When did a blizzard turn into an “event”?
Words seem to be changing their meaning without the least warning. I probably sound like the typical grumbling old person, which I am, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong.
Television weather folks appear to be the main culprits. The first time I heard a weather forecaster predict a snow “event,” I was puzzled. What did “event” have to do with snow? Did he mean we were all supposed to dress up for an occasion? Was this some new global warming/climate change gobbledygook festivity participating with falling snow? I just didn’t get it.
I listened more closely to the weather guy. Nope. He wasn’t talking about anything other than a good, old-fashioned snowstorm or blizzard. Why the name was being changed was perplexing, but okay. I could deal with it…maybe.
Then Big Pharma companies caught on to the usefulness of the word— “event” in their television ads. A prescription drug is presented as giving the consumer the chance to live happily ever after (and in good health). However since most drugs have side effects, the ads include disclaimers.
Headaches…nausea… shortness of breath…a death event…What?
The first time I heard one of the side effects of such-and-such pill called a death “event,” I nearly choked on my teeth (and I don’t have dentures). I’m guessing the purpose was to lessen death’s seriousness. Really?
Being a fairly good-natured person, I tried to be reasonable. However, I’d barely adapted to the new meaning of “event” when I noticed the weather forecasters were also changing the weather map colors. Red has always signified “warmth” and blue “cool.” In fact, I believe the color spectrum designates them as such.
Suddenly, the TV forecasters pulled out the color rug from under my old lady orthopedic shoes. Blue now designated heat and red was the spokesperson for cold. It was all very confusing.
However, I was unprepared for the all-time, most obnoxious word change ever to hit the American culture scene—POLAR VORTEX!
In the year 2014, plain and simple cold weather was transposed into the overly dramatic Polar Vortex. Really? For seven decades, I’ve lived with cold winters…cold weather…cold spells but now there’s something even better. I’ve lived through a Polar Vortex.
New words popping up in a language is the norm. However is changing meaning without as much as a howdy-do the norm? Several other terms come to mind. The word “narrative” has recently been tossed around by news commentators, especially in conjunction with politicians. A narrative is a story. A story doesn’t have to be true although it may be so. So when I hear a newscaster describing a politician’s “Narrative,” I have to wonder. What happened to reporting the facts?
I hadn’t even finished writing this column when I noted another changing word. Suddenly everybody is “trending.” A golf channel commentator described one of the players as “trending.” “Trending” where? “Trending” what?
And don’t get me started with “hash-tag.”
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