August 06, 2005

In Defence of Jessica Simpson

I wonder who is the more stupid: someone who mispronounces the word 'iconic', or someone who convinces themselves that a life spent arranging and hosting discussions of hot pants on TV, and writing about them afterwards, is a life well spent.

Posted by Alan Allport at August 6, 2005 06:04 PM
Comments

She didn't really mispronounce a word, but made one up. Given that "icon" and "iconic" are overused, I think "iconish" is a handy invention. Daisy Duke is not - in my book, anyway - an American icon, but she's in the neighborhood; therefore she's iconish.

And I must take exception to the idea that the mispronunciation of words is necessarily a mark of stupidity (by the way, I had to look up necessarily to confirm there is one "l").

Posted by: Bobby Farouk at August 7, 2005 02:46 AM

And I must take exception to the idea that the mispronunciation of words is necessarily a mark of stupidity

That's kind of what I was getting at.

Posted by: Alan Allport at August 7, 2005 03:35 AM

There have been billboards up this summer in San Francisco for a diet tea drink captioned, "Bust Out Yer Daisy Dukes," no further explanation or illustration supplied. So maybe she is an icon in some quarters?

Posted by: Martha Bridegam at August 7, 2005 03:27 PM

I've often heard the term "Daisy Dukes" to refer to short cut-offs.

Posted by: Ben Brumfield at August 7, 2005 06:00 PM

Has the term become better known than the character, then?

Posted by: Martha Bridegam at August 7, 2005 06:06 PM

I'm not sure I'd say that, but the term has certainly become separated from the charater in that it can be a reference to clothing without actually conjuring up the metaphor.

Posted by: Ben Brumfield at August 7, 2005 09:34 PM