How Words Have Lost Meaning due to Popular Culture

By Lianne Cha

Oxford Academy

Language is a living creature, growing and adapting to changes in culture. For example, the term “binge-watch” was recently added to the Oxford English Dictionary, and a definition of the word “literally” -- used to express strong feeling while not being literally true [1] -- was added to become LITERALLY the exact opposite of its original meaning, which was “in a literal manner or sense; exactly.” It’s only natural that language evolves; however, the misuse and overuse of certain terms have caused them to lose meaning altogether.

Take a look at the word “love.” Once a word that held so much emotion and power is now used to describe just about anything, portraying sarcastic indifference and frivolous things. “Love” came to mean the same as “like,” which eliminates the purpose of having such a word. The same could be said about a multitude of other words -- hate, awesome, dead, etc. -- but the misuse of words can be detrimental to the general public, but especially to those with certain medical conditions.

In popular culture, words like “depression” and “triggered” are thrown around frequently to describe mild or temporary discomfort, anger, and sadness. However, these words shouldn’t be used lightly as it can devalue the conditions of the people suffering from them. Eunice Kim, a junior at Cypress High School, agrees: “When people say OCD, retarded, depressed, etc. in contexts outside of their correct parameters, it almost degrades the experiences of those who actually suffer from those mental illnesses.”

Depression is a serious mental illness that can affect people’s daily lives over long periods of time. Sadness is a normal reaction to negative events that is temporary. Though sadness is a symptom of depression, sadness doesn’t directly translate to depression, and yet people use these terms interchangeably, causing people to not take this condition as seriously or to even ignore the problem completely.

“Many people tend to self-diagnose their temporary sadness as depression,” says Kailey Choi, junior at Oxford Academy, and this is largely due to the fact that people are misunderstanding what depression really is. 

“Triggered” is another word that has lost its meaning. Both on social media and in-person conversation, people use this word to express their feelings of annoyance and discomfort when triggers are issues that people with mental conditions such as PTSD, anxiety, substance abuse, and eating disorders have to deal with in their everyday lives. When people with these conditions experience triggers, they are forced to relive negative experiences, which is clearly not synonymous with mere discomfort.

Words matter. Without them we wouldn’t be able to communicate with one another and live our lives to the fullest potential. It’s not that certain words should be avoided, but rather that we should be selective in our vocabulary and be conscious of who we may affect when we use words.