Celebrities

I don't think I 'get' celebrity culture. 

I can think of some actors who are (fairly) consistently good at playing a diverse range of characters, if I hear they're in a movie I might consider watching it for that reason, but I don't think I'd be particularly interested in meeting them / having something signed by them / owning something they once did, or any of the other things I hear of people doing re. celebrities. Similarly singers / musicians, authors, scientists, or any others. 

I would be interested to speak to some authors about a book of theirs I might have read, or scientists about their work, but I think only if I happened to meet them. I cannot imagine travelling across the country specifically for that purpose! Most of the people I would REALLY like to talk to about their field of work are historical figures anyway. I just have no interest in them as generalised people, it's their work / whatever they're probably famous for, that I'd be interested to talk to them about and I can't understand why I would be interested in a 'selfie' with them! 

Do others here feel like that? 

I have met some famous people and ... they were just people, of course. With some, not all, it was a surprise to see them but I didn't think of stopping to chat with them or anything. Seeing them was an interesting aside to the day but I felt the exact same thing when I took my daughter to see 'Santa Claus'. I do admire certain people for the things they have done but, again, the same can be said for many of the people I see on a regular basis and they're not famous at all. I'd go to a concert to hear someone I admire but I wouldn't think to hang around after on the off chance I might see them - what for? It puzzles me.     

  • As a general rule, I do like to blame Disney for things whenever I can. HahaGrinning

    Such as, to name just a few of Disney’s crimes:

    ‘Unrealistic expectations:’  Um…no, if your living room becomes filled with wild animals and birds flying around it too, you probably won't feel like singing, and instead you will need wellies, a change of clothes and probably a Carpet Washer too at the very least.

    (And if said animals are singing back to you; um…no, you are in fact Tripping and I will do my best to talk you down, maaaan.)

    Not to mention cruelty to vegetables (Cinderella’s coach.)  

    So I can definitely squeeze blame onto Disney for the demise of language too, fantastic!Relaxed

    Day well spent! Smile

  • Blame it all on Disney and Hollywood! Rolling eyesLaughing 

  • Dumbing down..... Dumb and Dumber......!

  • This (Bicycles 'words and their meanings) is hilarious!Relaxed but actually, the systemic 'desecration' of words and language really genuinely worries me too.

    I think, if our (any) language is robbed of its richness this will, in turn, rob us of the opportunity to 'think' richly. 

    1984 anyone? Fearful

  • Shallow and vacuous fame for the sake of it. 

    I'm with you! 

  • I wish there was another word than 'celebrity' for the reality TV type. Rather than 'famous' I'd assert 'infamous' but what is the equivalent for celebrity? 

    Flakes!  Flakey!  They're so fake.  

    But even in the real world there are many flakes. 

  • Hilarious! Glad I wasn't drinking my tea when I read this, it could have been catastrophic!

    This is like literally AWESOME, I mean literally well wicked, I like literally laughed cos it's so sick. It could literally have been awks as I'm like sat on a bus but it's like empty like there's literally just me on it. That was literally legit, really really. 

    I hear Legit being used a lot with really, as in true, honest, truth.

  • It's at this point that I have to admit that my own use of the English language is far from perfect, but your examples are hilarious nonetheless - LOL and ROFL and if I knew any others at this point I'd add them   :)   Well done! 

  • Brilliant .... I laughed so much I nearly choked on my tea. Please, please give us an explanation of the use of "like" as some bizarre sort of, like, punctuation, for like absolutely everything :-) I'll finish the tea before I read it though! Otherwise my laptop might die ...

  • WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS:

    Awesome: anything at all encountered by anyone under 30. Often written in UPPER CASE for heightened effect. (e.g. 'This cat litter tray is absolutely AWESOME!!!!') Other forms: awesomest, awesomeness, awesomely.

    Wicked: Good

    Well wicked: Extremely good.

    Well: Sick.

    Well unwell: Very sick.

    Sick: Excellent

    Devastated: Emotional condition evoked by anything bad - from the loss of a football game to failing a 'Britain's Got Talent' audition to being evicted from the 'Big Brother' house to a tragic death to a plane crash to a tsunami to a famine to a war to a 50-megaton nuclear explosion to a 10-mile wide asteroid colliding with earth.

    Oh my God! Standard English prefix to anything at all - most often used by younger women, but not exclusively. With men, it's more usually '******* *********!' or '*** me!'

    LOL: first name of Mr Creme, of 10 cc and Godley and Creme fame.

    ROFL: Mr Harris's first name, mis-spelled.

    OMG: Shortened form of '80s electro band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Gark.

    OMD: Shortened form of French prefix 'Oh Mon Dieu!'

    BGT: A bacon, greengage and tomato sandwich.

    Really: very

    Really, really: extremely

    Really, really, really: very extremely

    Less: now universally used as a substitute for 'fewer' (e.g. 'There are less fish in the sea than there used to be') Curiously, the reverse never happens (e.g. 'I get fewer interest on my savings now.')

    Tecs: (noun, verb; singular and plural) An SMS message; SMS messages; to send or receive same. (e.g. 'I tecs her, but she didn't tecs me back', 'I got a tecs from him yesterday.') See also Tecses (e.g. 'He tecses me all the time', 'I got a load of tecses from her.')

    Houston tecses: SMS messages received from Houston, Texas

    SMS: Abbreviation of Silly Message Service

    [Edited by Ayshe Mod]

  • "And I was like, and he was like, and we were like..."  Nobody behaves naturally any more.  They're all 'like' something.

  • Yes, that gets me, too.  And when I actually pointed out to an academic that decimated means 'one-tenth', he called me pedantic!

  • I wish there was another word than 'celebrity' for the reality TV type. Rather than 'famous' I'd assert 'infamous' but what is the equivalent for celebrity

    'Pseudoceleb' Relaxed

  • It’s absolutely possible for you to do only what you love Bicycle, it’s just that we are not taught this by mainstream society, in fact, we are taught the exact opposite so people don’t even think it’s possible. 

    However, if you were interested in learning to do only what you love, I would be happy to help you. If you don’t believe me, try it out, what have you got to lose? 

  • "I literally exploded at her"

    "She literally bit my head off" 

    "She's literally winding me up"

    (Worried now in case I drop a clanger and picked up on it!!)

  • what about people who feel the need to say "absolutely" when "yes" would do

    and how many things are really "awesome" .... gah!

  • That IS irritating but the one that makes me grind my teeth is the much maligned and clearly misunderstood 'decimated'. 

    'The world's fish stocks have been decimated' Really? Someone's actually been out there and counted to verify that? And this type of thing from news presenters, not schoolchildren! That and 'pacific' when they mean specific, although that one cracks me up rather than winding me up.  

  • I think the word has been debauched by these vacuous types.  That happens such a lot.  Words get overused and misapplied, and become almost meaningless.  'Devastated' is one that gets me.  Everyone and everything is devastated.  The lads were devastated because their team lost, the mother was devastated when she lost her phone, the couple were devastated when their son became ill, the country was devastated by famine, the earth was devastated by a nuclear attack, and so on.