One thing that really annoys me is when people take words that already have a specific meaning and proceed to muddy that meaning. This is one reason I’ve always maintained that Starbucks sizes are far less annoying than Tim Horton’s or Second Cup. Yes, Starbucks uses non-sensical random words instead of existing sizes but it does not denigrate words that already exist for the sake of convenience a la Second Cup with their “Regular, Large, Extra Large” line-up that makes a mockery of the English language casting out poor Small which is crying in a corner like that Ikea lamp.
Anyway, one word that specifically drives me crazy is when females use “girlfriend” simply to mean friends of theirs who are women, not their lesbian loves. For example: “I went to see a movie last night with my girlfriend.”
First of all, there really isn’t much need for this distinction and should the need arise one could always say “my friend Molly” etc, rather than “my girlfriend.” There is also no male equivalent.
Secondly, should these women deem there to be a need for this distinction they should find a new word and NOT STEAL ONE THAT IS ALREADY FIRMLY ENTRENCHED IN OUR COLLECTIVE VOCABULARIES! Why the need to co-opt a word that already has a meaning? Doing so simply confuses things and creates a word only women can use.
Interestingly – or not? – “girlfriend” seems at once chauvinistic and kind of feminist in intent. By denoting that these friends are specifically female it sort of implies that using “friend” alone refers solely to men- in contrast with it’s definition – which seems rather like a step backward if you ask me. That being said it creates a word that only women can really use for other women – almost like a reclamation in the manner of queer, etc – except that, as I mentioned above, no one was misusing “friend” in the first place so it’s all really for naught.
What a waste of bloody time.
