what do you mean by barging in here and telling me your idea?

I found this incredible t-shirt for old salty ladies that reads "Not At Your Age" (at The Old Ladies Rebellion, via A Dress a Day). Jealous that I couldn't meaningfully wear it myself with the same punch, I began a Google hunt for other ridiculous platitudes, and began to ruminate on an ugly truth about myself:
I have considered for some time now that I may be a platitude fiend. Faced with a situation that cannot be dissected and adequately evaluated in a short time, I resort to a handful of substanceless rote sentences. Some of these are more illustrious than others, including those Patrick A. and myself perpetuate:
- "Time will tell!"

- "Who can say?"

- "Fate goes ever as she shall!"
and one I am becoming fond of, as used by a coworker: "It is what it is." See also: "Who knows, man. Who knows."

I just checked out the Wikipedia page on "platitudes," though, and noticed a linked article on "thought-terminating cliches," which I scanned with a dawning sense of hideous recognition. THIS is what I do. Perhaps not as strong as actively quashing disagreement, or supporting blatant fallacy, but I certainly derail in-depth examination (or perseveration) on topics by means of these convenient bits of nonsense.
In my defense, most of the time I drop these suckers into conversation, I feel a sense of defeat and shame that I couldn't muster up anything more meaninful to offer. But, I think we all do this to some extent. Eventually, you reach the point of exhaustion for analysis of a given topic, at least within the confines of polite conversation. For office conversations, this point is approximately 30 seconds after the topic is begun, in the case of certain coworkers. But you need to summarize the situation somehow, and that's where a thought-terminating (and conversation-ending!) cliche is most handy.
I suppose I'll give myself permission to continue hobbling on this crutch, at least until I attain the psychosocial skills of a charismatic genius. Then I shall say only dazzling specimens of wit, and do away with this "who can say" silliness. I can say, bitches!