Have you noticed the trend to tack the word ‘super’ onto everything to denote the utter superiority of whatever it is we are talking about? I’m referring here to descriptions like super-cool, super-rich, super-successful and super-secret. We did much the same thing a few years ago with ‘uber’. But is it grammatically correct?
If you have spotted this new linguistic fad, you will no doubt be relieved to discover you’re not just being a super-sensitive grammar purist. A study of ten representative words, which included super-expensive, super-fit and super-hot, found the word’s usage has increased by a staggering 15% to 1.30 per million words in the four years from 2012 to 2016.
In fact, the prefix’s use has become so prevalent it is in danger of becoming – dare I say it – super-annoying to many who care about grammar and the English language. The linguistic style police, in particular, deride the practice as being superfluous when several other words such as ‘very’, ‘really’ or ‘extremely’ would do just as well. My personal view is that the beauty of the English language is that it is constantly evolving. The ability to communicate effectively is often more important than using absolutely precise and correct grammar. This whole ‘super’ fad will inevitably be short-lived but let’s have some fun with it while it lasts.
Like many crazes, the practice seems to have originated in the US. Rapper Kanye West referred to people at a particular club as being “super-calculating” back in 2008 while singer Taylor Swift, with 81.4 million Twitter followers, further popularised the practice when she performed Nicki Minaj’s 2010 hit Super Bass. According to Geoffrey Pullum, Professor of General Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh, “It’s being used in a colloquial, informal use of the language…Taylor Swift is just the sort of person who would spread a colloquialism far and wide in a day.”
But, surprisingly, use of the word ‘super’ as a prefix can be traced back centuries earlier to Shakespeare’s time when he referred to his “super-dainty Kate” in The Taming of the Shrew.
Super-useful or super-annoying? Let us know what you think!
