{"id":2185,"date":"2016-04-19T19:54:43","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T01:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=2185"},"modified":"2020-11-25T11:17:11","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T17:17:11","slug":"the-rise-and-fall-of-vogue-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/definitions\/the-rise-and-fall-of-vogue-words\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rise and Fall of Vogue Words"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the last two weeks, on various radio and television programs, I have heard the word granular<\/em> used no less than five times, in sentences like \u201cThe commission was hoping for a granular analysis of the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

The word got my attention, but I didn\u2019t know what it was supposed to mean. All I knew was that the pundits who said \u201cgranular\u201d were not talking about actual granules or particles or grainy surfaces.<\/p>\n

I looked up granular<\/em> on the regularly updated online American Heritage dictionary, and found this: \u201cHaving a high level of detail, as in a set of data: a more granular report that shows daily rather than weekly sales figures.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Are we witnessing the birth of a new fad word? We\u2019ll see if granular <\/em>catches on\u2014it\u2019s off to a pretty good start.<\/p>\n

Language watchers have taken notice. One of them groused on the internet: \u201cWhat is wrong with using words we already have available, like specific versus general and detailed versus summary? There is no good reason to posit another meaning of \u2018granular\u2019 simply in order to sound more attuned to the latest fad in management \u2026 This impoverishes the language.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1926, the linguist Henry Fowler coined vogue word\u00a0<\/em>to describe a word that emerges \u201cfrom obscurity\u201d to become inexplicably popular. \u201cIt is often, but not necessarily, one that by no means explains itself to the average man, who has to find out its meaning as best he can.\u201d Fowler added, \u201cReady acceptance of vogue words seems to some people the sign of an alert mind; to others it stands for the herd instinct and lack of individuality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryan A. Garner\u2019s Dictionary of Modern American Usage<\/em> has a substantial list of vogue words and phrases that includes downsize<\/em>, empower<\/em>, proactive<\/em>,\u00a0synergy<\/em>, user-friendly<\/em>, at the end of the day<\/em>, and\u00a0worst-case scenario<\/em>. These have all made the transition from fresh and edgy to stale and tedious. Today\u2019s catchiest vogue words and phrases will be tomorrow\u2019s<\/span><\/span> clich\u00e9s. The rest of them just wear out and vanish after a period of manic overuse by the public.<\/p>\n

Many vogue words are lifted from science, technology, and academia. People use these imposing expressions with little or no understanding of their meanings. Why say it raises the question<\/em> when saying it begs the question<\/em> sounds smarter? But to beg the question\u00a0<\/em>means something else entirely: it is a scholarly term for reaching unwarranted conclusions.<\/p>\n

And why say limits<\/em> or boundaries <\/em>when you can wow \u2019em with parameters, <\/em>which made a splashy debut as a vogue word a few decades ago. Soon after the word took off, the language scholar Theodore Bernstein wrote, \u201cParameter<\/em> is a mathematical term \u2026 that many people are using\u2014correction: misusing\u2014to sound technical and impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, let\u2019s not overlook the commercial potential of trendy language. If big corporations co-opt vogue words to move products, that\u2019s just savvy marketing. A fast-food chain now offers an Artisan Grilled Chicken Sandwich. At first glance it looks like any other assembly-line sandwich, but I know it\u2019s artisan<\/em>\u2014that means good, right?\u2014because it says so in big capital letters right there on the cardboard packaging.<\/p>\n

\u2014Tom Stern<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the last two weeks, on various radio and television programs, I have heard the word granular used no less than five times, in sentences like \u201cThe commission was hoping for a granular analysis of the problem.\u201d The word got my attention, but I didn\u2019t know what it was supposed to mean. All I knew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-definitions","category-effective-writing","category-humor"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}