Outdated Words

My East St. Louis high school basketball / baseball coach, Louis 'Pick' Dehner (1938-Basketball All-American from Illinois) was a vocabulary freak. He would memorize a new word each day and attempt to find ways to use that word throughout the day. I recall vividly Coach Dehner telling me what the word 'omnipotent' meant. I got the feeling while playing varsity baseball and basketball for three years under Coach Dehner's tutelage that he sometimes believed in his own omnipotence. That opinion is not meant to be disrespectful towards Coach. He was a legend of sorts and he enjoyed the role. I will always be indebted to him for his guidance.

I thought of Dehner's passion for adding words to his vocabulary when I recently read that there is over 829,000 words and symbols in the dictionary. And each year we learn of 'new' words being added. In 2018,  these three words made the Webster publication: "mansplain" "hangry" & "snowflake."

Mansplain > is when a man talks in a condescending and patronizing manner to a female.
Hangry>is when a person is mad and irritated due to hunger.
Snowflake > was already in the dictionary meaning that gentle weather percipatation event. The newer meaning takes on a 'negative' connotation. The new meaning suggests a person who is soft and easily offended due to their softness and tendency of entitlement.

I'm wondering if the 'dictionary gods' ever consider REMOVING or DELETING a word. If they do then I shall offer a word deletion suggestion...let's remove the word 'discreet.' The simple reason is we as a culture are no longer discreet; we no longer are careful with speech or action. We no longer care if we offend others.

Just trace the history of our television commercials. We Americans have an insatiable focus on sex and more specifically sex-performance. Evidently, there is a terrific money making market around this passion for performance proficiency. First we had the erectile dysfunction commercials, then came the enhancement product push and now we are telling men to checkout their 'peyronie disease' or as once referenced 'clubbed-penis.'

Please don't take my words wrong or think I am being flippant with these remarks. I'm just wondering if our message delivery in this 21st century America could be more 'discreet.' Then maybe the 'ding-a-ling' TRUMPS discreet.

Ps. Nope! Too easy to play Chuck Berry's song! I'll be discreet and pass.