Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Word of the day: non-trending

I was happy yesterday to think up the word non-trending as a way to describe what one hears on WKCR-FM (mostly classical music and jazz). It turns out though that non-trending is — dang — already a word. In which case, I’ve repurposed it to mean not “unpopular” but “of permanent interest.” Homer and Sappho are non-trending.

The verb trend means “to show a tendency,” “to become deflected.” Trending, which comes us to us via Twitter, involves only one tendency: toward short-lived popularity. The word itself seems marked for a short life. As Jesse Kornbluth writes, “This time next year, I won’t be at all surprised to read that trending is ‘just soooo 2011.’”

[I found Kornbluth’s piece via Submitted for Your Perusal. Matt Thomas reads the Sunday New York Times far more thoroughly than I do.]

comments: 3

Matt Thomas said...

Yeah, but sometimes it takes me all day. Thanks, as always, for the shout-out.

Slywy said...

But how do you feel about Catullus?

Michael Leddy said...

Matt, you’re welcome.

Diane, I’d say Catullus is non-trending too.