John Waters takes aim at dramatic overuse of the word ‘journey’

“I hate it when actors use the word ‘journey.’ That’s not a f–king journey, winning a Spirit Award. Escaping from Ukraine is.”
— John Waters

I’ve been a fan of John Waters and his trashy-chic aesthetic and persona for a long time. His 1986 collection of essays Crackpot was influential on me in my early 20s, and thereafter; he has a way of being arch and affecting, sometimes in the same moment. He’s better known for his movies (Pink Flamingos, Hairspray) than for his writing, but they’re worth checking out.

The observation above came from Waters’s appearance earlier this month on the Las Culturistas podcast, when he unveiled a list of grievances to hosts Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers.

He has a point with the word “journey,” and it’s far from actors who use it too much or inappropriately. It’s a bit of a bugbear for me, because the word is used so often now, and in almost any context, that it has lost its impact.

Here’s a link to the Las Culturistas episode.