Devaluation

I've noticed something around the office lately, and it touches on one of the vaguely philosophical linguistic principles I hold - namely, unless the word is "fuck" or some variant thereof, overuse devalues terms, especially those expressing the inter-personal emotional palette.

The word suffering this malady is "appreciate."

Overuse has rendered it, while not entirely meaningless, far less meaningful than it ought to be. Yes, it's nice to let others know you appreciate what they've done for you, but it's becoming all but perfunctory, so when someone really means it, they either don't know how to say so, or the person hearing it is inured to the term that they're not getting any satisfaction out of it.


This is why you'll so seldom hear me use certain words. When I say 'em, I fucking well mean it.

It's Alllliiiiiiivvvveeeeee!

My first column is up on Massively.