The word chic wants to go to rehab

  This just in: the word "chic" is one weary mot. These days, you can't read a sentence without running into it. Along with being the au courant adjective for all things fashionable, "chic" has become the unwitting and undignified alternative to S*#@, as in "Chic happens" or "What a pile of chic!"

I am saddened to report that the word wants out. Out of the dictionary, out of the argot of snippy home decorators and skinny magazine editors. Out of the Lucky magazine campaign that announces: "Chic meets Street." Even out of this blog, alas. In a prepared statement, the word passed along this message to its devout followers:

Dear people who use words,

If a language can die and a species can become extinct, I hope that I, a mere one-syllable expression with a French origin, can be allowed to rest a bit. The crazy parties, the tongue in cheek headlines, it's all too much. Whereas I was once the definitive utterance to convey something stylish and unique, I am now ubiquitous and bloated. I don't want to end up like "bling."

I ask that you respect my wishes for privacy during this troubled time.

Many thanks,

Chic

Comments

[allison kennedy]

This is funny. I hope you have some real pop culture "pull" and Stop the insanity of over usage of the word chic. In New York The shazizzle seems to be saturating the party circuit. I don't even think it's a word!
Do you?

[Steffie Nelson]

Dear Monica,
Say it ain't so! When did chic become so meaningless? I truly hadn't noticed and I really feel like, used properly, the word still has some cachet. The other day a woman in New York complimented a dress I was wearing by using the dreaded C word and I have to admit I really felt, for a moment, like I had that certain je ne sais quois. I did not feel like I'd been blighted with a bloated, blinged out adjective suffering from "exhaustion."

Oh, and for the record I am guilty of using the most offensive phrase of all, "Le Freak, C'est Chic" - in a headline no less! - but it was a) 8 years ago and b) for a story about resurgent freak shows and circuses, so I think I was fully justified.

What's the alternative? I already use bitchen and hott way too much.
cheers,
Steffie

[had it to here]

what about "amazing"? "She bought the most amazing shoes." "He designs with the most amazing fabric." Lucky magazine uses this word to the gag factor.

and "vibe." why does everything have to have a vibe? "That hippie-chick vibe." "The sailor meets boho vibe."

Just stop it already.