loose language

In class this morning my professor helped us to develop an understanding of what she called loose language. Essentially the definition focused on the way that we throw around words like hate, and love and tragedy so often that they lose their meaning and impact and we become desensitized to them, thus seeking novel ways to try to stimulate ourselves.

We're obsessed with it, it seems - with tragedy, and with love and hate, manipulating the terms to our own advantage as we see fit. I tell my mom that I love her every time I talk to her; however, I try to invest absolute sincerity into the words each time I use them. I used to say "I love you" to M every time we hung up the phone, but in that case it was more out of habit, or some sense of obligation, than it was a genuine declaration of my feelings. My need to be conservative with my word choice is clear - being on love/hate/tragedy autopilot deadens you to the point where nothing means anything anymore. I never want to feel that way.