Newer is Not Always Better

Kelli Eason Brignac

One of my favorite commercial series on television right now is for AT&T. You’ve probably seen the ads, which show a guy sitting down with a group of children. They’ve determined that faster is better, better is better and, recently…newer is better. On that one, I’m going to disagree. Now, I’ll admit that I already have the newest iPhone, so it’s not that I think new is bad. But it’s not always better. 

When I took the GRE a couple of years ago, I spent a lot of time learning a lot of words. I already love to read, so I thought my vocabulary was pretty strong. After a month of learning hundreds of Latin roots and subscribing to the Dictionary Word of the Day (http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/), I was swimming in the sheer size of the English language. I probably didn’t make it easier on myself by also subscribing to the Urban Dictionary Word of the Day (http://www.urbandictionary.com/daily.php), but I did because, let’s face it – Urban Dictionary is hilarious. 

But as expansive and wonderful as our language is, I can’t help but have a “come ON, man!” moment pretty much every time Merriam-Webster considers adding new words to its dictionary. I was watching The Today Show this morning, and they discussed some of the new words up for consideration. I have to say, I am disappointed! Things like “hatewatch,” a word that has long been a part of Urban Dictionary, is now being considered for the ACTUAL dictionary. If you didn’t know, hatewatch is a term used when you watch a television show that you hate just so you can talk about it with your friends later. Here’s looking at you, Real Housewives of Any City Ever. Personally, I think we should start using some long-lost words like affable, gumption or philander before we start adding words that people made up. 

Courtesy of Flickr

I get being unique. I love trying new things. But to quote many a wise man, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I mean, you’ve heard about the people who actually named their child Hashtag, right? (http://www.dailydot.com/society/hashtag-jameson-baby-name/) 

Got any other long-lost but awesome words we should use more often? Leave them in the comments – I’d love to keep learning!