4 ms·

I tend to agree. I expect that kind of prose will not age, imagine reading a piece from 2009 which opens with - "Two words to describe the WH response to the f

I tend to agree. I expect that kind of prose will not age, imagine reading a piece from 2009 which opens with - "Two words to describe the WH response to the financial crisis: EPIC FAIL." Sure, in the 2020s answering 'yes' to a question of quantity is a cheeky way to suggest hyperbole, but I feel like in 5 years it's just going to seem lame and dated.

acheron 4y ago
Plans for the latest federal budget were met with questions of O RLY? The Administration responded YA RLY.
spoiler 4y ago
> (...) but I feel like in 5 years it's just going to seem lame and dated. Not an expert on media writing[1] (or writing/language in general), but I observed this to be true in at least a couple of languages. Dunno about the time spans involved, though. But I know that stuff from 90s and 80s sounds a bit "dated" to me (I'm a 90ies kid). This is true for at least English and a few Slavic languages[2]. I don't read a lot of media writing (helps with my mental health), but I do read a lot of fiction. And to me it feels like here's usually a bit of the author's era's "personality" (or memes, if you will) that inevitably bleeds through in writing (even in fiction). I mean, it's a core part of our day-to-day expression. Going back to the time spans: I think that this is probably something that will keep happening more and more frequently. I guess a few factors contribute to this, but I think it just boils down increasing globalisation and speed at which information (incl [sub]cultures, memes) travels [1]: By media writing I mean stuff written for magazines, blogs, news, etc. [2]: Slavic languages are similar so most speakers have a degree of cross-understanding. FWIW, it feels to me the languages had sometimes different and sometimes similar trends in the 80-90s and they do today. These are just layman observations though Edit: Some wordsmithing/formatting
dhosek 4y ago
On the other hand, newspaper writing is kind of the definition of ephemeral. Yes, some writing ends up lasting (I did a high school paper on Carl Sandberg’s coverage of the 1919 race riots in Chicago which I found published in book form in the high school library), but most won’t.
hm10 4y ago
Agreed. Memes have a highly limited shelf life. Two things guarantee a rapid death of a meme: going mainstream, and attempting to revive one after its viral cycle is over. As such, they should ideally only be used in either 'ephemeral' and/or 'niche' media. Permanent media should stick to simplicity because it is timeless.
pessimizer 4y ago
I'm actually willing to tolerate almost anything since we finally left the age of mainstream headlines using "epic," because there were plenty of them. If the papers would stop their 60 year-old employees from using snowclone 2010s meme formats on twitter to defend drone bombings, I would also be grateful.

acheron 4y ago

Plans for the latest federal budget were met with questions of O RLY? The Administration responded YA RLY.

spoiler 4y ago

> (...) but I feel like in 5 years it's just going to seem lame and dated. Not an expert on media writing[1] (or writing/language in general), but I observed this to be true in at least a couple of languages. Dunno about the time spans involved, though. But I know that stuff from 90s and 80s sounds a bit "dated" to me (I'm a 90ies kid). This is true for at least English and a few Slavic languages[2]. I don't read a lot of media writing (helps with my mental health), but I do read a lot of fiction. And to me it feels like here's usually a bit of the author's era's "personality" (or memes, if you will) that inevitably bleeds through in writing (even in fiction). I mean, it's a core part of our day-to-day expression. Going back to the time spans: I think that this is probably something that will keep happening more and more frequently. I guess a few factors contribute to this, but I think it just boils down increasing globalisation and speed at which information (incl [sub]cultures, memes) travels [1]: By media writing I mean stuff written for magazines, blogs, news, etc. [2]: Slavic languages are similar so most speakers have a degree of cross-understanding. FWIW, it feels to me the languages had sometimes different and sometimes similar trends in the 80-90s and they do today. These are just layman observations though Edit: Some wordsmithing/formatting

dhosek 4y ago

On the other hand, newspaper writing is kind of the definition of ephemeral. Yes, some writing ends up lasting (I did a high school paper on Carl Sandberg’s coverage of the 1919 race riots in Chicago which I found published in book form in the high school library), but most won’t.

hm10 4y ago

Agreed. Memes have a highly limited shelf life. Two things guarantee a rapid death of a meme: going mainstream, and attempting to revive one after its viral cycle is over. As such, they should ideally only be used in either 'ephemeral' and/or 'niche' media. Permanent media should stick to simplicity because it is timeless.

pessimizer 4y ago

I'm actually willing to tolerate almost anything since we finally left the age of mainstream headlines using "epic," because there were plenty of them. If the papers would stop their 60 year-old employees from using snowclone 2010s meme formats on twitter to defend drone bombings, I would also be grateful.