Amalgams

Over the last few years, there's been a trend that kind of annoys me. It gets under my skin a little. It's not as bad as when people refuse to use a turn signal on the road, but it's got potential.

It's the trend of combining people's names when they suddenly become a couple. As soon as I list some examples you'll know exactly what I'm talking about...

Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie - Brangelina
Ben Affleck & Jennifer Lopez - Bennifer
Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner - Bennifer II
Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes - TomKat

Okay, I actually thought TomKat was kind of clever. 'Cause tomcat is a real word. But really, it gets more annoying than that. This amalgamation of names carries over into the world of fictional television. I watch Smallville, and whenever TV Guide or Entertainment Weekly covers the show, they have to talk about who Clark Kent is with by calling the couple "Clana" or "Clois." Those stand for Lana and Lois, respectively.

Another show I've noticed this happening on is The Office. People use the term "Jam" to describe one of the couples. The question then becomes, which couple. It's fitting for two. Of course you have Jim and Pam, which is probably the most obvious. But what if it's meant to be JAM (Jan And Michael). It gets so confusing.

I think people just get lazy and don't want to write out the entire word or phrase or whatever it is they're writing. Text messages and internet lingo have spoiled us. Our crazy English language has become far too complicated and apparently takes too long to say or write. I observed this laziness in a textbook I'm reading for school. It's a book focusing on the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. On the first page of the first chapter, the author takes time to explain that instead of writing out phrases like "the record of" he would replace that with (R) every time. Seriously? You can't just say "the record of" whatever, you have to put (R)? Man, I thought I was lazy.

So maybe I should have just titled this post "Abbreviations," but that word is too long.