A few months before the pandemic started, I took a trip to Iceland. It was a magnificent country, with a laid-back culture, stunning landscapes, an amazing cuisine, and a dark yet fascinating history. The Icelandic language has changed very little over the course of many centuries due to the travel ban placed on the island nation by its colonial overlord Denmark. This caused virtually no cultural exchange between the outside world and Iceland, thereby resulting in no new words being inserted into the Icelandic language. Contrast that with modern-day English-a language that travels endlessly-and the difference becomes clear. English is a language rife with cultural idioms and slang terms, the latter being formed on an almost constant basis. Some of these terms are vastly overused.
One such term that is used a bit too frequently is toxic. The term toxic is intended for things that grind down on one’s mental and emotional health. For example, a good use of the word toxic in this context is a boss that frequently throws objects across the room when he’s mad at his direct reports, or a girlfriend that constantly accuses you of cheating and demands to see your phone at random intervals. However, the term has taken on a more subtle meaning of “anything I don’t like”. No, the guy putting some chalk on his hands before deadlifting a lot of weight at the gym isn’t being toxic, nor is a group of twenty-somethings hosting a fantasy football league. If absolutely everything is toxic, then the word loses all of its power and meaning. If you don’t believe me, then ask yourself why you haven’t heard the word epic used to describe something favorable since the early 2010s.
Savage is another term that has taken on a new meaning since the mid-to-late 2010s. In our modern casual setting, savage is meant something that is ruthless. A quick-witted though hurtful comeback or a woman rejecting a would-be suitor in a very demeaning way is savage. The term has also evolved to refer to an impressive feat that is without regard to social norms. Someone drifting into a parking lot sideways is savage. A counter-example though from my personal life is when I went to a restaurant one time with some colleagues. I ordered an interesting-sounding entrée. I was asked why I had ordered something I’d never had before. I responded by stating that I was curious and was willing to try it. My colleague’s response? You ordered an entrée without knowing if you’d like it? Man, that’s savage! Ordering an adventurous entrée doesn’t constitute being savage, neither does jaywalking or bringing 13 items into the “12 items or less” aisle at the grocery store. Those three examples are much closer to mundane than savage. The term savage is also used to describe people, such as Jim lives in Vermont but didn’t report his refrigerator purchase from New Hampshire on his taxes! Man, he’s a savage! The term savage has some historical baggage that shouldn’t be ignored. Often, Western explorers would arrive to a new land and then refer to the native inhabitants as savage. Labeling people as savage is dubious at best.
In the last few years oof has entered our lexicon as well. The term is meant to express disapproval of something, as if the speaker was punched in the gut. One example is Person A admits to being a TCU fan and Person B responds with oof, that title game must have been brutal! Another example is when the term is used to correct a false statement. An example is Person A stating The United States only dropped one bomb on Japan to which Person B starts their reply with oof. The term stems from a place of having the perceived moral high ground; the speaker isn’t just using oof to correct a false statement or to disagree, they are using it pass judgment on the other person while they do it. This is the true pitfall of oof; not it’s annoying pronunciation or vagueness to those not in-the-know, but it’s air of superiority.
These are just a few terms that have become vastly overused in the last few years, and hence have had their meanings change because of that or have lost a bit of significance. Here’s hoping that these terms become the new epic and fade into obscurity.
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