Pop-Ups
We now have Pop-Ups for everything. Its time to stop.
Only a handful of years ago, the term ‘pop up’ was unheard of.
The only thing that ‘popped up’ was either a jack-in-a-box, or the thing in men’s trousers.
Other than that, pop-up was an expression rarely used. Well my goodness me how things have changed. We now have pop-up shops, pop-up cafés, pop up events and even pop-up TV channels. What will be next? Pop-up Governments? (Oh yes they already have those in Italy).
On the face of it, these pop-ups are cool. Before you can say ‘unzip my trousers’, a myriad of new things appear before us, with instant allure, all the more tempting by the implication that they will soon ‘pop-down’. Gone by lunchtime. ‘Get in quick, don’t miss out – this is a temporary state, (again I could refer to my trousers here).
Of course, like a wildebeest sipping cool river waters, we are fooled. The pop-up’s seem to hang about longer than a jackal on a carcass and the term pop-up begins to wear as thin as a tramp’s trousers.
The fact that we are suckers for a bit of cunning marketing is not my main beef here. What bothers me more is the saturation coverage of language. Someone comes up with a term like pop-up and before you know it, everything is renamed a pop-up.
So unoriginal, so copy cattish.
Similarly, the term Ginger (pronounced with a G and not a J). The first time I heard it I thought it was mildly amusing. But before you could rush out and dye your hair, everyone was finding ways to say Ginger in every sentence. The same with ‘twat’. Back in my day it was pronounced ‘twot’. Then overnight some witty-wit pronounced it ‘twat’ and
we were inundated with celebrities (usually British) throwing it about like chimps in a poo fight.
And don’t even get me started on ‘bespoke’.
My point is that just as you wouldn’t go out and paint your house the same colour as your neighbours, don’t latch onto language that is an cliched and lost its impact. Its like ordering Butter Chicken at a restaurant and thinking you are experiencing India.
Having now made my point, Im going to ‘pop-out’ (no, I’m not talking about my trousers) and visit the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker (supermarket).
Richard Alexander Bain
self confessed linguaphile