"icon"

[Jocelyn Limpert]

With it's overuse in today's media, whatever the meaning, I think people
need to find a substitute word -- in the way, if not really equivalent to
this, one cannot use the original meaning of "gay."


On Sat, May 4, 2013 at 5:29 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "icon"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In my religion we revere our icons, and I would only use icon to refer to
> someone revered within his or her field of endeavor.
>
> On Saturday, May 4, 2013, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
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> > >
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM <javascript:;>>
> > Subject:      "icon"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Does anyone else find the following usage of "icon," uttered more than
> once
> > today on CNN without elaboration...bizarre?
> >
> > "Civil rights icon Emmett Till."
> >
> > Isn't a (human) icon a "celebrity"? A "celebrity" who enjoys being a
> > "celebrity"?
> >
> > How about
> >
> > 1. ?German history icon Heinrich Himmler.
> >
> > Slightly better, perhaps, but only slightly. It seems to suggest that
> > Himmler was a big applause-getter and, what's more, we're cool with that
> > because fame is good.
> >
> > I haven't checked any dictionaries on this one. CNN's usage - if it isn't
> > just plain stupid, which it may be - bestows on "icon" the meaning,
> "person
> > you must have heard of for some reason."
> >
> > Or is that already an accepted meaning?
> >
> > 2. ?Exploration icon Christopher Columbus.
> >
> > 3. ?Holocaust icon Ann Frank.
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
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>
>
> --
> DanG
>
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