If you leave Manhattan, driving north on I-87, with the Bronx to you right, you’ll see a massive apartment complex. We took a picture of it.
I’m being snarky here, but what I like best about these apartment buildings is the use of the word “luxury.” This may not be fair of me, as I’ve never actually seen the inside of one of these apartments, but I had a hard time coming up with “luxury” when I looked at them. Something about hovering over a congested and messy highway and an exterior identical to the housing projects just across the way?
It’s one of the words that we’ve killed: luxury. While it used to mean sumptuous, ease, high quality, something that really wealthy people like to buy, now it tends to mean, “we’re trying.”
And while I’m at it, let’s talk about the word gourmet. As in, a deli I recently visited in Chinatown that had dead ducks hanging in the windows. Also hanging in the window? A big sign with the name of the deli, “Gourmet Deli.”
Another word with no meaning: homemade. Like the marinara sauce I purchased from a grocery store. Is it legal for them to write that on the label?
Also not homemade: the pie that won the contest this last weekend. Mixing ice cream and orange juice concentrate? Then pouring it all into a ready-made graham cracker crust?
And in this case, yes, “not homemade” is another way to say “we lost to a six-year old.”
(Oh yeah, and the winning pie? Delicious. I voted for it myself.)
36 comments
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December 2, 2009 at 2:04 am
E.B.
On this topic I highly recommend the book “Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster” by Dana Thomas. It is a great treatise on how mass-marketing has changed the entire luxury industry. It may also change how you feel about handbags (the gateway drug of the fashion industry) and buying black market DVDs. It’s only $6 on Amazon right now. Happy reading!
December 2, 2009 at 5:02 am
Mary
I worry my family and I have killed the word heinous.
December 2, 2009 at 6:43 am
brohammas
We once lived in an apartment that had the word luxury in big letteres on the outside.
During the move in a leasing agent gave us a lecture about how this was a luxury apt so you can’t have anything on your porch.
It struck me that were this really a luxurious place it would probably be expensive enough that they would trust the taste of the tenent’s porch decorating ability, and even moreso would not be lecturing us on what luxury is but rather asking us if we would like another drink or cookie.
December 2, 2009 at 7:45 am
SASmylie
I agree our language is being eroded, a recent one that really bothers me is using the word ‘heart’ instead of ‘love’ such as in ‘I heart you’. Do we now have to express our feelings in spoken text language? I hope not. Love, love…okay everyone say it altogether…LOVE… now dosen’t that feel good.
December 2, 2009 at 9:29 am
nakiru
Mary – Some random BBC mini-series I watched had a character that said that something was happening in a heinous manner. Ever since then, when I hear heinous, I think of a huge Bleak House-like manor. Heinous Manor. (I crack up every time. I know. Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut so you guys will all respect me. My mother always told me “Better to be silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” I think that’s Mark Twain. Mark Twain or Proverbs. Sorry for the flippant. It’s a flippant kind of morning.)
December 2, 2009 at 10:11 am
lisapiorczynski
Rebecca,
Tell us what we really want to know: what did you and Levi bake this year???
December 2, 2009 at 10:29 am
Tessa
I refuse to use the word awesome anymore. And I’m parsimonious with “appropriate” and “inappropriate.” Overuse and inaccurate use of those words have made them nausea-producing.
December 2, 2009 at 10:52 am
rvs
I was just thinking the same thing about “gourmet” – if the store has to advertise that it is, the food probably isn’t.
And Nakiru, you may be thinking of Shakespeare, in Twelve Night, “A witty fool is better than a foolish wit,” though I’m sure Mark Twain said something equally or more intelligent to the same effect.
Other places I’ve stopped trusting are stores that offer water, lasagna, noodles, smoothies, rice, pad thai, and jewelry in the same one room store/restaurant.
December 2, 2009 at 11:09 am
Kimere
In response to your previous pie post, I almost sent my all-time favorite “pie,” but at the last minute decided it was probably cheating for a homemade pie competition (i.e., my mother would die of shame if I submitted it to our county fair baking competition):
Crust:
Smash up oreos and press them into the pie tin until you have a healthy crust
Filling:
Take a box of candy canes and smash them into candy cane dust
Take a container of soft serve ice cream (we get this from Sonic because our Dairy Queen closed, but if you have Dairy Queen, that would work as well) and mix in the candy cane dust to make peppermint ice cream
Fill the oreo crust with peppermint ice cream
Freeze until solid
Top with your favorite homemade hot fudge sauce.
