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D.L. Stewart on going from the Greeks to geeks to iconic freaks
Friday, July 04, 2008
On the list of life's irritants, this probably doesn't rate anywhere near the top of your list. I suspect it's not up there with car alarms that blare for hours, stories about celebrity babies or television meteorologists who interrupt regular programming with reports of bad weather in cities you've never heard of.
But I'm starting to grind my teeth every time I see the word "iconic."
I am, I'll have to admit, easily irritated. Things that normal people accept as just a part of life really bug me. A lot of those things have to do with the way other people drive, although our local cable company is doing a pretty consistent job of getting under my skin lately.
And people who don't get to the point, they annoy me, too. Don't you just hate people like that? They start off talking about one thing and then they go off on a tangent and ramble on until you want to grab them by the throat and scream, "get to the point, you twit."
I have an uncle like that. We call him Uncle Bud, but his real name is George, because he was named after his father, who was my grandfather. On my mother's side. He'll begin a conversation about, say, something that happened to him at the grocery store and before he gets around to telling you what it was he's talking about his favorite movie and why Chevys were better than Fords, so you never do find out what happened to him at the grocery store. He drives everybody in the family crazy and we all try to avoid him as much as possible.
Well, it's because of that and also the fact that he has really bad breath. Which, I think, has to do with his dentures. My Aunt Marge keeps telling him he should soak them at night, but he generally forgets. Before she retired, Aunt Marge was a gym teacher. She ... uh, where was I?
Oh, yeah, "iconic."
There's nothing wrong with the word, per se. It was invented by the Greeks and originally referred to statues and religious objects of worship. From the Greeks it eventually was adopted by the geeks, who used a form of the word for those little pictures on computer screens.
But now it's used in connection with anything readily recognized as having some well-known significance or embodying certain qualities. And used ... and used ... and used.
In one week I spotted the word in 17 newspaper and magazine stories. One story identified "Get Smart" as an iconic television show. "American Idol" was termed iconic. A third story called Big Mac an iconic hamburger, another praised an iconic potato chip and yet another referred to an iconic brewery. At age one and a half, the iPhone has been cited as iconic by USA Today.
"Iconic" is not the first word that has been abused and overused. A few years ago, every writer with access to a keyboard felt compelled to use the word "paradigm." More recently "schadenfreude" started popping up a lot. But that was mainly on television shows, because it's a lot easier to pronounce than it is to spell.
But now "iconic" is the word du jour.
Which, come to think of it, is another phrase that's staring to get on my nerves.
Contact this writer at (937) 225-2439 or at dlstewart@DaytonDaily News.com.
