# Has the word "zeitgeist" been played out? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 28, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132 "2012-10-28T14:41:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/1 "2012-10-28T14:41:28Z")
I like the word ["zeitgeist"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitgeist)and have used it occasionally when called for, but it’s been used so often in discussions about practically everything these days when I see it in articles it now looks oafish and clunky. It’s a nice a nice and useful word, but is it being overused? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/2 "2012-10-28T18:11:15Z")
I don’t think this OP quite captures the _zeitgeist_. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/3 "2012-10-28T18:39:12Z")
No. More vocabulary is always better. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/4 "2012-10-28T18:53:03Z")
Hell no…I’m still using “paradigm shift”🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/5 "2012-10-28T19:09:52Z")
I like the synergy in this thread! ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/6 "2012-10-28T20:06:28Z")
Depends on your Weltanschauung. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/7 "2012-10-28T20:34:52Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Depends on your Weltanschauung. I like it. And now that Wikipedia has taught me how to pronounce it, I’ll be saying shoehorning it in when I can. I always liked the word ‘zeitgeist’ too, because it was one of those words where the meaning really does call for the ‘perfect’ word to put it in a nutshell. I haven’t noticed that people are overusing it lately. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/8 "2012-10-28T20:43:13Z")
Overusing ‘zeitgeist’ is the new normal. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/9 "2012-10-29T07:03:09Z")
I just want people to stop overusing the word “plethora” – especially using it to just mean an abundance, rather than an overabundance. You don’t have a plethora of ice cream sandwiches in your freezer, you just have a bunch of them. Geez. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/10 "2012-10-29T08:09:50Z")
Would you say I have a plethora of piñatas? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/11 "2012-10-29T08:15:58Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Hell no..I’m still using “paradigm shift”🆒 You just made me realize that I actually recognize that font, even though I never use it. That the first font that happened to is that one…shudder. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/12 "2012-10-29T08:24:27Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Would you say I have a plethora of piñatas? Forgive me, El Guapo. I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education. But could it be that once again, you are angry at something else, and are looking to take it out on me? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/13 "2012-10-29T08:29:23Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > I just want people to stop overusing the word “plethora” – especially using it to just mean an abundance, rather than an overabundance. You don’t have a plethora of ice cream sandwiches in your freezer, you just have a bunch of them. Geez. So what you’re saying is that there’s a plethora of people using plethora. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/14 "2012-10-29T09:13:18Z")
I am not a fan of this word. Mainly because there is a series of documentaries out there under the label 'Zeitgeist". All of them bat shit crazy. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/15 "2012-10-29T15:00:30Z")
Moved Cafe Society --\> IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![allyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@allyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/allyn)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/16 "2012-10-29T16:03:09Z")
I hear the word “Narrative” used a lot these days. I first noticed it…hmmm…a couple of years ago? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/17 "2012-10-29T17:33:12Z")
I think that you just happen to be reading things recently that mention the word “zeitgeist” a lot. Here’s the Google Ngram chart for “zeitgeist” in English from 1800 to 2012: > **[Google Books Ngram Viewer](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=zeitgeist&year_start=1800&year_end=2012&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=)** > > Google Books Ngram Viewer As you can see, the use was pretty stable from 1916 to 1964. There was a huge jump in 1965 and then it was pretty stable till 1971. There was a drop (but not to the 1964 level) in 1972 and 1973. There was a steady rise till 1992. Since then there has been quite a fast rise in its use. So if you’re claiming that there has been a recent rise in using the term, that’s true if by “recent” you mean the past twenty years. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/18 "2012-10-29T18:53:13Z")
Got zeitgeist angst, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-zeitgeist-been-played-out/639132/19 "2012-10-29T19:10:54Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I am not a fan of this word. > > Mainly because there is a series of documentaries out there under the label 'Zeitgeist". All of them bat shit crazy. Aw, come on. Don’t let a silly movie ruin a perfectly cromulent word. Sometimes, in hip hop culture, someone will take a great slang term and make a corny commercial singy songy rap song about it. I always want to abandon that word the moment I hear that song. But then, I don’t. I keep using the word. So that the terrorists don’t win.