I have come to the conclusion that I am definitely getting old. Things that, a few years ago I would not have even raised an eyebrow at (in that peculiarly 1970's way as practiced by those of us that were once devotees of The Six Million Dollar Man), now make me seethe.
An example of what has 'got my goat' recently is the ever increasing use of abbreviated words. The biggest culprit (and this is perpetuated by one of my favourite programs - The Gadget Show) is App. App? What the Einstein is an App?? An instruction in written music for a very quiet section? A unit of measure such as the em and en? No! It is an application. An application that is most probably for a smart phone or computer. Is it necessary to reduce it to App? Are we that idle as a race that we have to reduce all words to the smallest number of syllables? Should we have Apps for our Smaphs? (Smart Phones).
My second example (cue the Steve Austin pose) is sides or side as in 'Would you like a side with that?' or 'Offer includes two sides'. What is a side? I thought it was and edge of a shape or other things such as; the side of the road, lay on your side or which side are you on? I mean, would you want a side of road with your meal? Would you want to lay on a portion of coleslaw. Would you even want to decide if you were backing baked beans or chips? Why can't we just have side orders? Is it too hard?
Then, of course, there is the culture clash of generations. I fully remember my father's face when I would come out with some ludicrous term that he found irritating but, as you age, so you forget your own experiences (conveniently). I work opposite a young girl who is just about young enough to be my very own proginy. I am wearing my teeth down with the amount of gritting they are doing when she repeatedly uses such excrutiating expressions such as 'My lunch today is immense' (does that mean she has a huge amount of food?), 'This salad is awesome' (can a salad really fill you with a sense of awe??) and the unshakable knowledge that, whilst anything I may do in my life is naff (I don't suppose she even knows what that really stands for) and everything she does is cool (yes, that word has spanned a number of generations) to such an extent that I sometimes wonder, if someone were to leave a dangerous piece of equipment within my reach, I might have no compunction to use it upon her!
Now I think I shall go and lie down in a darkened room....
Keep safe, keep loving
