General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFrom a communication standpoint, "nothingburger" is such a juvenile and silly term
that, to me, it screams overcompensation. It's as if the speaker is protesting the concern too much. It's like a dismissal. I don't recommend the term if one wants to make a point.
leftstreet
(36,109 posts)something lame, dead-end, a dud, insignificant; especially something with high expectations that turns out to be average, pathetic, or overhyped.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nothingburger
RadiationTherapy
(5,818 posts)I just see its use here - now and with Clinton's email server investigation - it seems an underserious term. Not up to the task in some way. Just my opinion as a comm. scholar type.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,322 posts)If a speaker is overcompensating, they are going too far. If they're underserious, they're not trying hard enough.
I now really don't know what your problem with the word is.
RadiationTherapy
(5,818 posts)reaction to the scale of the issue it is intended to rationalize. It is the opposite of hyperbole.
I hope that helps explain my reaction to the word and its use in this context.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,322 posts)It's very unclear.
: excessive compensation; specifically : excessive reaction to a feeling of inferiority, guilt, or inadequacy leading to an exaggerated attempt to overcome the feeling
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/overcompensation
So, that's pretty much the opposite of "an underserious reaction".
"It seems an underserious reaction to the scale of the issue it is intended to rationalize."
That sounds as if your complaint is that the issue (eg Hillary's email server) is really important, and that you'd also object to them saying "much ado about nothing" or "mountain out of a molehill" - that it's not that they used a newish phrase (or cliche, if you prefer) rather than an old one, but that they should be accepting that the points the right wingers are raising are all important.
In which case, I profoundly disagree. The Republicans were talking bollocks, to use a British phrase of dismissal.
RadiationTherapy
(5,818 posts)I don't think I will try to rephrase it further.
FSogol
(45,493 posts)RadiationTherapy
(5,818 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)emulatorloo
(44,133 posts)Maybe you think that is too arcane and academic. Def rolls of the tongue better. Mountain out of a molehill works for me, but probably too obscure for anyone under 60.
RadiationTherapy
(5,818 posts)No wonder it turned to mush. Sometimes the bard can't be dodged, I guess.
emulatorloo
(44,133 posts)You and I are equally cursed.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)RadiationTherapy
(5,818 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)cwydro
(51,308 posts)you'll see many such juvenile and silly terms.
Bastardizations of names are number 1, but there are countless other examples such as the "nothingburger", which is a term I've never heard other than here.
emulatorloo
(44,133 posts)closeupready
(29,503 posts)emulatorloo
(44,133 posts)On edit, sorry correction ... Using DuckDuckGo here. So I do indeed have a different 'google' than you do, lol.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)I have no doubt it exists, but it's not something I've seen or heard.
Sounds like a stupid internet thing to me.
emulatorloo
(44,133 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,322 posts)http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a43713/hillary-email-nothingburger/
Or Bob Cesca:
http://www.bobcesca.com/the-benghazi-nothingburger-is-finally-here/
Or Senator Boxer:
http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/senator-boxer-clinton-email-audit-such-a-nothingburger-692899395873
Or in the Oxford English Dictionary, quoting the Historical Dictionary of American Slang from 1994:
"-burger, comb. form
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: burger n.
Etymology: < burger n., after its use as the second element in compounds denoting types of hamburger.
Formations are found from the early 1980s (apparently earliest in mouseburger n.); J. E. Lighter Hist. Dict. Amer. Slang (1994) gives a number of other formations, including cheerfulburger, nothingburger, and psychoburger."
God forbid a Democrat might use a word to ask "where's the beef?"
Initech
(100,085 posts)NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)Young people are often on the forefront of change. In this day and age of social media, the terms the kids use often end up in the vernacular.
What I meant to say is that the term nothing burger is totes amaze balls to me.
RadiationTherapy
(5,818 posts)I am not even implying it oughtn't be used; I am of the opinion the word in this context carries more implications than it dismisses.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)is really stupid. Nobody in real life uses these words - ever wonder why?
muriel_volestrangler
(101,322 posts)Response to muriel_volestrangler (Reply #25)
closeupready This message was self-deleted by its author.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)I too pretend to know common, nation-wide vernacular in an attempt to look more clever.
Response to LanternWaste (Reply #35)
closeupready This message was self-deleted by its author.
panader0
(25,816 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)RadiationTherapy
(5,818 posts)Demeaning a person or group's concerns through hyperbolic overreaction or by extreme diminishment are known and common rhetorical devices, so if one does not wish to be demeaning, one might be more cautious and caring.
If I was advising, I might use a formula like "I realize you think and feel __________, but at the core of this issue is _________"
Or something along those lines.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)post things like "nothingburger!" "Fail!" "Call the waaaaaaahmublance!" "Mansplain much?!" "wash, rinse, repeat"... Post gifs of cats doing weird things, eagles smoking cigars. Post threads about mentally ill people doing embarrassing things, so that we can all do constructive things for them - like crack jokes.
Yeah, I have stopped taking anything here seriously.
CanSocDem
(3,286 posts)...an emoticon for every point of view, and at least a dozen specifically for Laughing In Your Face.
The dumbing down of a generation.
.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)That was a needed, succinct and razor-sharp truth. Thanks.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,322 posts)You, of course, have dismissed people, in this thread, with
"Common? Nationwide? Where ... in MomsBasementStan?
and used , and . So, if I were you, I'd think again about who the accusation of using emoticons and 'dumbing down' actually applies to.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)I take none of this seriously.
So, unless I'm mistaken, we're done here ... right? I am, at any rate - enjoy yourself!