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Thu 24 May, 2012 04:29 am
First i noticed the descent into meaninglessness of "iconic." An announcer would be talking about someone's first album, describing it as "iconic." Excuse me? If you only have one of something, how can it be an icon? How can it be the representative sample of someone's art, it it's the only sample out there?
Now they pounding legendary into a meaningless pulp. A local home improvement company talks about their "legendary" service. A local furniture company talks abou their legendary furniture. Wait . . . what? I've never run across a legend about a home improvement company, nor a furniture store.
Once upon a time, long, long ago, Frodo worked at his humble trade in home improvement . . .
What about you, are there any words you're sick to death in any odd context, with irrelevance no barrier?
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:If you only have one of something, how can it be an icon?
Because you're on your knees praying. "Please God, let someone buy my album!"
The first word to come to mind is 'diva' which means something today much different than even twenty years ago. Back then, a diva was someone who had achieved some distinction in opera, now it's a reference to any person who has sold some records and, because of that, has an attitude of complete entitlement.
The other is 'yogi'.
A Yogi was, until recently, the honorific used to describe a master of the discipline.
Nowadays, it's used to describe anyone who shows up for a couple of lessons a week with a mat under their arm and an insulated water bottle swinging from their shoulder.
Joe(downward facing dog)Nation
PS: Don't you love the word "nowadays"?
Yeah . . . i like erstwhile, too . . .
Those are two good examples.
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:What about you, are there any words you're sick to death in any odd context, with irrelevance no barrier?
"Evolution" as a supposedly-elegant way of saying "the politician changed his mind".
"Epidemic" in the context of non-infectious diseases, as for example in "America's current obesity epidemic".
And of course, all the 'rich', 'next-generation', 'value-added', 'revolutionary' 'game-changing' 'philosophies' reflected in the language we call corporatese.
Not to mention lawyerese. Bryan Garner (*) once quipped that modern-day lawyers would have re-titled
Rudyard Kipling's most famous poem "In the event that". He had a point.
_____
(*) Bryan Garner is a professional language maven and the author of the book
Legal Writing in Plain English. The book has helped my persuasive writing a lot.
Honourable, when applied to a politician, simply because a bunch of idiots voted for them, shouldn't you have to do something of honour to achieve such a title
@djjd62,
But . . . but . . . the Honourable Member's member . . .
@Setanta,
“Literally" to mean “figuratively”
“Hopefully” as a whole-sentence modifier
“Convince” to mean “persuade"
I have no problem with hopefully. "Ordinarily, we take Rout 5." "Usually, he shows up here for breakfast every morning." "That is decidedly infradig." So why do we beat up on hopefully?
@Setanta,
I get tired of restaurants that claim they or their food items are "world famous".
@Setanta,
I think the big word that's too much used and by that I mean used more then once is game changer. These days game changer is far more prevalent then "iconic" though they're used in a way which implies the two words are interchangeable.
@Joe Nation,
Joe Nation wrote:
The first word to come to mind is 'diva' which means something today much different than even twenty years ago. Back then, a diva was someone who had achieved some distinction in opera, now it's a reference to any person who has sold some records and, because of that, has an attitude of complete entitlement.
Personally knowing Eurodiva/Thedivaden, I would have to dispute your statement that diva has been debased in the currency of language. It's a legitimate title that's earned for all sorts of people in all walks of life.
“Introducing ‘Lite’ – The new way to spell ‘Light’, but with twenty percent fewer letters.”
Jerry Seinfeld
@parados,
That's the equivalent of the home improvement boys with their legendary service.
@Setanta,
“Importantly” when “important” would suffice
I was waiting for awesome . . . bailiff, whack his peepee . . .
@Setanta,
“Drive” for a semiconductor gadget with no moving parts
Yes, no, I shouldn't have used “gadget"
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