Herewith, the iconic rant. Destined to become iconic in a short while, perhaps overnight. In the course of a day this ranter has read about a recently departed bit part American actor who is, for this reason, iconic; a particular foodstuff brand (sauerkraut) that’s iconic; a gin and tonic, iconic. In need of a superlative? Does the word ‘great’ feel not so great? When in doubt, or else fails, reach for iconic. Everyone else does. It is therefore with some relief that this ranter reads an article by an esteemed, but so far not iconic, sub-editor to the effect that use of the word ‘iconic’ has for some time now been regarded by her as meaningless. She means it’s lost its meaning. Some words lose their force through rampant overuse. Such is the fate of iconic. On social media today a photographer posted a picture, with his back to the cathedral entrance, of two ‘Melbourne icons’: Young & Jackson’s Hotel and an imposing nose of tram. The years of civilised culture wars that ended with an actual icon being installed in the cathedral itself is not alluded to. Ironic is not something associated with users of iconic. Nor are they intending to be comic using iconic, generally speaking. Google ‘cathedral icon’ and the first hit is an icon company offering 2,142 downloadable cathedral pictograms, that is hyperlinks and mouse short cuts. Duomo di Milano reduces to a few lines and oblongs. Narrow the search to find an actual eikon. Why iconic?, I hear you cry, if only in this ranter’s head, his inner prompt for further speeches. The word has come to define anything that is thought representative of something, anything really. It seems to be a synonym for famous. Bluestone lanes, for example, are iconic Melbourne, but not bitumen roads, which comprise the majority of sealed thoroughfares in the metropolis. It all gets a bit subjective after someone says, red dirt tracks are iconic. And what about Lygon Street? What about it? Then we have the uncoordinated splatterfest known as (bluestone) Hosier Lane, cited as the example of iconic Melbourne graffiti only because of the tourism. Connections between money and ‘iconic’ deserve more considered study than an unrepressed rant. Usage is forever putting undisclosed money amounts on that which is suddenly iconic. The aforementioned sub-editor “once edited out three appearances of ‘iconic’ on a single day: ‘unforgettable’, ‘infamous’ and ‘emblematic’ stepped in admirably.” In the interests of better communication, here are some more synonyms for your use, in order of iconic status: seminal, awe-inspiring, epochal, supreme, archetypical, ideal, evocative, exemplary, capital, paradigmatic, symbolical. One online site has 407 synonyms for iconic. It’s easy to find. This rant only scratches the surface of icon. But am I talking to myself? Are all rants circular, even or especially iconic rants? I stop talking to the sink and gaze out the laundry window at the iconic paling fence and the iconic jacaranda and the iconic Australian sunlight with the feeling it’s all a bit of a lost cause. An emblematic lost cause. Typical, almost.
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