Another new (or newish) phrase is 'back in the day.' Here's an example I just read.

He and my father were in the merchant marine together back in the day.

The writer doesn't bother to finish the phrase by saying back in the day when [insert something archaic]. No, that's too much work.

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My husband came home from work one day and said that if one more person used the phrase 'at the end of the day' in a meeting, he was going to go berserk. Evidently this is another phrase overused by people who don't want to think through what they actually mean.
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Naemanson: It's interesting to hear what you are doing with your classes. Have you ever encountered 'logomachize,' to discuss words? Wolfe and Archie discuss the word in a Nero Wolfe detective story.