Words That "Transcendicate" Culture (A Seriously Write Blog Post)

My wife and I were watching our favorite movie over the holidays,  A Christmas Carol, starring George C. Scott. As I munched on popcorn, I was struck in a new, unique way by the phrase, “Bah! Humbug!” I know. It’s an old phrase. Been around since…well, 1843, right? When Charles Dickens wrote the story?

Actually, yes and no. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word humbug originated circa 1750 to mean a “trick, jest, hoax, imposition, deception.” Merriam-Webster seems to be in agreement. When it was used, it meant something negative. For Scrooge, Christmas was a humbug. A deception. An imposition. A holiday devoutly to be ignored.

What grabbed me this year was how its usage and meaning has transformed an entire holiday season. The crusty curmudgeon who uses it is not a character, per se, who could be called totally original. “Odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling” characters like Scrooge can be found throughout literature. However, it was his turn of a phrase (“Bah! Humbug!”) that made him so memorable. He took a word that was not all that common, added an exclamation of frustration, and used it to express his feelings and beliefs. The result? It transformed society to this day, pitting utter selfishness against the reclamation of God in one of the clearest pictures in literature.

Or how about Roald Dahl? Names like Willy Wonka jump off the page, don’t they? His words do, too. Can you imagine anything so frightsome as this writing life? Do you have any food you find scrumdiddlyumptious? Ever had a day that was splendiferous? Ever wish you could be that Dahlesque in your writing?

Or take the Star Wars franchise. Who would have thunk shortening a 300-year old word like androides, and making it into a somewhat proper noun, would have created such a stir? Now, even Lenovo, who owns Motorola (and Google, who created an entire cellular system to compete with Apple and its iPhone) has to pay Lucas films for the rights to use the word for their cell phones.

So, right now, as you read this, I’ll bet you are brainstorming which word you can truncate, cannibalize, or impregnate with another word for the purpose of funding your retirement, aren’t you?

However, I have a better idea. How about we insert words into sentences for the purpose of transforming society? Use not-so-everyday phrases in such a way so that they take on a whole new persona? Piece together letters into memorable clichés loved for generations to come?

God did it. For God so loved the world…

Dickens did it. Dahl did it. Even George Lucas.

Why can’t you?

To see this article on the Seriously Write website, click on the following link: HERE!