Trendy Words I Do Not Like

[smallcleanrat]

Real-world as an adjective. The referent is becoming increasingly unclear as per Meta.

In fairness, it DOES seem like it's getting harder to tell what's "real world" and what's "meta" apart anymore.

I kind of like the alternative term 'meat-space.'

[Myword]

  ICONIC      is there anything that is not?

  HEARTLAND

  JOY

HERO

PHENOMENOLOGICAL      misused always

[Liquidambar]

PHENOMENOLOGICAL      misused always

Maybe I should stop using this one.  It has a specific meaning in my subfield, so I use it to communicate something in a precise way, but meanings in other fields seem to be all over the place.

[traductio]

PHENOMENOLOGICAL      misused always

Out of curiosity, misused how? Perhaps my problem is I have read a lot of Husserl and Heidegger. Although I've also read a lot of Peirce, for whom "icon" has a specific technical meaning, and I can certainly see how "iconic" is used for hyperbolic purposes.

[dismalist]

reimagine

A relative newbie: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=reimagine&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Creimagine%3B%2Cc0

Let's reimagine what--- reality?

Pure BS. Not even wrong.

[mahagonny]

That's a John Lennon song, remixed

[dismalist]

That's a John Lennon song, remixed

Ah, yes, '68 generation. Thought as much.

[Parasaurolophus]

PHENOMENOLOGICAL      misused always

Maybe I should stop using this one.  It has a specific meaning in my subfield, so I use it to communicate something in a precise way, but meanings in other fields seem to be all over the place.

PHENOMENOLOGICAL      misused always

Out of curiosity, misused how? Perhaps my problem is I have read a lot of Husserl and Heidegger. Although I've also read a lot of Peirce, for whom "icon" has a specific technical meaning, and I can certainly see how "iconic" is used for hyperbolic purposes.

Analytics just use it to mean sense-impressions. I think that's the misuse Myword has in mind, rather than the Husserlian (/Hegelian) sense pertaining to the structure of consciousness.

If so, then I'm guilty as charged.


Can I add secret/secrete confusion to the list? I like the words, but their constant conflation is driving me nuts.

[Myword]

Phenomenological is from phenomenology of course. No problem.

Now it is used in psychology and other subjects to mean "description" or "observational" or "experiential" Because the authors want to appear smarter, I assume. Such is how so many technical terms end up changed by the public and other academic subjects. Ontology has many meanings outside of philosophy.

[Cheerful]

reset

[mahagonny]

'pregnant people'    'birthing people'

'why are we letting language be redesigned by a tiny minority?'

Piers Morgan asks, politely and reasonably:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDShwIQSawM

Another example of how the militant left ruins everything. Or tries to.

[dismalist]

narrative

Use has exploded since 1960

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=narrative&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cnarrative%3B%2Cc0

It means attributing any meaning one wants to a circumstance or set of circumstances. Thus, we could have any number of narratives for the same sets of facts.

Narratives are like hypotheses. They can't all be right, but they can all be wrong. All or most survive because there is too little at stake for most people.

[Anon1787]

narrative

Use has exploded since 1960

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=narrative&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cnarrative%3B%2Cc0

It means attributing any meaning one wants to a circumstance or set of circumstances. Thus, we could have any number of narratives for the same sets of facts.

Narratives are like hypotheses. They can't all be right, but they can all be wrong. All or most survive because there is too little at stake for most people.

The explosion in the use of the word "narrative" seems highly problematic (another annoying trendy word), though the po-mos tell us that there are no objective facts.

[dismalist]

narrative

Use has exploded since 1960

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=narrative&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cnarrative%3B%2Cc0

It means attributing any meaning one wants to a circumstance or set of circumstances. Thus, we could have any number of narratives for the same sets of facts.

Narratives are like hypotheses. They can't all be right, but they can all be wrong. All or most survive because there is too little at stake for most people.

The explosion in the use of the word "narrative" seems highly problematic (another annoying trendy word), though the po-mos tell us that there are no objective facts.

Mercy! And the explosion in use started around the same time. It's that '68 generation! We didn't invent post-modernism, but we ate it up [except for me.]

Problematic and narrative have in common that they are words that needn't describe something correct, or necessary to test, or even testable. Could describe anything, really.

As for objective facts, reminds me of Sokal: Come up to my 25th story apartment, jump off the balcony, and let me know if there are objective facts or not.

ETA: Sokal.

[marshwiggle]

narrative

Use has exploded since 1960

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=narrative&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cnarrative%3B%2Cc0

It means attributing any meaning one wants to a circumstance or set of circumstances. Thus, we could have any number of narratives for the same sets of facts.

Narratives are like hypotheses. They can't all be right, but they can all be wrong. All or most survive because there is too little at stake for most people.

The explosion in the use of the word "narrative" seems highly problematic (another annoying trendy word), though the po-mos tell us that there are no objective facts.

Mercy! And the explosion in use started around the same time. It's that '68 generation!

Problematic and narrative have in common that they are words that needn't describe something correct or necessary to test or even testable. Could describe anything, really.

Story also took off after 1980, but evidence has gone down, especially since 2000. The trend is sad but clear.