Have you ever felt ‘the ick’? One of the newest terms just added to the Cambridge Dictionary comes to us from a dating show.
The use of the word ick dates back more than three-quarters of a century. But a reality TV show has launched a slightly new meaning by adding the article the in front of it. The ick is now a new term being added to the Cambridge Dictionary in the United Kingdom.
The earliest known use of the term, as a statement of disgust, dates back to the 1940s. Similar words might be yuck or gross.
One of my favorite classic TV series, M*A*S*H, features the character Radar O’Reilly, played by Gary Burghoff. Radar was essentially a kid who’s keeping the entire camp in one piece. But he has his childlike moments. In one scene where he and the camp’s priest, Father Mulcahy, pick up a wounded soldier who starts to choke, doctors have to talk Mulcahy through performing a field tracheotomy.
Watching Mulcahy cut into the soldier’s throat to be able to insert an airway, Radar says, “Oooh, ick, he did it.”
That’s an example of the well-known use of the word.
Now there’s a new version that just made the dictionary
We’d have to turn to a different television show for an example of the new phrase, the ick. Adding that article in front of it makes it refer to “the feeling of being overwhelmed by a sudden dislike or loss of attraction for somebody.” It’s one of more than 3,000 new words added to the Cambridge Dictionary.
As for the television show that inspired its addition? Well, many point to the British ITV reality show Love Island. The show places a bunch of singles on an island to live together while searching for love.
The premise of that kind of show gives me “the ick” all right.
But some say that while Love Island may have popularized the phrase, it was an earlier TV show, Ally McBeal, that first brought it to the table.
Can’t say that I’ve seen that one either. (And no, I don’t feel like I’m missing out.)
As annoying new phrases go, this one isn’t the worst I’ve seen…but it’s far from falling into the super-clever category.
A dictionary merely defines words or phrases people are using. The words’ appearance in the dictionary shouldn’t prompt one to assume the dictionary’s editors condone or encourage its use.
At least there’s that.
