Which is a shame, because I want to invite you all to see two truly iconic ballet companies and some iconic dance works on my ballet trip to New York in May (click here for more details).
It is true that this hyperbolic use is getting out of hand, as you can see in the chart at the end of this post (click here if you can't see it), but hyperbole seems to be the way of the world. If it's any consolation, you can see that "icon" seems to have peaked, though "iconic" continues its steady march upward. As hyperbolic words are overused, they lose their force, and then we have to look for something else to overuse.
The OED dates this new sense development of "icon" to 1952:
A person or thing regarded as a representative symbol, esp. of a culture or movement; a person, institution, etc., considered worthy of admiration or respect.
1952 C. S. Holmes in Pacific Spectator Spring 248/2
‘The Diamond as Big as the Ritz’, the work of a high-spirited young
man turning a critical eye upon a national icon, satirically fabulizes
the American Mr. Moneybags.
1975 Business Week
(Nexis)
12 May 74
A large number of freshmen Congressmen sympathetic to knocking down institutional icons such as the ICC and CAB.
and of "iconic" to 1976:
Designating a person or thing
regarded as representative of a culture or movement; important or
influential in a particular (cultural) context.
1976 Newsweek 23 Feb. 59/3
His long-distance picture of Robert Smithson's iconic ‘Spiral
Jetty’, with the artist seen as a speck walking along the top of an arch
of his own work, is the finest example of its kind.
The ngram chart does show the beginning of the upward trend in the mid-70s.
You
are perhaps wondering why a word that means "exaggeration" (hyperbole)
is so similar to one that you learned in math class to describe this:
They both come from a Greek word meaning "excess", from hyper (over) and ballein
(to throw). Doubtless my "icon(ic)"-hating correspondent would like
these words to be thrown over, but unfortunately that is not in
Wordlady's power (although she's certainly no fan of mindless hyperbole).
While we're on the subject of exaggerating, you may also be interested to know that this word comes from the Latin word agger (heap) and originally meant literally "heap or pile up". Whatever kind of heap or pile you think of when next you hear or see the word "icon(ic)" is of course up to you.
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me on twitter: @thewordlady
While we're on the subject of exaggerating, you may also be interested to know that this word comes from the Latin word agger (heap) and originally meant literally "heap or pile up". Whatever kind of heap or pile you think of when next you hear or see the word "icon(ic)" is of course up to you.
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I think that what happens is that some people learn a new word (to them) and then want to show how educated they are by using it (or overusing it)
ReplyDelete... or misusing it!
Delete