How many times do we refer to someone as inspirational? If that glowing accolade is prompted by your creativity, your humanitarian or charitable works or perhaps sporting prowess achieved through tireless training, then it might feel well earned and be humbly welcomed.
But ever since he was a child, Laurence Clark has been told he's "inspirational" just for doing the mundane, everyday activities everyone else does.
"It's my pet hate," says comedian Laurence, who has cerebral palsy; he uses a wheelchair to get around and jokes that his slurred voice makes him sound drunk. "Whether it's for being married, doing stand-up or having kids, it just seems like they thought I'd never amount to much.
"Nowadays we use the word so much that it loses its meaning. I love to inspire people with my stand-up comedy, but don't call me inspirational for just getting on with my life!"
So it's no surprise to learn that the gist of his darkly funny stage show, Inspired, sets out to smash presumption on the head and challenge social views on disability by getting us to laugh with him about them.
It was commissioned by the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad programme and Laurence was the only stand-up comedian to be asked. The show enjoyed a sell-out run at Edinburgh Fringe last year, and Laurence is currently on the road with it.
With an honesty that can be disarming for the unsuspecting, he flips our idea of the inspirational on its head, using a variety of examples from mountain climbing to Doctor Who, via the Swedish chef from The Muppets. Expect absurd logic, death-defying stunts and unusual varieties of crisps... but don't expect to come away "inspired"!
"In the course of the show I try to rediscover what is truly inspiring," he explains. "There's one bit where the audience make noise at various intervals to indicate whether they are inspired or not by what I have told them or shown them."
Next New Year's Day it will be 40 years since he popped into the world after a long labour during which he suffered a lack of oxygen. Doctors warned Laurence's mother that he would probably have learning difficulties and be unable to look after himself.
"I think they actually used the word 'vegetable'," says Laurence, who has problems with posture, movement and co-ordination.
He has always loved to laugh. He cites the classic "geeky" kid in school who makes his contemporaries laugh in order to be popular.
"I think I was that person," he admits.
Growing up in the 80s his favourite TV show was Saturday Night Live.
"It was all the so-called alternative comedians of the day, the cool ones that you'd talk about in school the next day. But it took me ages to think that I might have a go. At first I just wanted to write comedy. I sent some scripts to the BBC and, like everyone else who sends unsolicited scripts, I didn't get very far."
He's certainly not averse to the idea of real inspiration.
"It was Dave Gorman who inspired me to start comedy myself because he was the first comic I saw who used slides and Powerpoint, which showed me that stand-up comedy didn't have to be just one person talking on stage; he showed me a way that I could do something different."
You might recognise Laurence from last year's BBC One documentary We Won't Drop the Baby which followed Laurence, his wife Adele (who also has cerebral palsy and uses crutches to walk) and their son Tom, now eight, in the crucial weeks up to the safe arrival of second son Jamie, who turns two on Monday.
Apparently, jokes the proud dad, his biggest worry was that the baby would be born a Tory... boom, boom.
"We've bought him a climbing frame for his birthday; he climbs everywhere at the moment, so we thought we might as well focus it," laughs Laurence.
On Wednesday he'll be leaving the family home in Liverpool and heading south to Exeter for his first show in the city since 2005.
"I was really just starting out then; what I do now is very different."
Laurence Clark is at Exeter Phoenix on Wednesday, June 26. For tickets call the venue box office.