The Weekly Word

Main Entry: jabroni
Part of Speech: n
Definition: in professional wrestling, a wrestler who loses in order to make another wrestler look good; also called jobber
Usage: slang

What Ever Happened to Originality? The Rise of Fad Writing

Once upon a time,authors were rewarded for creativity, originality, and innovation. Not anymore.

Fad writing has grown from a subculture into the norm, authors hanging onto the coattails of others for the sole purpose of achieving commercial success. Many aspiring authors are no longer willing to be the starving artists of old, sacrificing everything so that their original ideas could be heard. Now, authors follow the latest trend, as do the people behind movies, and creativity seems to be retreating as a priority.

The book that really set off this trend writing was Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer, the tale of teen angst told through the lense of vampirism. It was not the most original story to start with, but it inspired many would-be writers to attempt to cash in on the wide-spread vampire mania that came with Twilight. TV shows like HBO's "True Blood", the CW's "The Vampire Diaries", and ABC's "The Gates" all attempt to stir the same passion in their teenage audiences that the Twilight series did

Even the werewolves of Meyer's books have become so popular among teens and tweens that they have leaked into the cinema. The Wolfman, directed by Joe Johnston, just hit movie theaters and grossed $57 million the first four days, far more than Coraline, a movie with a very unusual plot,demonstrating how much this mimicking business earns for its participants. It pays to be a copycat.

But why? Don't people want to see something new? Something different? Not so long ago, people were awed by Pan's Labyrinth, a unique combination of history and fantasy that created something dark and moving. These Twilight look-alikes do nothing of the sort. Instead, they continue to recycle old ideas until there is nothing of value left in them.

What ever happened to viewers and readers valuing innovation in what they perused? Now most seem to settle for less. It's about time we stop.

"Cute as a Button"

Isn't this kitten just as cute as a button?

Well, yes, of course it is. It's a kitten. Kittens are almost always the epitome of cute. But since when are buttons cute? Where did that saying come from?
That's a question I can't answer. But I remember a time when that saying irked me beyond reason. When I was younger, I could never understand it when someone would refer to an inanimate object as cute. "That's such a cute camera!", "What a cute little pothole!", "That lamb chop is adorable!" Well, if the lamb chop in question were the beloved puppet, I would have been able to understand. But as it was, I could not fathom how a piece of meat could be cute. Kittens were cute. Babies were cute. Potholes? Lamb chops? Not cute.

Calling those kinds of things "cute" now doesn't bother me. In fact, I often do it myself (although I'm still not a huge fan of saying my food is cute). So what has changed since then?

Keep in mind that this was my pet peeve when I was very young, in elementary school, so it was before I became a wacky word woman. I was already wacky, perhaps, but not an avid reader or writer.

I realize now that what erased "cute as a button" from my list of word-related pet peeves was personification. Back when I was little, only living things could be cute, like bunnies or ducks. But once I understood that people could give human value to objects, that calling a pothole cute was a result of imagining it as something with a heart and soul just like the fluffiest of animals, I finally realized that it wasn't absurd at all. It was just a way of making sense of the world, however odd that may sound.

So the next time I hear "cute as a button," I know it won't get on my nerves. That button could be the cutest thing this side of a pet shop. Who am I to say?

The Weekly Word

Quibble /ˈkwɪbəl/ [kwib-uhl]

–noun
1.an instance of the use of ambiguous, prevaricating, or irrelevant language or arguments to evade a point at issue.
2.the general use of such arguments.
3.petty or carping criticism; a minor objection.

–verb (used without object)
4.to equivocate.
5.to carp; cavil.

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