TV and movies generally get a bad rap for being dumb, irrelevant, meaningless, and overall mind numbing, but that’s actually not the case.

Yeah, OK, sometimes movies and films can be mindless. Occasionally, that’s the charm. But if you don’t turn your brain off completely while watching some of your favorite flicks, you’ll probably notice that Hollywood is (and has) been making a pretty legitimate attempt to address some of the ignorances in our culture.

The most well known case for this is Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride. Inigo Montoya brought to light the uncomfortable topic that Vizzini was using “inconceivable” in the wrong context.

It’s not like Vizzini is really at fault here because it seems like the word should fit the context, however there’s a time and place for everything. Sometimes words and phrases aren’t even questioned; this writer used the phrase “kill over” for an entire lifetime before recently someone said the idiom was actually “keel over.” For someone who grew up landlocked, a visual of a horse killing over after a long hard ride seemed as good a source for the saying as any, but alas, that’s not correct.

While I wasn’t entirely at fault for misinterpreting the phrase, it is my responsibility to correct my mistake.

Futurama (before it sort of lost its soul in the more recent seasons) used their wise-ass robot Bender to bluntly get a point across.

If you haven’t seen the post “17 Phrases You’re Probably Saying Wrong” from She Knows, or the article “10 Words That You’ve Probably Been Misusing” from Hello Giggles, you might want to take 3 or 5 minutes to check those out and educate yourself. They’re great quick reads that should save you some embarrassment in the long haul; literally.

Also, please use literally when you mean ‘literally.’ ‘Figuratively‘ actually sounds just as good in a sentence when you mean ‘figuratively.’

Speaking of wise-asses getting a point across:

At Larkable, we’re actually pretty happy to see this wave of responsibility coming out of one of the main sources for entertainment. The fact that studios (or possibly just the writers) are trying to educate audiences and improve vocabulary makes for an entirely respectable venture.

All in all, it’s refreshing to see intelligent, well educated characters who pride themselves with the correct use of words and phrases. Hopefully it spawns a new generation of individuals who will take it upon themselves to constantly improve their knowledge. It’s something more of us could take some pride in, and we’re never too old to stop improving ourselves.