"icon"
Dan Goncharoff
thegonch at GMAIL.COM
Sun May 5 20:24:18 UTC 2013
In my very humble opinion, I find most of the examples cited meet the
'revered' criterion.
Wearing an editor's hat, I would circle 'institutional icons'.
My prescriptivist nature would argue that the OED is too permissive here,
but I know that is a losing argument in the long run.
DanG
On Sun, May 5, 2013 at 3:51 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com
> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: "icon"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The meaning of icon has changed and broadened in the past half
> century, I think. The OED has the following draft addition.
>
> Draft additions March 2001
>
> 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. Freq. with modifying word.
>
> 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.
>
> 1980 Christian Sci. Monitor (Electronic ed.) 11 Feb. b11 Defining
> his icons as cultural phenomena, Wolfe devotes a chapter each to the
> spaceship, the city, the wasteland, the robot, and the monster.
>
> 1988 Sci. Amer. Feb. 67/3 Already an icon for young Indian
> intellectuals, the 32-year-old Ramanujan died on April 26, 1920.
>
> 1995 Hispanic Mar. 36/1 An American icon, the pickup truck has
> evolved from its role as a functional, less-than-glamorous work
> vehicle, into the sporty, headline-grabbing image of models like the
> Ford Bronco.
>
> 2000 Sunday Mail (Electronic ed.) 2 Jan., Hollywood's female gay
> icons Jodie Foster, Susan Sarandon and Jamie Lee Curtis.
>
> Here are two examples in which the term icon is linked to Emmett Till.
>
> Title: The Best American Essays 2001
> Page: GB 263
> Editor: Robert Atwan
> Year: 2001
> (Google Books data; Snippet view only; Data may be inaccurate)
>
> [Begin extracted text]
> The body of Emmett Till — "his head . . . swollen and bashed in, his
> mouth twisted and broken" — became a new kind of icon. Emmett Till
> showed the world exactly what white supremacy looked like. According
> to one report, Till's funeral ...
> [End extracted text]
>
> I have not seen this book on paper. A web page at
> www.betterbookprices.com has a long book description indicating that
> the words above are probably from the influential essay "Exquisite
> Corpse" by Ashraf Rushdy. In the excerpt above the physical
> manifestation of Till in death is labeled "a new kind of icon". This
> use of icon may fit the OED notion of a "representative symbol".
>
> Periodical: Jet
> Date: Jun 20, 2005
> Volume: 107
> Number: 25
> (Google Books full view)
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Nearly 50 years after Emmett Till's battered body was found in a
> Mississippi river, federal investigators unearthed the Chicago teen's
> casket in hopes of finding clues to a murder that became an icon for
> the brutality of racism and helped galvanize the Civil Rights
> Movement.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Here the murder viewed as a transformative event is labeled an icon.
> To fit the OED analysis one might say that Tills death is a
> "representative symbol" of racism.
>
> The two examples above do not label Till himself an icon, but
> semantics of icon has continued to evolve.
>
> On Sun, May 5, 2013 at 1:47 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject: Re: "icon"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > But it isn't, you know, kind of a downer to call somebody a "martyr"
> right
> > there on TV? And isn't that a word favored by Islamic fundamentalist
> > suicide/homicide bombers?
> >
> > No, the associations are all wrong.
> >
> > "Slain Civil Rights victim...." is a definite contender.
> >
> > On the other hand, no one is really a "victim" unless they choose to be.
> > They are "survivors." So "slain Civil Rights survivor..." should work.
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> > On Sun, May 5, 2013 at 10:26 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> >> Subject: Re: "icon"
> >>
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> At 5/5/2013 07:54 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >> >In today's version, it's "_slain_ Civil Rights icon Emmett Till."
> Usually
> >> >the phrase you hear is "slain Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther
> King,"
> >> >but since Till wasn't a "leader," the only alternative in media
> Inglish is
> >> >"icon."
> >>
> >> This is exactly why I wondered about a progression (in some people's
> >> and cable networks' minds).
> >>
> >> An alternative to "leader" for Emmett Till might be "martyr" (more
> >> honored and significant than simply a "victim"). We all know who the
> >> greatest martyr in human history is. He has become an idol. And
> >> icons have been painted, carved, etc. for him.
> >>
> >> Thus "martyr" to "idol" to "icon".
> >>
> >> Joel
> >>
> >>
> >> >It would take too long - apparently - to tell
> millennials-on-brain-support
> >> >just who Emmett Till was. You know, "a young black teenager kidnaped,
> >> >beaten, and murdered by white racists in 1955."
> >> >
> >> >"Civil Rights icon" is just cooler.
> >> >
> >> >JL
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >On Sun, May 5, 2013 at 1:42 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> > > -----------------------
> >> > > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> > > Poster: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >> > > Subject: Re: "icon"
> >> > >
> >> > >
> >> >
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> > >
> >> > > On Sat, May 4, 2013 at 7:42 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
> >> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >> > > >wrote:
> >> > >
> >> > > > Honestly, I don't think "martyr" or "idol" has anything to do with
> >> it.
> >> > >
> >> > >
> >> > > *Especially* not in the case cited. Victim? Yes. "Icon"?! No!
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
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> truth."
> >
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