There’s no such thing as a Broken Record.

Broken records don’t play. The idiom is what’s broken.

Record meet Hammer. This is what Broken looks like. Image by the writer.

A lot of people use the expression “goes on like a broken record.”

Have you ever considered the inherent flaw in that idiom?

I have. Gather ‘round, me tell you all about it.

Imagine you’ve been employing an expression for longer than you can remember. Now, imagine you learn that the logic of that idiom is flawed; its premise is straight-up wrong.

Granted, you won’t die of embarrassment — it’s not public speaking after all — but you’d probably find yourself landing somewhere between sheepish and mortified. You could persist with using said idiom, but to deny oneself the right to phrase effectively? No need for self-flagellation — way too Marquis de Sade for such an innocent misstep.

While there are a host of questionable colloquialisms, the one that most grinds my gears is to sound like a broken record. That, or its doppelgänger, goes on like a broken record.

The specific point of contention lies in the word broken.

Let’s establish the reason for using this well-worn declaration.

The inference is assigned to people who tend to repeat the same message over and over. It bears a…