Have you noticed how this word ‘surreal’ keeps popping up all over the place these days?
Anything that is even a tiny bit odd seems to be labelled ‘surreal’ these days.
‘It’s all so surreal,’ people say—describing anything from getting a new job to having three numbers in this week’s Lotto.
This habit has been around for a while.
As far back as 1993 an article in The Canberra Times described the ACT Legislative Assembly as ‘finally achieving the surreal quality of its predecessor.’
In fact, as currently constituted, the ACT’s Territory government with its mixture of Labor and Greens might be described as almost off the surreal scale!
So, what is wrong with how is this word now being used?
And where does it come from?
These days, according to most dictionaries, ‘surreal’ is used to mean nothing more than ‘unexpected.’
Which is not how the word began life.
‘Surreal’ is what is called a back-formation from the noun ‘surrealism’—which, in turn, is the name not for anything in life that’s a bit odd or unexpected, but of a whole art movement.
The word ‘surrealism’ was coined in March 1917 by a Polish born French poet, Guillaume Appollinaire.
It was quickly adopted by a whole school of people working in the creative arts to label an entire school of painting, poetry, plays and more.
If you think of Salvador Dali and his famous painting of the melting clock, you’ll have a notion of what surrealism was all about.
It was full of the sort of weird stuff that could only happen in dreams.
Artistic surrealism was about the rejection of rationality in favour of uncertainty.
And that’s not what people mean today when they use the word ‘surreal’ is it?
But, back to the source word—surrealism.
This became common in English from about 1927.
The word ‘surrealism’ seems to have been coined as a contraction of the earlier hyphenated expression ‘super-realism.’
With the prefix ‘super-’ being used there to mean ‘above’ or ‘beyond.’
So, it surely is a misuse of language to described something that’s a bit surprising, but entirely realistic, as being ‘surreal’?
And yet, that’s how the word is being used today.
Someone says to me, ‘In 1969 my birthday happened on the same day as the moon landing. It was surreal!’
Well, no it wasn’t—it was just a coincidence.
Hence, if you are ever tempted to describe something as ‘surreal’ look around for a better word.
Perhaps ‘surprising’ or ‘unexpected’ or even ‘odd.’
But unless it’s one of those weird paintings by the surrealists, then it’s not ‘surreal.’
Tonight I will be a panellist on 'The Late Debate' on Sky News (10pm AEDT)
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BY THE WAY...
My latest column for Sky News online (about 'The Politics of Bluey') is now available--here's the link:
If you'd like to see my A-Z list of Aussie slang, you'll find it here in the Australian Geographic website -- A-Z list of Aussie slang. Here’s the link: The A-Z of Aussie slang - Australian Geographic
I have just taken part in Jenny Wheeler's podcast "The Joys of Binge Reading." You can listen to the conversation here:
https://thejoysofbingereading.com/kel-richards-country-house-mysteries/
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