I want you to tell me if this sounds like something from the novel "1984" by George Orwell!
This story, straight from the Houston Chronicle, sure sounds a lot like the term "Unspeak" and such to me!
'Unfriend' is a buddy of lexicographers
Associated PressNov. 17, 2009, 7:43AM
NEW YORK — What word sums up 2009? How about "unfriend"?
That's the New Oxford American Dictionary's 2009 Word of the Year. It means to remove someone as a friend on a social networking Web site such as Facebook.
Each year Oxford University Press tracks how the English language is changing and chooses a word that best reflects the mood of the year.
Oxford lexicographer Christine Lindberg says unfriend has "real lex appeal."
Finalists for 2009 also included "netbook," which is a small laptop, and "sexting," which is sending sexually explicit texts and pictures by cell phone.
Well, it just gets me all warm and fuzzy to know that with everything going on in the world today...some of the more "learned" people in the institutions of higher learning and in the lofty world of "I know what's REALLY important!" can keep all of us poor ignorant folks apprised of such things as this!
Now, I never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I'll tell you just what my take is on this sort of thing! I don't give a DAMN if it is in the dictionary, it's just bad grammar...plain and simple!
Ya know, most of us "common folks" would never use this word. Most of us don't have to make up new words to name such a simple act like dropping a friend! I'll be willing to bet that the "Smart" folks that created this word don't even know how to use it outside of Facebook!
In my poor ol' humble opinion...newspapers are supposed to report the news! This ain't news! This is some silly past time for people that don't want to work for a living!
However, it may just be that these folks are preparing to go to work for the .gov! I guess that this is just practice for a system like the one described by Orwell!
Looks like we are closer to the vision of "1984" than we knew! I'm sure George (Orwell, NOT Washington) would be proud!
Now, my friends, let's get some coffee and sit outside for a bit...we can make up a few "new words" of our own! Very descriptive ones, too!
15 comments:
They have made a joke of the word friend. It no longer has the meaning of the word we use for a trusted confidante, a source of dependability. Face Book has made the word meaningless. Maybe the system doesn't like people having real friends. Maybe they like us being separated and alone.
Michael
Hear,Hear Staying Alive!! My thought, as I read this was, "How good a friend were they in the first place?".
Bubba -
When I heard about this piece on the radio, I congratulated myself on having better things to do with my time, like visit you every day, than to "unfriend" folks on YouTube. Heck, I don't even know how to facebook (rather have the real thing) or youtube, and I'm glad of it! I'm so out of the loop, I just learned of the word "tramp stamp" to decribe a lower back (Upper Butt?) tattoo. Shows how out of the loop I am!
Big Hugs -
I'M with you ladies, what a mess things are. What happened to the simple life and simple words to discribe things and people. I am amazed at the words my grandkids use. I have no clue what they are talking about half the time.
Lets have some coffee and talk real words to each other.
I have nothing that I have not earned. Some speak of entitlements.
I feel that I am entitled to live by my own efforts, in my grandpa's
words,"Root,hog. or die hungery."
I'm a lover of words...therefor I don't text or use numbers for letters, and I prefer older dictionaries to these modern bastardizations. No wonder children today are so ignorant and incapable of communication. Sigh. I despair for the future.
Shade and Sweetwater,
K (who makes words up all the time, but likes to pretend that's different)
Hey Michael...
Right you are about that! I think that most social networks are about dividing folks and NOT making them closer, ut then that's just my opinion!
Thanks for coming by today!
Hey Sis...
I think we have all had friends that we got rid of, but I didn't know we had to have a special word for it!
Thanks for the visit, Sis!
Hey Sis...
Unusual to have BOTH my sisters comment and end up back to back! What a deal!
I first learned about the term "tramp stamp" on CSI...who says that TV isn't educational?
I'm just getting too old to keep up with all this garbage, anymore!
Hey, thanks for the visit!
Hey JoJo...
I guess that we go through this whole "word" thing every generation, but I feel I'm losing ground!
I'm always a day late and a dollar short!
Sweetie, I sure thank you for stopping by!
Hey Vlad...
Sounds like a good ol' common sense saying to me!
Thanks for the visit, Vlad!
Hey K...
Does make you wonder if we will even understand what they are talking about in the future, doesn't it?
Makes me glad I'm hermit inclined and only will need to communicate with the dogs and critters around the homestead!
Your love of words is very evident in your post, dear lady! I always enjoy them!
Thanks for the visit today!
Well if unfriend has to be a word let's unfriend Congress....but wait a minute they were never our friends to begin with. lol
1984 seems like so long ago.
Life in the woods gets better every day.
See Ya
Reading it in english it just sounds really wrong! But we actully have that word if You translate it to swedish :-) :-) But in swedish it´s good grammar :-) :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.
Hey Tony...
That's a good idea, except like you said...they weren't our friend anyway!
Hey, thanks for coming over, buddy!
Hey Christer...
I guess that reading it in English changes the context of the word.
You actually have this word in Sweden? Does it mean the same thing? How is it used?
Pretty interesting, my friend! Hey, thanks for the visit!
Well, I guess technically speaking, if you can "befriend" someone, it follows that you can 'unfriend' them as well.
But I don't like it either.
Does this mean we're getting old and becoming 'old fuddy duddy's'??
I'm a lover or words myself, and it seems that more and more often, people look at me like I'm speaking a foreign language instead of English.
And texting with abbreviations or substituting numbers? No way, Jose!
*sigh*
Hey TM...
I guess that I just am more fond of the simple terms. I have made friends, lost friends, shared friends, become friends, joined with friends, separated from friends, been happy and sad with and for friends, and even disagreed with friends!
I just don't think I have ever "unfriended" anyone! It somehow just doesn't sound right to me!
But what do I know? I'm just an old guy...happy to have all my friends, and I plan to keep the ones I have!
Hey, thanks for coming by...FRIEND!
It sounds totally wrong to me too... And at the risk of seeming old-fashioned, I'll be sticking with the old and familiar...:)
It makes me wonder about young kids though. Do they still say "you're not my friend anymore" - or will they start saying "I'm unfriending you now" ?
*sheesh*
I refuse to change. I watch things go on around me, and in the end corn bread still tastes the same and George Strait and conway twitty still sound good to me. this computer and a few sites I visit is about the only modern thing I got cept my phone I guess.
life is what you make it.
Hey OGT...
How right you are, my friend! How right you are...!
And may I say, I think we are better off for it!
Thanks for the visit!
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