Love of language...

Sometimes, all of the planets align and I have a heightened awareness of the quirks of writing and speech that grate on me. Luckily, I've found this blog, Mother Tongue Annoyances, where the author has outlined one of my personal favorites: "use" versus "utilize."

But today I will focus on the phrase "I can't even imagine." (Alternate forms: "I can't imagine," "You can't imagine," "You can't even imagine.") Let's start with the definition of imagine as provided by dictionary.com:

im·ag·ine

1.	to form a mental image of (something not actually present to the senses).

2.	to think, believe, or fancy: He imagined the house was haunted.

3.	to assume; suppose: I imagine they'll be here soon.

4.	to conjecture; guess: I cannot imagine what you mean.

5.	Archaic. to plan, scheme, or plot.

–verb (used without object)

6.	to form mental images of things not present to the senses; use the imagination.

7.	to suppose; think; conjecture.

Consider the first definition. Now combine this definition with the expression at hand. "I can't even [form a mental image of something not present to my senses right now]." Really?

The very definition of imagination is constructing in your mind something that isn't there or that perhaps you've never even experienced. That's the beauty of imagination. So don't say that you can't imagine. You can. You can imagine ANYTHING.

Sometimes the phrase is used to express empathy: "I can't even imagine what it would be like to lose my leg in a woodchipper," or "I can't imagine what it's like to survive an avalanche." I'm not a fan of this approach. Of course you can imagine the awful things other people go through (though your imagination may not match up with reality, that's not really what this is about and that's why it's imagination). What these well-intentioned empathizers might try to say is, "I haven't survived an avalanche. I imagine it would be terrifying. What was it like for you?"

Imagine away. (And feel free to comment if you agree or disagree or think I should probably be writing my thesis instead of pondering these things.)

Featured next on my list of annoyances: "How are WE doing?" and "...in midair" - both annoyances passed down to me by my maternal grandfather, Papa Z.