Toxic
A word can’t paint a thousand pictures, but it can have a
very strong sense of meaning; however, when that word is over used and over
used it loses colour and spirit to the point where it says nothing and is no
longer specific. This is the case with the adjective ‘toxic’.
Thousands of people around Australia
are spewing up this word, in the press and on Facebook, in cafes and dinner parties. The 2012
Australian Olympic swimming team had ‘a toxic culture’ said the journalists and
the swim team’s critics. We hear all the time about a toxic atmosphere in failed
businesses, in army corps and religious groups where bullying or buggery has
ruined reputations and caused despair.
It’s the big
word of the last ten years it seems, but where did it get its big lift in
popularity? In 2009 parliamentary attack dog Tony Abbott referred to then Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd as a toxic bore. It certainly wasn’t the first time those
two words were used together but it had a blistering affect; it resonated with
the many people who not only disliked but deeply despised the prosaic, over
educated manner of Rudd. My estimation is that Rudd was never really boring,
instead he suffered from hubris, but that kind of word wouldn’t penetrate the
public psyche like ‘toxic’. Add the word ‘bore’ and you’ve got yourself one
mighty insult, boring being a sin in modern politics so heavily reliant on
instant spin and flashy image.
In a sense
the word is being used metaphorically. We don’t literally believe that these
mannerisms, atmospheres and cultures are truly poisonous. Kevin Rudd’s close
advisers were not landing in emergency wards after contact with him. But when a
metaphor is overused it loses meaning and power. Orwell referred to ‘dying
metaphors’ in his essay Politics and the
English Language. His examples were such things as Ring the changes on,
take up the cudgel for, toe the line, ride roughshod over, stand shoulder to
shoulder with, etc.
But with
the word ‘toxic’, which simply means poisonous, why is it better than
‘poisonous’? Because it’s hard, it starts and ends with hard consonants and it
contains a hiss in the x. The word ‘slut’ comes to mind as an equally hard and
powerful word. Contemporary comedians talk about dropping the ‘C bomb’ and some
are making jokes about rape, but you’ll rarely hear a comedian call someone a
slut. ‘Toxic’ also has an association with destruction of the environment; when
a river or lake is poisoned it becomes toxic. Dangerous chemicals are toxic. So,
before it became so over-used, its meaning was very strong from various socio-political
angles.
Now
however, its use simply points to the lack of imagination of the user. When I
hear it written or spoken on TV, I can only think the user is desperate for a
loaded term and no longer has the ability to describe a feeling or association
in their own terms. In this sense we can say that the word ‘toxic’ is a waste
word, poisoned by over use, and destined for the rubbish tip of the English
language. Well, we can only hope.
