Venerable Vernacular

Today's title, "Venerable Vernacular" is an oxymoron.  There is no such concept as venerable vernacular because the words of the day, year or decade are in a constant state of flux.  I was reminded of this when I read a recent excerpt from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, New Words, 2009.  Keep in mind these are new words included in a 2009 edition, which makes them now outdated by two years.  How quickly the buzz-words of the 'day' change.  Is it not fascinating that one word can morph from meaning to meaning, depending on the year?  For instance:

• Rock: To do something in a confident, flamboyant way; as in, "You rock!"  Funny how once upon a time.....it meant a large particle of sedimentary material or a style of music.
• Heart:  To like very much; love; as in "I heart you!"  Facebook even has the heart symbol that you can 'send' to a friend.  I'd like to know what happened to plain ol' "I love you!"
• Friend:  To add to a list of personal associates on a website.  While I understand that the word 'acquaintance' is too long and awkward to use on a social networking site, 'friending' someone has diluted the meaning of the word 'friend'.  I see too many people using 'air quotes' when saying the word friend.
• Viral:  Circulating rapidly on the Internet; as in "The video went viral!"  While the new meaning is listed as an adjective, it most certainly has more of a negative connotation than a positive one.  Viral used to mean "of, relating to, or caused by a virus".  Granted this meaning deals with a web virus but when did any virus ever have a positive meaning?

And so, meanings for words change.  Meanwhile, new words crop up for old meanings.  I'll pose the question of why we have to compose new words for well-known concepts.  For instance:

• Bargainous:  Costing less than expected.  What was wrong with 'cheap'?
• Catastrophize:  To present a situation as worse than it is.  I thought 'exaggerate' worked just fine.
• Exit strategy:  Planned means of extricating oneself from a situation.  Weren't the words 'plan', 'leave', or 'quit' adequate?
• Overleveraged:  Having taken on too much debt.  Didn't we already know about 'spendthrifts'?
• Truthiness:  Quality of seeming true.  Really?  Where I live there is no 'seeming' quality of truth.  It either is or is not.  Period.

I hope I have added some trivial knowledge to your understanding of today's vernacular.  As I prepare to sign off, may I leave you with this: 

Chillax.  One of my gal pals is really a cougar and, although she seems to be a frenemy, I will not tweet about how she is a cheeseball seeking to promote her flash mob, playing her vuvuzela on a webisode financed by her zombie bank and ignored by big media in a flyover state. 

Ancora imparo