We have this for dessert at Christmas every year. My mom has been trying to change the dessert for the past 10 years to do something that showcases her (quite impressive) baking skills, but my sister and I throw such a fit at the prospect of foregoing this family favorite that my mother relents every year.
I get all excited for Christmas just thinking about it!!
December 2, 2009 at 11:10 am
nakiru
rvs, that’s a good one too. I’m sure my mom would have used it if she’d known it. Seriously, all quotes of any sort about taming the tongue were grossly overused in disciplining me.
December 2, 2009 at 11:11 am
Laura
I prefer to use the word grommit and when people ask you what it means, tell them condescendingly, “It’s French, for fine dining.”
December 2, 2009 at 11:26 am
corktree
It does seem pretty awful the corruption of language that is allowed to slip by and eventually become acceptable just because so many people use it. And it drives me crazy that some prominent bloggers don’t proof read their own stuff for the most atrocious grammatical errors…but not here at the Apron Stage! You guys are all so eloquently evocative in your writing. Just one of the reasons I keep coming back
I also take issue with “eggcorns” and misuse of urban slang. Just recently, on a long drive, my husband and I debated the correctness of his using the term “curbing my style”. He insisted that it was correct, even though he recognized that “curbing one’s enthusiasm” was also correct. I countered that “cramping one’s style” was the only way to use the term (even though I first said “crimping”) and that he sounded ridiculous. In the end, the iPhone settled the argument. But who comes up with this stuff?
(My husband is also single handedly attempting to spread the exclamation “Man alive!” as a social experiment – though he can’t really tell me what he thinks it means or what it relates to)
December 2, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Andrea
I feel the same way about the word absolutely.
December 2, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Elise
My personal pet peeve -people that use the word “irregardless.”
December 2, 2009 at 2:03 pm
smylies
E.B., Thanks, I’m adding it to the list.
Mary–put it back. Call something awful, or not great. It’s not too late!!! SAVE HEINOUS.
Brohammas–it’s not until I read your comment that I realized I too used to live in a “luxury” apartment building. Where…the management kicked us out after a year. We weren’t up to par I suppose. Unlike the fake laminate flooring…
SASmylie– I heart you. It’s emoticon speak. Help us all.
Nakiru–I love the free-thinking element of your comments. Consider yourself very respected.
Lisa–apple pie with a cheddar cheese crust.
Tessa–appropriate. I hadn’t thought of that one. But now that you mention it, yes, it does give me pause. I like that you used the word parsimonious in a comment about words being overused. Not careful, not picky, but parsimonious. Love it.
rvs–yes yes yes. Stores trying to be everything. We don’t trust them. The best bakeries/shops here tend to be the ones that sell cream puffs. Or doughnuts. AND NOTHING ELSE.
Kimere–Another thing I’m adding to my list. Looks easy and delicious.
Laura–also adding that to my list. Grommit!
corktree–I’m with you on this one. Decidedly.
Andrea–I think you’re absolutely right.
Elise–that makes me laugh the same way “I could care less” makes me laugh.
December 2, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Louise Plummer
I agree that ice cream does not make a pie. It makes something delicious, but it isn’t a pie.
I love that this is a “no fee” apartment. I can guarantee the mice.
Not enough people get their “lie and lay” verbs correctly. I suppose with the next generation using it correctly will sound archaic like,” It is I.” I’ll be dead then.
December 2, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Liz
rvs reminded me of the newest place opening in my town “Frank’s Pasta and Custom Screen Printing Shop”
I hate when people say “There’s nothing worse than…” they always follow it up with something rather unimportant like “melted ice cream pie.” I can think of a lot of things far worse than that.
December 2, 2009 at 2:37 pm
AnnaBeth
About 6 years ago when I was trying a new hair dresser at an upscale salon, I heard at least 3 different people use this word more than 5 times each. I never went back. F A B U L O U S.
I cringe just typing it.
December 2, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Rachel
It seems like lately everything that is trendy is somehow related to being “Tuscan.” I don’t really get it.
December 2, 2009 at 3:34 pm
nakiru
And now, for Friday’s post, the AS writers will write a post using all of these buzzwords in one brillian swoop. And you will LIKE it.
