Tipping points reach a tipping point.

I was just reading an article about the current financial woes. The article mentioned that things have reached a tipping point, and it occurred to me that the phrase "tipping point" has reached a tipping point. It's become a buzzword for any sort of major change. I see it in articles all the time, but didn't really think about it until a few weeks back when I was moderating a discussion on the decline and failure of civilizations. Of course, we ended up talking about Jared Diamond. I said something along the lines of "I don't think we've reached a tipping point - speaking of another buzzword" and everyone in the audience laughed in recognition of the overuse of the word.

A tipping point is a useful concept. At first I thought it was frivolous to apply them to every possible situation, but now that's what I think I'll do. My hair just reached a bad hair day tipping point, I need to find a brush. I've reached a hunger tipping point, so I think I'll have some lunch. And so on.