Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages.
— Ernest Hemingway
Boulder, Atlanta, Springfield, Midland, Dayton, El Paso, Gilroy, Virginia Beach, Thousand Oaks, Pittsburgh, Annapolis.
Alongside these place names, the abstract words thoughts and prayers are indeed obscene (obscene, adjective, from the Latin ob ("in front of") + caenum ("filth")).
We're embarrassed to hear them any longer. As we should be.
Hemingway wrote in A Farewell to Arms:
"There were many words that you could not stand to hear and finally only the names of places had dignity. Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages."
Let's retire thoughts and prayers. Permanently.
We have heard them now for a long time and can no longer stand to hear them.
They're words that have become obscene.