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Last Millennium's Lingo Died and We Should Leave It Buried

By Eric Brown

So it's not that I have anything against esoteric language, professional jargon, or excessive linguistic inbreeding among like-minded people. But in reading most art publications these days I am concerned.

I am concerned that the shorthand that originally fed creativity by allowing conversations to progress more rapidly than otherwise possible ceases to have meaning over time, thereby creating an atmosphere where an ever-diminishing number of thoughts are being conveyed; an atmosphere where there is no longer rapid communication, but rapid miscommunication.

Yes, jargon is very comfortable and wraps itself in the appearance of shared ideas, but when it wears out it turns to mush, and when we all find ourselves steeped in mush, slowly drowning in stagnant linguistic pond water, what's the point of trying to communicate in the first place?

With that in mind, what happens if you try to talk about art but drop some of the most common words such as these (all gleaned from the May.01.2006 issue of Visual Codec): forum, visual, critic, criticism, event, work (as a noun), space, rendered, conceptual, zeitgeist, authentic, subtext, crafted, images, references, seminal, language, text, subject, the art, narrative, significant, realist, content, mainstream, fringe, imitating, culture, and so on.

They're all fine words, but when they show up in droves as I'm trying to read about art, then even if the thing I'm reading about is exciting at its core, I end up feeling like I've read it all before.

In a word, I'm bored.

We need new words, exciting words, words we don't use every day, but save for special occasions when art kicks us in the head and says, "Hey, look at me!"

In other words, ditch the Corelleware and bring on the flea-market finds!

Fine old tight-jawed crystal alongside something swiped from an ultramodern sushi joint in Tokyo...colored plastic cups mixed in with hippie 60s ceramics...Grandma's fine china paired with antique bone chopsticks...!!

You get the point; anything to free us from our jargonistic misery, like these hot words from (the same issue of) Visual Codec: hankering (makes me think of blowing my nose), rocket (fast), grandiose (like a ball gown), locusts (timeless), suss (like sass, only sexier), many, many, many (because it makes me think it's a lot), and lovely (ooooooh!).

Naturally, nobody has to give a rat's ass what I think or want, but the fun of modern life is that I get to say it and send it and go skipping down the lane.

Actually, I don't do a lot of skipping.