I dunno about you folks, but I’m into language, words, and meaning. And THAT means that I get constantly po’d about how words are either abused or over-used or just plain stupidly employed online, in particular in YouTube videos.
What do I mean? Here we go with some of my least-favorites as examples:
ICONIC: I’m famous around here for hating this one, but I have good reason. A real icon is a religious portrait, usually on wood with gold embellishments, of a Catholic or Orthodox saint. Period.
It is a deeply faith-based symbolic representation—not a theme park ride, a dinner dish, or a movie. NEVER. The over-use and misuse of this term is rampant, ruinous, and wrong. The ironic part is, the more they use it, the less it has any emphasis or meaning at all, just the way some of our once-rare swear words have been made impotent by overuse. Either way, in my view the use of this for all-and-sundry only shows the utter stupidity of the user and invalidates the material presented.
The entrance to Super Nintendo World at Night – Photo Credit: NBC Universal
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BELOVED: Look, I have beloved family members and friends and I’ll bet you do, too. But a beloved SANDWICH? A beloved SODA FLAVOR? To be beloved takes time, endurance, and testing over decades, not a week and a half. But look at the descriptions of YouTube videos and, whaddya know, EVERYTHING is “beloved” out there! Well, no, it isn’t and once again using this real word for unreal reasons only makes your content irrelevant to anyone with a brain or a Funk & Wagnall’s.
DISTURBING CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR: Wow is this one getting currency these days! ANY slight change in any sales of anything is described this way in headlines. After you do the now-routine scan down eight paragraphs of indistinct and general nonsense and finally find out the company/retailer/airline/pundit expressing this concern is upset because people are buying slightly LESS of their stuff, you begin to realize it’s only disturbing to THEIR bottom line, not yours or anyone’s in the real world.
Stop it, willya? Just stop it.
Night Time Fireworks in Celestial Park and the Helios Grand Hotel at Epic Universe in Universal Orlando – Photo Credit: NBC Universal
HONEST: Here’s a real doozy. Have you noticed how many reviews of stuff—products, meals, themeparks, etc. etc. claim to be “An HONEST Review of…” whatever? So I guess otherwise we’d expect these people to give a DIShonest review? I mean, have they got reps for pixiedust so bad that they want to emphasize that THIS time they’re really truly telling the truth, “honest” and sincerely?
Yeah, well, if you have to label your opinion as “honest” it just plain isn’t. Grownups know this because we’ve all dealt with lying children who swear (pinkie or otherwise) to things we know and THEY know are utter balderdash. I HONESTLY hope they’ll quit this crapola, but just between you and me honestly? I doubt it.
IS THIS THE BEST….?: Nope. Never. Not if you start off with that endlessly over-used framing. In fact, not only isn’t it, but you’re joining the worst of the Internet writers who frame every review or exploration with this setup. Why should we believe you? Answer: We don’t.
The Chronos Gate entrance to Universal’s Epic Universe theme park – Photo Credit: Marvin Montanaro
In conclusion, can we PLEASE get away from the aforementioned “eight paragraphs of generalized and well-known pablum/pseudo-history/faux-context nonsense” before getting to the point? In ANY article online, even if you insist on using the aforementioned nonsense words to promote it? IF you’re promising a “famous” or “beloved” or “disturbing” or “rare” or “honest” truth, just say who it is and what it is up front. Instead, you’re teaching us to react the normal way oft-disappointed people do to such come-ons: Ignore the whole match and move on.
These words and practices are not just dumb and offensive to truth and communication, they are made more and more impotent the more they are used. Stop it. Get some help. Just stop it. Or….be relegated to the unwatched, the unread, and the untrusted forevermore.
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