December 2, 2009 at 3:34 pm
nakiru
*brilliant
December 2, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Sarah
literally
As in, we have literally killed the word “literally.”
December 2, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Sarah
Or as in
Nakiru’s idea for a Friday post is literally brilliant.
December 2, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Alisha
Louise, I never use them correctly because I don’t know the rules. Will you enlighten me?
December 2, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Cissy
I try to replace “cute” or “awesome” with darling, charming, impressive, or any other adjective that is not over-used.
Vintage is another over-used word, but one that I use for lack of a better one. It does bother me that anything from 1930 to 1980 is considered vintage.
December 2, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Michaela
Phew! Louise, I’m so glad now that I took the time to look that one up before I commented on here sometime last week! I know, I should know it off the top of my head, but it’s the one grammar rule that I still have to look up. The one that got missed by my sixth and tenth grade English teachers – the only two that bothered to teach grammar to us… and, incidentally, two of my favorites.
December 2, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Kahalia
This is funny because in High School I along with a slew of others had a word we would say over and over-kind of like a buzzword or tagline. Kind of like Seinfeld’s “yadayadayada”. For awhile I would say “Riiiiaaaaaggghhht, riaaagggghhhhhht…” to show affirmation. My best friends was “you aint neva lied”
Also started the use of the urban slang word, Crunk.
You are so welcome.
December 2, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Louise Plummer
lie, lay, lain
lay laid laid (takes an object). I lay the book down. I laid the book down. I have laid the book.
But the book, all by itself is lying there.
I lie down. The book lies on the table. Yesterday, it lay on the table. It has lain on the table for a month now.
Yesterday, I lay down.
I have lain down.
I am lying in the sun (not laying in the sun). Let’s go lie in the sun!
Blah blah blah blah.
December 2, 2009 at 6:39 pm
living in zion
My teenagers drive me crazy with their deplorable spelling and word usage. Text messaging has ruined the coming generation. I’m so, so sorry my children are doing their best to contribute to the problem.
December 2, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Alisha
Thanks! Though I have no doubt I will never keep them straight.
December 2, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Lynnette
Hilarious! “Gourmet” has been a pet peeve of mine for years. Anyone can say anything is gourmet, and they do all the time! Honestly, I’m not even sure the real meaning of the word.
December 2, 2009 at 9:13 pm
nakiru
living in zion,
Not to disparage the havoc I’m sure your children are capable of wreaking on the literary front via text, but I was reading some letters written between young ladies in the Regency period in the eighteenth century and they were full of “yr” and other horrendous abbreviations. Around the same time, things such as i.e. (id est) and e.g. (exemplia grata) and even P.S. (post script), all rather heinous (hahaha) shortenings of Latin phrases that should have commonplace, were established. Just the other day I was wondering if those Regency girls were scolded by their mothers for ruining the English language. (Probably not, since they hadn’t even standardized spelling yet, really.)
December 3, 2009 at 2:13 am
Sharon
Thank you, Louise! That drives me nuts too. The one that really gets me is the song, “Chasing Cars.” You know the one: “If I lay here, if I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?” Um, don’t get me wrong — it’s a good song. I even saw it live (in the best concert ever with Snow Patrol and U2 in their American opener this fall). But it’s wrong. All I can think about while it’s on is that surely someone could have checked and changed those lyrics. They don’t even need “lay” for rhyme scheme or anything.
I realize this is a personal problem. I’m an editor. No, I really am. It’s one of my two jobs.
Another one that gets me is, “I could care less.” If you could care less, then why are you pretending it doesn’t matter to you a bit? Perhaps people mean, “I couldn’t care less.”
December 3, 2009 at 10:00 am
Kahalia
Sharon – I agree. I say I could not care less!
December 3, 2009 at 1:56 pm
rubi
The word “couture” has been killed as well.
In France the term “haute couture” is protected by law and only a select number of designers earn the right to use that term for their design house.
We now see it everywhere and it is one of my pet peeves because it shows that those companies don’t even understand the actual meaning of the term.
December 3, 2009 at 5:24 pm
smylies
We’re a high group, aren’t we? Ha! My mother-in-law says the AS readership is too small. “I know,” I said. “We’re all mormon women.” She corrected me. “You’re all post-graduate Mormon women.” Maybe not all of us, but we get on so, right?