seriously – because people matter.”