Linguistic Inflation
The Macmillan dictionary blog recently hosted two attention-catching articles on hyperbole by Stan Carey: “Is Linguistic Inflation Insanely Awesome?” and “The Unreality of Real Estate Language”.
In the first article, Carey explains that linguistic inflation devalues words by associating them with what is of lesser value, as in referring to a clever person as a “genius” or labelling an internet link that we share as “insanely amazing” simply because that draws better attention than “pretty good” or “rather interesting”. Still, Carey does not see this as seriously problematic because we will never be short of words to express what we want: as grand-sounding words become routine, other words take their place by “further shift or by coinage” as indicated in the Economist article “Dead, or Living Too Well?”; as the meanings of “awesome” and “terrible” changed, for example, “awe-inspiring” and “horrifying” took their place. Similarly, the Economist anticipates that a new word will soon be needed to signify a “curator” in the sense of an art warden because the meaning of “curator” has been significantly diluted: “A curator is no longer a warden of precious objects but a kind of freelance aesthetic concierge” (“Curator, R.I.P”).
While scientific and academic writing resist linguistic inflation, some less formal contexts such as those of real estate language illustrate the phenomenon very well, according to Carey: “In this world, medium is ‘large’, average is ‘first rate’, and unusual is ‘extraordinary’. Any site that isn’t a ruined shack sinking into a swamp may be described as ‘superb’….Even run down houses can be made appealing, since they offer ‘immense potential’ ”.
English language learners beware: You need to understand the language 110%!
Posted by May Mikati on 06 June 2012, 2:45 PM
The Macmillan dictionary blog recently hosted two attention-catching articles on hyperbole by Stan Carey: “Is Linguistic Inflation Insanely Awesome?” and “The Unreality of Real Estate Language”.
In the first article, Carey explains that linguistic inflation devalues words by associating them with what is of lesser value, as in referring to a clever person as a “genius” or labelling an internet link that we share as “insanely amazing” simply because that draws better attention than “pretty good” or “rather interesting”. Still, Carey does not see this as seriously problematic because we will never be short of words to express what we want: as grand-sounding words become routine, other words take their place by “further shift or by coinage” as indicated in the Economist article “Dead, or Living Too Well?”; as the meanings of “awesome” and “terrible” changed, for example, “awe-inspiring” and “horrifying” took their place. Similarly, the Economist anticipates that a new word will soon be needed to signify a “curator” in the sense of an art warden because the meaning of “curator” has been significantly diluted: “A curator is no longer a warden of precious objects but a kind of freelance aesthetic concierge” (“Curator, R.I.P”).
While scientific and academic writing resist linguistic inflation, some less formal contexts such as those of real estate language illustrate the phenomenon very well, according to Carey: “In this world, medium is ‘large’, average is ‘first rate’, and unusual is ‘extraordinary’. Any site that isn’t a ruined shack sinking into a swamp may be described as ‘superb’….Even run down houses can be made appealing, since they offer ‘immense potential’ ”.
English language learners beware: You need to understand the language 110%!
Posted by May Mikati on 06 June 2012, 2:45 PM
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