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From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
Every presidential election cycle, there seems to appear a word that becomes so overused as to become meaningless.
In 2000 the word was "gravitas." Does George W. Bush have gravitas? Does Bill Bradley have gravitas? Is there enough gravitas in the word gravitas? Do you mix sugar with your gravitas or take it straight? The gravitas is so thick you could cut it with a knife---a knife with gravitas.
Thankfully, gravitas is now on the verbal boneheap of yesteryear. But seeing how nature abhors a vaccuum, along comes this year's overused word:
Meme.
Is that "MEH-may?" "MEE-mee?" "meh-MAY?" "Memm?" "Mahm?" "MAY-mee?"
Like gravitas, meme is not in the dictionary. I have no doubt there's a perfectly good word already in existence that could be used instead. If only I know what it meant I could offer a sane alternative.
How did this unfortunate collision of our 5th and 13th letters come about? Did somebody accidentally misspell the word "memo" and everyone piled onto the meme train out of herd instinct? Did some attention-starved blogmaster create it to get noticed? Or...is it a gift from god?
Apart from not knowing its meaning or pronunciation or cultural origins or value on Ebay, I dislike the word because it just rubs me the wrong way. In Maine, we have solid linguistic instincts and they have served us well for centuries. We know, for example, that it's "cah," not car. It's "Alabamer," not Alabama. So I suggest that you people...yes, "you people"...just knock it off.
I am forming a new, meme-free blog as soon as my ether high wears off. It will be called Motherofgod End Meme Entries. I'm now accepting donations to make it happen.
Thank you for your timeme.
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