Buzz Words

The thing about language is that it is constantly changing and evolving, and words and expressions come in and go out of fashion.

Often though, a new buzz word or phrase will become mis-used and the meaning corrupted.

A good example of this is the recent rise of the use of the expression “cognitive dissonance”

I often see it being used to refer to someone who is happily or unwittingly holding contradictory views, yet this is an incorrect use of the term.  Cognitive dissonance is actually described as

“anxiety that results from simultaneously holding contradictory or otherwise incompatible attitudes, beliefs, or the like”
Dictionary.com

Notice that when correctly used, cognitive dissonance introduces mental discomfort caused by the awareness that the views are incompatible with each other – so the person can not honestly be described as ‘happily holding’ or ‘unwittingly holding’ contradictory views, since this would not bring about the required dissonance.

Sadly, most people will continue to blithely mis-use words because they do not understand the true meaning, but the word or phrase has become ‘popular’ and apparently a social imperative has arisen to be seen to be using the ‘in’ words, so they continue to mis-use them and perpetuate the mis-use in doing so.