'Iconic' What does it mean? What is it being made to mean?

[eighthobstruction]

Us iconoclasts NEED the iconic terribly terribly badly....though we are getting a bit overworked these days....Eric Cantona had the right idea [several times](both icon and iconiclast){fish ....trawlers}....

[ahinton]

Surely nothing to do with a nice little ***e(ar)ner...?

In response, I could only
(a) utter the phrase once immortalised by the late Iain Richardson whose final word is "comment" and
(b) ask whose services you would seek if you needed a hospital operation.

[teamsaint]

i only use the word Iconic in an ironic way now.

[mangerton]

Slightly off topic, but what about "passion" and "passionate". Many people seem to be "passionate" about all sorts of things these days.

In fact, my employer is urging us to show "passion and pride in our work". According to my Chambers, “passion” means “strong feeling or agitation of mind, esp rage, often sorrow; ardent love; sexual desire”.

Do you think this is really what my employer means?

[MrGongGong]

Slightly off topic, but what about "passion" and "passionate". Many people seem to be "passionate" about all sorts of things these days.

In fact, my employer is urging us to show "passion and pride in our work". According to my Chambers, “passion” means “strong feeling or agitation of mind, esp rage, often sorrow; ardent love; sexual desire”.

Do you think this is really what my employer means?

depends on what your business is I guess ?

[Lateralthinking1]

"Passionate" in that context reveals a phony. Perhaps we need a thread on the words used by phonies.

[teamsaint]

"Passionate" in that context reveals a phony. Perhaps we need a thread on the words used by phonies.

what about a "phone" in?

[eighthobstruction]

I was very passionate about selling building materials once [very enjoyable job and clientel]....but I drew the line at my boss wanting me to "bust a gut to get sales"....Yuck....

[teamsaint]

I was very passionate about selling building materials once [very enjoyable job and clientel]....but I drew the line at my boss wanting me to "bust a gut to get sales"....Yuck....

my bosses always seem very passionate about getting us to sell stuff. But then its us doing the selling, and them on the big salaries, so I guess they would be.....

[ahinton]

I drew the line at my boss wanting me to "bust a gut to get sales"....Yuck....

But what a good idea it would be to use that as part of the PR for those firms still passionate about making gut strings!

[vinteuil]

Slightly off topic, but what about "passion" and "passionate". Many people seem to be "passionate" about all sorts of things these days.

... and "challenging" - when used as an advertisement for a West-End or 'alternative' play - 'cos one knows that those who choose to go to such a play are almost by definition just those people who will be in agreement with the stance of the playwright - and so won't be "challenged" at all...

[vinteuil]

"Passionate" in that context reveals a phony. Perhaps we need a thread on the words used by phonies.

lateral - what do you mean when you use the term: "phonies"? - This is a serious question: I really want to know. Perhaps you could give some examples of what/ who you perceive to be "phonies"?

[Serial_Apologist]

This is a very depressing thread. As a sometime writer, I am constantly at wits' end trying to think up a word I haven't already used to destruction. Many of the above-quoted cliches are listed by me at the back end of my address book as a prompt for when my self-critical obsessiveness reaches crisis point.

[french frank]

A similar case is that of 'legend' and 'legendary'. Once, Ulysses, Medusa, and Robin Hood were legendary. Now it's footballers and X-Factor winners.

Legends in their lifetime and forgotten even before they've died.

'Passionate' is used regularly by the BBC to describe someone who's just been appointed to a job (or by someone who's just been appointed to a job) to show that they are just the right person for that job ... Or have an attitude which gives them the right to pontificate.

[Lateralthinking1]

I hope people won't be upset if we happen to choose a word that they use. I was about to criticise "robust" before remembering that on occasions I use it.

Vinteuil asks about "phonies". My first thought, other than that I'm always doubtful about the spelling, is "The Catcher in the Rye". In that novel, Holden Caulfield considers most adults to be phonies. What does he mean? I take it to mean he sees others as being subtly dishonest in their use of language but not necessarily with intentional deceit or malice. Such folk can deceive themselves sometimes as well as others because "the system" requires such forms of communication for easy functioning.

For example, you might have learnt that it is better to say "that dress really suits you" when a dress is unsuitable for the person wearing it. It happens to the extent that you don't fully realise you have acquired that method of communicating. It is so ingrained as to be automatic. Caulfield I think would see that as the way of a phony. It just isn't truthful enough for him to be able to accommodate and can even lead to devastating consequences.

Exaggeration is another one. This might be for the speaker's own benefit. He or she can hope subconsciously that it works to their sense of self-importance and impresses others. "I have an absolute passion for salt and vinegar crisps" or "Birdwatching has always been our passion". Part of the problem is that it would be dismissed lightly by many as an affectation but in something like politics or interviews it has become wholly expected. No less than a way of life.