As a teenager in highschool, I hear a lot of slang. Just the other day in Journalism, a few classmates of mine were talking of a new movie that just came out. One classmate was describing a scene in the movie in which the main character jumps into view while an epic explosion can be seen in the background. The other classmate responded with, “That’s epic!” Obviously I knew what my classmate meant when he responded with “that’s epic,” but I couldn’t help but think how the word ‘epic’ became to be a synonym for the word awesome, for the word ‘epic’ is not, in any way, a substitute for something meaning impressive.
The word ‘epic’ comes from the Greek word ‘epikos’, meaning a poem or story. The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘epic’ as a long poem, usually narrating the adventures of heroic figures. This word was first used to establish the celebration of heroism through long poems, such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, or the Odyssey, but the definition has since, became more hazy. Today, many teenagers, and even adults use the word ‘epic’ to describe something awesome, or as a way to describe a task or person that did something that seemed impossible to do. Which is wrong. The word ‘epic’ is changing in today’s society, and I’m not sure it will ever fully return to its original meaning of a long poem because of the common misuse, and ‘epic’ will end up as an obsolete term. …show more content…
Of course, this is happening to many words, for example, the word ultimate. Ultimate is usually known as the biggest, or the greatest, but actually means the last thing on a list or agenda. Travesty, is another word commonly misused. Many people know the word travesty as a horrible event, a tragedy. But travesty actually means a distorted representation of
The word ‘epic’ comes from the Greek word ‘epikos’, meaning a poem or story. The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘epic’ as a long poem, usually narrating the adventures of heroic figures. This word was first used to establish the celebration of heroism through long poems, such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, or the Odyssey, but the definition has since, became more hazy. Today, many teenagers, and even adults use the word ‘epic’ to describe something awesome, or as a way to describe a task or person that did something that seemed impossible to do. Which is wrong. The word ‘epic’ is changing in today’s society, and I’m not sure it will ever fully return to its original meaning of a long poem because of the common misuse, and ‘epic’ will end up as an obsolete term. …show more content…
Of course, this is happening to many words, for example, the word ultimate. Ultimate is usually known as the biggest, or the greatest, but actually means the last thing on a list or agenda. Travesty, is another word commonly misused. Many people know the word travesty as a horrible event, a tragedy. But travesty actually means a distorted representation of