ANYONE FOR AN “AWESOME” SANDWICH?

Charles Curtman – 20h ·

ANYONE FOR AN “AWESOME” SANDWICH?

“Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.”–Unknown

Throughout most of my life, I never heard anyone refer to a hamburger or haircut or any such mundane thing as being “awesome.” Word’s like “awesome” were used only in reference to things like the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls or an appearance of the aurora borealis. But it’s commonplace today to hear everything from a piece of cake to a a rollercoaster ride referred to as “awesome.’ This is sad.

Throughout most of my life I never heard sports figures refereed to as “heroes” or entertainers called “icons.” “Hero”was a word reserved for people who risked and gave their lives for the sake of defending their country or saving the lives of others. “Icon” and “iconic” were words used to describe someone or something almost worthy of veneration. Today, actors and actresses, ball players, singers and dancers, etc. are ridiculously labeled “heroes” and “icons”—film scripts and certain rock songs are called “iconic”—when they are the polar opposite, and as far from being such, as the earth is from the moon. This is pathetically sad.

When a society begins to use words like “hero” and “icon” in reference to the likes of Marlon Brando, Madonna and Mike Tyson or to describe the music of Hank Williams or the Beatles, it is a society that has become sick in the head and heart. It cheapens and degrades what is truly heroic and iconic when the same adjective properly applied to war heroes and 9/11 first responders is used to describe the breakfast special at Waffle House. Something is desperately wrong when a society becomes so linguistically warped that the same word used to describe the majesty of Mt. Rushmore is used in reference to music performed by Mick Jagger or Michael Jackson.

Someone rightly said, “Words, like glasses, obscure everything they do not make clear.” Careless use of our wonderful English language is not a trifling or insignificant thing. The misapplication of words is something, to quote Julius Caesar, that “should be shunned as a ship would shun a reef.” The misapplication or words like “hero” and “heroic” and “icon” and “iconic” are indicative of a society that is sick and becoming more stupid every day.

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Prov. 18:21).