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Sunday 10 March 2019

Sunday Rest: celeb. Word Not To Use Today.

A celebrity, my Collins dictionary tell me, is: 

1. a famous person; a show-business celebrity 

2. fame or notoriety.

My dictionary, published in 2010, has no entry for celeb.

Well, those were the days, eh? For the word celebrity has gone downhill and nowadays it's all-too-often shortened to celeb, when it tends to mean someone currently unsuccessful in his or her career who is prepared, either deliberately or through stupidity and/or naivety, to set themselves up to be ridiculed in the mainstream media.

I suppose we do need a word for that sort of person.

But, oh, I do wish we lived in a world where we didn't.

Word Not To Use Today: celeb. The Latin celeber means numerous, thronged, or renowned.

Well, they're certainly still numerous...



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