The staff at Merriam-Webster are always happy when people leave comments explaining why they chose to look up certain words, as this often clears up language issues like function conversions and semantic drift. However, sometimes our users will submit comments or questions (unintentionally, we’re sure) that cause awe and soul searching on the editorial floor to the point where no words are identified. for the whole day. For example, the response of a user looking up the word Iconic:
I was wondering why people throw that word around with no clue as to what it means…. For example, Justin Bieber is hardly iconic.
We are not music critics, but we can analyze it from there.
It’s Justin Bieber Iconic? This is a question every dictionary, big or small, struggles with one day. When one examines the evidence, it is clear that a fair number of people use the word. icon related to him.
Plenty of Montclairians responded to Bieber’s appearance with apparent disinterest—“I used behavioral techniques with our children so that whenever someone said the words Justin Bieber, they will hear instead of Sviatoslav Richter,” says Lee Siegel, a writer who lives in the town—and even longtime Bieber fans aren’t sure what to do with the fact that their icon has broken. their suburban existence.— Reeves Wiedeman, Vulture (New York, NY), October 2, 2017
Much of today’s popular hits, including Canadian pop icon Justin Bieber’s current hit Despacito, have removed the sound of plucked guitars.— Mitch Goldenberg, Edmonton Magazine (Alberta, Canada)July 10, 2017
But clearly political autocrats and historically heavy mercenaries are only half of it; there are also foreign state cultists, foreign state captors (Guptas), hopeless inventors (Thomas Midgley), Twitter inventors (Jack Dorsey) and incompetent icons of the populace. modern language (Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber).— Star (Johannesburg, South Africa), November 18, 2017
If a person is a iconthat means a person is also Iconic? There seems to be a belated feeling that Iconic has become devalued due to overuse, leaving aside the question of whether it is appropriate to refer to Bieber as such.
When, for the love of God, will the word “symbol” finally die?…. At this point, “symbol” doesn’t mean much more than humming, and since curves of this kind are no longer so alien to many icons that want to be symbols of the world, we just there is still a debate about whether Walkie Talkie is more classy or not. of commotion.— Rowan Moore, The Observer (London), January 4, 2015
Yes Iconic seems to be in a state of constant change; The meaning we define as “widely known and recognized especially for exceptional excellence” is increasingly being replaced by what we define as “widely recognized and prestige” and maybe one day both of these meanings will be replaced by something we will define as “whooshy.” However, before you get too invested in the line of thought ‘Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan are iconic, and Justin Bieber is not’, it’s worth noting that this “exceptional excellence” meaning of the word is not what it means. origin.
Iconic first means “of, relating to or having the characteristics of a symbol” and in the early use of the word icon simply refers to an image, or visual representation of something. The word was used sparingly in the 18th century, and then more commonly used in the 19th century. Iconic predated by about a hundred years in this sense of “image” by Iconichas almost the same meaning, and has become so obscure that no one has ever used the word to refer to a young Canadian singer.
Thus we see that Mind is more wonderful than the whole The visible worldwhich may not be called incorrectly original Problem; And that thisproportionally, is more amazing than symbolic problemor The World that we see as in a Mirroror the other previously mentioned, spread on a sheet of Paper, in one Hidden camera.— Arthur Collier, An example of true philosophy1730
To those, we can add Calamis and Callimachus, notable for the lightness and elegance of their products, to Dameas, who created an iconic statue or portrait of Milo, and Pythagoras of Rhegium, who received special praise from Pausanias for his statue of Anthymus, the boxer.— Important review (London), July 1816
Bieber too Iconic or not? As with so many other questions about words with multiple meanings, it all depends on which meaning you choose to use. In other words, he is if you want him to be. feeling of Iconic can be loosely defined as “musicians of my generation are iconic, while musicians of your younger generation are not, because clinging to this semantic footing is how I stand out.” anger against the dying of light” is a relatively new thing, not common in use until the second half of the 20th century. In other words, the meaning of the word that many people are saying should not apply. for characters like Justin Bieber not much bigger than… Justin Bieber.
Categories: Usage Notes
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn
