Top 10 words that are emptied of their meaning (and no longer mean anything)

I could spend a thousand years pointing out all the inconsistencies of the French language, but I won’t. Why ? Because no, I don’t have a thousand years ahead of me. I made an abuse of language, and I apologize for it, but it was a question of introducing the subject of the day: the words that have been emptied of their meaning by using them just anyhow.

1. Le Black Friday

Basically, it’s supposed to be a big sale day on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Now it’s almost a month of sales for the whole month of November. After a while, let’s call it the November sales directly, and it will be a little more honest.

2. A master class

A masterclass, by definition, is a course given by a “master”, a professional who has already proven himself in the profession. This is done a lot in artistic circles in particular. But the internet has taken over the word, and today we say that thing has “done a masterclass” for the slightest successful trick. A girl made a funny joke? WOW SHE DID A MASTERCLASS. A guy scored a nice soccer goal? BUT WHAT A MASTERCLASS!!! In short, it has lost its meaning a bit.

3. The Paris-Dakar

At the start: a race linking Paris and Dakar. Now: a race that can take place just about anywhere in the world. But which is still called Paris-Dakar. Without any reason. Note that it also works with Beijing Express.

4. Cheap

Normally, something “cheap” is something inexpensive in relation to its quality. And at the beginning, in the middle of the 19th century, the Le Bon Marché store respected this definition: the prices were inexpensive, because such a large store did not need to make large margins to operate. But the problem is that this same store has changed a lot, and today it belongs to the LVMH group and offers luxury items that cost the skin of the ass. There is nothing “cheap” about it anymore.

5. Democracy

Far be it from me to play counter politics, but it must be recognized that the primary meaning of “power to the people” is no longer present in today’s democracy. In representative democracy, we choose people to govern us and we just have to shake our butts while they are in office, hoping that they will do what we elected them to do. Generally, it sucks, and you really can’t say that the people have the power. At the same time, governing at 70 million is not easy either. Need a big table.

6. Guerre

Between Macron who takes us out of “we are at war” when we are “just” in the middle of a pandemic and these programs that talk about “restaurant war” or of “clan war”, we forget a little that at the base, it is still above all a story of armed conflict, death and suffering. A moment of silence please.

7. Self-righteous

This term is used to criticize people whose ideas are conformist, therefore, inevitably, the one who calls someone else “well-meaning” actually considers that the other thinks badly. This thing is too much of a headache.

8. “Not Possible”

About 9.9 times out of 10, when someone exclaims ” BUT IT’S NOT POSSIBLE “, in fact, yes, it is possible. A quick example: Remy is walking down the street when he gets splashed by a car driving through a puddle. He then starts screaming ” BUT IT’S NOT POSSIBLE “, whereas if, it is indeed possible that a car rolls in a puddle and impregnates his brand new jeans with dirty water. Go Rémy, go dry yourself.

9. Insane

In the same way as the “not possible” that I have just mentioned, the word “insane” has been emptied of its meaning. How ironic, isn’t it. It makes me want to laugh while smoking my pipe before reopening my Telerama to watch articles that praise rotten Russian auteur films.

10. The World

Because nothing makes sense in this world anymore………………… You can buy my book Philozofik thoughts on life available from Poêle-qui-rouille editions for only 19.89 euros.