Here's a phrase

that doesn't cut it, doesn't 'do' it, doesn't express shit, really: Sorry for your loss. Really? This is when it's been used in the past month(s): I'm sorry for your loss. You're entitled to only 70 percent of his Social Security monthly payments, even though you've been married for 30 years. Sorry; you're not retirement age yet. I'm sorry; contact your congressman and complain to him/her. Those are the rules. Also? You can't earn more than a pittance before your SS monies must be returned. I'm sorry for your loss. Sign here so I can load up the hospital bed from the living room, and the oxygen tank, and the roll-away table. I'm sorry for your loss [said while looking over my shoulder], although I'll post a Facebook meme in which I claim to clasp any and all depressed persons to my personal bosom. I've even lost FB friends because I've expressed that 'sorry for your loss' doesn't cut it. They're actually offended. "What are we SUPPOSED to say?" they whine. How about: "I don't know what to say. What can I do, or not do?" There; I wrote that in September. Here it is now.