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Sunday 9 December 2012

Sunday Rest: Word Not To Use Today: platform.

Here we are, a word of two flat feet:

Platform.

Oh, but a platform should be a leap, a cry of romance and promise (or bitter parting, or edge-of-adventure); an incarnation of the mystery of Somewhere Else.

Platform.

Oh dear. It calls up the glazed-eyed glumness of the suited commuter, of leaves-on-the-line, of the heavy hand of an Invisible Contoller.

Platform: a place designed to make lingering as uncomfortable as possible...

...or is that just an accident?

Word Not To Use Today: platform. This word comes from the French platforme, from plat, which means flat, and forme, which means layout.

2 comments:

  1. These days it means something else entirely! It's what WRITERS are supposed to have and it means: a blog, a twitter and Facebook account and so on...."Do you have a platform?" publishers say....

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  2. In football, having a platform to build on is what managers say when their completely useless team has* finally got a point.

    But I think train platforms are fun, romantic and exciting. A wide variation of people in one small space. Brief encounters. Millions of incidents every day. Even when they're not platforms anymore, they still have a history.

    *Yes, I used the singular 'has' with the word team.

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