In her recent slot with Mark Kermode, Lauren Laverne expressed genuine surprise to learn the origin of the word 'blockbuster' - just in case, that's when the cinema queue is so big it 'busts' the block. Now Mrs L is no irony-free zone but it was disconcerting that she might need a lesson on cinematic semantics. If she didn't know, then what hope for the rest of us ? And what other meanings are quietly slipping from our collective memory ?
Before we move on from 'blockbuster', it's probably only fair to acknowledge that it's a word that has been truly mangled over the years. No-one is more guilty of this (in my eyes at least) than 70's glam-gods, Sweet,
"Does anyone know the way, did we hear someone say
We just haven't got a clue what to do
Does anyone know the way, there's got to be a way
To Block Buster! "
For goodness sake. Block (imaginary hphen) Buster ?
But back to the point. I recently found myself discussing with a group of marketers the origin of the expression 'lobby' (shame on you - look it up yourself). No fools this bunch, but as the conversation developed it became clear that we're dealing not only with a historical lexicon but also a growing number of new expressions. So perhaps it's just a case of survival of the fittest. In with the new and out with the old. Case in point - assuming that we have finite long-term memories, should one retain the origin of an old-school expression like 'bootleg' or let it slip and be replaced by something within the modern idiom like 'camming'.
Of course it's not an entirely rationale process but you get the point. Grapple with the burgeoning amount of contemporary in-bound or doggedly maintain a grip on the past ?
I have to say that as the senior moments come thicker and faster I know where my money is.
So perhaps LL wasn't being disengenuous, rather just letting-go gracefully ?
No comments:
Post a Comment