I know it's Monday...but it's time for a rant.

There is a plague spreading across this country; from friends and neighbors, peers and colleagues, etc. The plague is the phrase "touch base"...i.e. "I just called to 'touch base' with you..."

I know where it all started. This country's addition to global sport is baseball...it's widely recognized and played by millions of people, around the world. Bases play an important part in the game of baseball. Namely, you want to get on base; you want to touch all the bases; you want to score at home plate by rounding all the bases. But, "base" can also be used to describe a home...a place of organization, which relates back to military parlance.

If you look at the two definitions independently, "touch base" - draws from both, pretty evenly. People of modern times feel it necessary to grasp onto some new form of speech and abuse it relentlessly until it's played out like, well..."played out." The problem with "touch base" is that the people who use the term like to co-mingle the meanings...they like the idea of contacting the military base and giving an update from the field. They also like the idea that they are making progress and are so close to scoring for the team...they just had to let you know. My problem with both of these angles; it puts the do'er (the base toucher...think about it) in the role of self-importance, which you all know is a BIG issue with me.

Here's an idea...rather than trying to impress the person on the other end of the phone, or the 20 strangers around you who are also tired of hearing this god-forsaken phrase...say "I'm just calling to say hello and let you know what I've been doing." It's unveiled no higher power or inflated success - just honest fact. It's so much better than the alternative.