Critique Expensive, Death Cheap

A glitzy seminar. A life insurance check. A woman who made profit from death. This site unpacks the words we use before they bury us.

I was eighteen, broke, and wearing the one half-decent shirt I owned when I snuck into a glitzy marketing seminar downtown. Spotlights, free coffee, wannabe CEOs everywhere. Then she walked onstage—a polished power suit, hair like a shampoo ad, and a jumbo life-insurance check held high over her head.

“See this? Making money off death—that’s how you win!”

The crowd lost its mind. Applause, whistles, somebody actually yelled “Yaaas, queen!”I just froze. My own neighborhood was full of guys who started fistfights for the payout and women who skipped dinner so they could buy life insurance on their husbands. Now a room full of well-fed professionals was cheering for the same hustle, wrapped in neon buzzwords.

Right there I realized:Our problem isn’t only the hustle—it’s the words that hide the hustle.

Take critique.Once, a critique was like a jeweler’s loupe: you held the gem up to the light, spotted every flaw and every sparkle, and left the buyer to decide.Nowadays it morphed into criticism—code for dragging somebody because you can.

If you’re rich or verified, nobody dares “criticize.”If you’re a regular kid from the cheap seats, everyone takes a swing at you “to help you grow.”And if you push back, you’re “defensive” or “no growth mindset, bro.”

That seminar was my last straw.I decided to put words under the microscope—before they put us under one.So I built this site.

What we do here:

• Track a word back to its roots—etymology, grammar, sister words in other languages.
• Map how culture bent it out of shape.
• Lay the bones on the table, minus the spin—so you can choose to keep the word, ditch it, or reclaim it.

We’re starting with critique, because the scalpel needs a tune-up before we cut any deeper.Then we’ll tackle every buzzword that’s quietly steering our choices—whether we’re hyping a millionaire onstage or damning the kid next door.

If you’re ready to yank the marketing gloss off your vocabulary, grab a seat.The autopsy lamp is on.