Perfect is Perfectly Overused

Don't worry about being perfect but do your best to stand strong in your values and beliefs. The negative opinions in the world will not sway you to believe you're not good enough.

Apparently, I do everything perfectly. Cool, huh? I know this because everywhere I go someone tells me whatever I’ve done is perfect. It is said emphatically often with a little upward lilt at the end of the drawn-out purr.

As an example, consider my recent visit to the bank where I signed a paper that was declared perfect by the bank associate. I also discovered in the past couple of years that my orders placed at various restaurants are always perfect. If I want straws, it is perfect and if I don’t want straws, it’s still perfect. My mouth is always full when a server in a restaurant asked, “How is everything?” To which I can only say, “Ummm,” and shake my head up and down while I am told, “perfect..” How can I lose? The money I hand to the clerks in the store is perfect (even the torn $20 I taped back together). My purchases at any store are deemed perfect. The fact that I found everything I wanted in the store (as asked by the courteous clerk) is followed by an affirmative, “Perfect.” All answers I give to questions on the phone or in-person are perfect. When asked if I’m warm with the blanket given me before surgery and I happen to be, then that is perfect. My opinion on a poll, my favorite TV show, book, method of doing something, and thousands of other things I’ve done, chosen, or commented on have been proclaimed perfect. Imagine that.

In the old days, before “perfect” became the go-to comment to almost everything, I remember people using other words like, “Thank you,” “That’s great,” “Yes,” “Good,” “Great choice!” “Okay,” “Alright,” and any number of useful or neutral responses (I’m not judging them better than awesome perfect, of course). Anyone remember John Denver and his “Far Out?” Or, how about “Groovy?” Word fads come and go. A couple of years ago “insane” hit the phrase rage and everything that was fabulous, shocking, wonderful, or just too much was deemed “insane.” No one forgets the “like” preceding many words, especially used by, like, teenagers. Many sentences these days begin with “so,” my husband points out. Studying the evolution of speech is quite interesting, really.

According to a dictionary, perfect means: being entirely without fault or defect—FLAWLESS; satisfying all requirements: ACCURATE, EXPERT, PROFICIENT TOTAL, and lacking in no essential detail: COMPLETE. It also said it used to mean SANE but that is obsolete.

With my false sense of perfectness, I find myself using the “P” word. This trend is contagious!
Really, it’s okay. Perfect is a much better word to use than some ugly words we’re hearing too often these days. It is always fun to count how many perfects I can collect in a day. It makes for a perfect day on the bright side and my head gets a little bigger as I perfect.

On the other hand, perhaps some of the above definitions do fit certain situations nicely and warrant using “perfect,” but I’d like to think that “sane” might come out of obsoleteness and send “perfect” back to where it belongs.