Excessive use will kill
most things or make them less effective; even words. Consider for a moment
"literally": a good word whose overuse and misuse have deprived it of real
meaning.
http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/Confound-it-Hawkins-when-I-said-I-meant-that-literally-that-was-just-a-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i8643121_.htm
Once, “literally” meant, well, literally; now it
is being accepted as something other than literal. I would go into more detail,
but my heart breaks for “literally”; I mean that figuratively. The next time you hear someone say, “He literally bombed on stage" or something similar, roll your eyes as contemptuously
as any teenager! Using "literally" for "figuratively" is at Stage 3 on Bryan A. Garner's Language Change Index. (Stage 3: "The form becomes commonplace even among many well-educated people but is still avoided in careful usage.") But let's not let this happen to robust.
Although "robust" seems to be the word of the moment, this is not good for the future of
"robust" as a useful word.
Robust's definition includes: "1. strong and healthy; hardy; vigorous; 2. Strongly or stoutly built; 3. Suited
to or requiring bodily strength or endurance; 4. Rough , rude, or boisterous;
5. Rich and full-bodied; 6. Strong and effective in all or most
situations and conditions." But there is good reason to think that our politicians and media
are on a mission to deprive robust of its, well, robustness. Not intentionally,
they're not entitled to that much credit.
The Obama administration likes
to use “robust.”
“President Obama is
refusing to acknowledge he needs to change strategy against ISIS after the
terrorist attacks in Paris, defending his actions as ‘robust.’”
“Deputy National Security
Adviser Ben Rhodes said, ‘we’re still planning to take in Syrian refugees’ . .
. there are ‘very robust vetting procedures for those
refugees.’”
"FACT SHEET: Obama Administration and
Private-Sector Leaders Announce Ambitious Commitments
and Robust Progress to Address Potent Greenhouse Gases[.]"
The military is developing a fondness for robust: “ʻThe French have been a robust partner
and a robust member of Operation Inherent Resolve.” We
shouldn't put too much stock in the military's word usage; after all, the
military and its political overlords gave us "deconflict."
And the media are using it: “Democratic
candidates pledge robust ISIS fight, implicitly chiding
Obama.”
In the examples, it’s not that “robust” is used
incorrectly in all cases, but it is overused and often there's a better choice.
But to know that and to make a better word choice requires work on our vocabulary. Alas, I'm not optimistic!
