Is there any alternative descriptive phrase for, "The perfect storm"?

Asked by VoodooLogic (729

) February 28th, 2008

I just heard a caller on NPR use the phrase. Typically you’ll hear it from talking heads on the television. Is it just the nature of media? will this buzzword ever pass? If so, then with what – retro buzzword “synergy”? <sigh>

defined by wikipedia:
The phrase perfect storm refers to the simultaneous occurrence of events which, taken individually, would be far less powerful than the result of their chance combination. Such occurrences are rare by their very nature, so that even a slight change in any one event contributing to the perfect storm would lessen its overall impact.

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4 Answers

I guess a similar phrase would be, “the stars are aligned.”

occ (4176

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damn, that’s what I was gonna say occ

rubybooby (25

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Actually, there have been a number of storms that were (and still are) referred to as “the perfect storm”. I think colloquially it has become popular because of the movie (which, that was one of the storms that we meteorologists actually do refer to as “perfect”). So I don’t really see why we should change the phrase, if, in fact, the storm was “perfect”.

Les (10005

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ooh,
Pave the way for…
as in
‘The parenting style of the serial killer’s parents paved the way for this kind of behavior. ’

VoodooLogic (729

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