"icon"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Honestly, I don't think "martyr" or "idol" has anything to do with it.

It's just an obnoxious broadening of the current _icon_ combined with a
vagueness almost equally obnoxious.

And maybe it'll go away soon.

But wait...it isn't only CNN:

http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Music/2013/05/03/Mountain-Dew-drops-Lil-Wayne-over-Emmett-Till-lyric/UPI-66131367625923/

JL





On Sat, May 4, 2013 at 5:34 PM, Jocelyn Limpert
<jocelyn.limpert at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jocelyn Limpert <jocelyn.limpert at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "icon"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > 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:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > <javascript:;>
> > > >
> > > 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."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > DanG
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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