The Daily Word for August 5, 2021

 

bouncebackability - noun - the capacity to recover from a setback (Lexico.com)

In case you haven't noticed, I tend to mine Lexico.com for "Weird and Wonderful Words." At the top right of the website, there is usually a word of the day. Today's is "bouncebackability." I decided to hijack it because it stands as an appropriate symbol of the times: what has been referred to as "dumbing down," a similar term used to describe mitigation, going from the complex to the easy. The term is not a word that you or I or anybody will find in Webster's, not the edition you or I or anybody has in back of the rarely watched DVDs on that basement shelf next to the TV set from 1990. "Bouncebackability" is a neologism or made-up word. Whoever coined the term obviously doesn't have much of a vocabulary, not reflective of English anyway. "Resilient" would be the legit synonym here. But I suppose it would be too hard to recall if pressed. And it would take too long to look it up on your iPhone if you are in a bind. 

With the aforementioned in mind, since our technological wonders are in the process of replacing our brain capacity, I am not surprised that these tell-it-like-it-is terms are replacing the gorgeous, polysyllabic lexicon we used to be responsible for knowing in order to score well on the SAT. (As far as I know, vocabulary is not tested separately on the Scholastic Aptitude Test anymore, which definitely is telling.) If we don't step up to the plate and use our minds, pretty soon the entire dictionary will be filled with hybrid words like bouncebackability. Picture this: rather than saying "I'm perturbed," you will soon be whining, "I'm wannapunchyouintheface-ish today." And won't that be economic. 

Sarcastic and cynical? You think so? Well, maybe. But my point of view is looking more and more realistic everyday. 

Happy Thursday! 

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