First, my apologies for the juvenile headline. I wanted to get your attention and it’s my hope that I did.

Today’s post is a small scale rant against the pervasiveness of the phrase, “I’ll do X.” As in the comment I just overheard at my post office where the gentleman ahead of me said, “I’ll do 2 packs of Christmas stamps.”

Really? You’ll do them? What does that even mean???

Now many of you may be thinking this is extremely petty of me—and certainly not in the Christmas spirit– and I agree! It’s a petty pet peeve of mine that I am hoping to make a petty pet peeve of yours.

In fact, I am hoping that the next time you overhear someone saying, “I’ll do a pumpkin spice latte” or “I’ll do a gin and tonic” or “I’ll do the Caesar salad” that your eyes will roll back in your head and you will murmur to yourself the following alternatives:

“May I please have….”

“I would like….”

Or, if you’re feeling very ritzy,

“May I trouble you for…”

Anything, anything, but “I’ll do…..”

Because it sounds like doo-doo.

Frances Cole Jones