 
New Guys On The Block
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By Hannah Reich Berman
Published on Thursday, November 19, 2009 -
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It’s a constant source of amazement to me how much I don’t comprehend. This is especially true since, once upon a time, I considered myself to be a person of reasonable intelligence. My use here of the phrase “once upon a time” is intentional, because it feels like something of a fairy tale; I acknowledge that there are serious lapses in my ability to grasp the meaning of some of today’s new and frequently used words. New and frequently used go hand-in-hand, because the newer a word is the more often it’s used. At least so it appears.
English, being a language that is very much alive, is constantly evolving; hence there are always new words making the scene. Some of them are just fine, but others are annoying.
I offer as an example the word forensic. Some people, while under the care of a psychologist or a psychotherapist, are referred to a psychiatrist in order to receive medication. The psychiatrist, being a medical doctor, is able to prescribe and monitor medication, while the psychologist and the psychotherapist are unable to do so. Not too long ago, these same psychiatrists were busy fellows, because they could also be called on to testify in legal and criminal cases. But those days are long gone. Today, only the testimony of a forensic psychiatrist is of value. This is a medical doctor who has completed several years of additional training in the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders. He may also have had experience related to the various interfaces of mental health with the law. It makes sense. I suppose.
But it doesn’t end there. There now exists a forensic everything. There is forensic science, forensic psychology, forensic accounting, forensic anthropology, forensic nursing, etc. The list is endless. I looked it up in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, but it was of no help. A forensic is described as “an argumentative exercise.” I understand the meaning of the word argumentative, just as I know what exercise means. But put the two words together and the concept escapes me. Could the woman who comes in to clean my house be considered a forensic helper? It’s a distinct possibility, because she qualifies on two fronts: She is certainly argumentative, and her line of work provides her with exercise. But something tells me that’s not what it’s all about.
The word iconic is another newcomer. Since Mr. Merriam and Mr. Webster weren’t of much help to me with forensic, I went to Wikipedia this time. That was an exercise in futility, because it undoubtedly gets the info from the same two guys. The following explanation was given: “A cultural icon can be an image, a symbol, a logo, picture, name, face, person, or building or other image that is readily recognized.”
Huh? To my way of thinking, that covers just about everything. For example, the next time I’m seated in a restaurant, I just might look up at the waitress and order an iconic egg-white omelet! Well, why not? What is an egg-white omelet if not easily recognizable?
Another new guy on the block is the word retro. And this might be the most powerful word of them all, because it turns things around—big time. “Retro” not only makes acceptable something that’s old-fashioned or outdated, but it goes a step further. It also makes the item desirable! In my book, Shakespeare had it right when he wrote “a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.” Regardless of what something is called, if it’s old and outdated it remains old and outdated.
The list of new words goes on. The days when, out of necessity, we might need to change, alter, adjust, or update something are long gone. Now we “tweak” things. It’s unclear to me just why, but for some reason, this is a word I like, and I find myself using it often.
But I think I know why many of the new words bother me. It’s because they’re overused and abused. That happens whenever a new word hits the scene, and what’s sad is that the people who use the new words often don’t have the slightest clue as to the meaning. But they use them nevertheless. Sometimes the words make no sense at all, especially when grouped together to make a phrase.
There was once a time when, if someone was totally uninterested in something, he would express his lack of interest by saying “I couldn’t care less.” The phrase had meaning. But no more! Today people say “I could care less.” The expression is totally wrong, because it is the direct opposite of the message that the speaker means to convey. It eventually caught on, however, and even reasonably intelligent people use the phrase.
New words and phrases find their way into our lexicon on a regular basis. But the one that grizures me most is “not for nothin.’” For starters, I have zero idea what those words mean. The expression is most often used when the speaker wishes to make what he thinks is a disclaimer. And, to make matters worse, the G is usually left off the last word. This inane expression is supposed to be “not for nothing,” but for some reason folks think that by leaving off the G and pronouncing the word as “nothin” the statement has more impact.
And people do more than just use new words without understanding the exact meaning. For example, many folks use “horrified” and “mortified” interchangeably. But they don’t have the same meaning; and, with the exception of the last four letters, they don’t even sound alike. Yet the error is made all too often, and this too grizures me. It hurts my ears and offends my sensibilities.
But who am I to complain about the misuse of new expressions, or even single words? There’s a word that has become acceptable for expressing angst and annoyance, and it’s one I frequently employ. That would be the one surreptitiously slipped into the above paragraphs: grizure. Presumably the word is Yiddish in origin, since most Yiddish-speaking people either use it or, at the very least, understand its meaning. But although it’s an oft-used word, it hasn’t yet found its way into an English dictionary, so maybe it should have no place in my vocabulary.
Maybe I need to buy a new dictionary. Or maybe I should just publish one of my own.
Hannah Berman lives in Woodmere and is a licensed real-estate broker associated with Marjorie Hausman Realty. She can be reached at Savtahannah@aol.com or 516-902-3733. ♦
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