Existential Ennui. Do you feel it? Does it exist?
Holy Crap! I swear I never want to read the phrase again – I will gag if I see it in print. I will elect an out-of-this-world experience… for the perp who writes it.
It’s become the most overdone word in the age of COVID and beyond. It’s lost its impact and cleverness, so it’s come pointless IMHO.
I’ve never heard “Existential Ennui” uttered aloud.
Most people merely say bored, a word that is bolder, direct, and easier to understand. It states, not pontificates. All ages, from toddlers to Seniors, can say the simple word.
Ennui is often existential, experts say, meaning that it involves strong internal doubts about one’s purpose and actions, either in general or when it comes to a specific but major domain in one’s life. In my youth we might have said that a friend was contemplating her navel, that is belly button for the pre-college set. I get that, rather than wasting away while in quarantine, many spent time in serious self-contemplation, hoping to re-purpose their lives. Apparently, the fallout from said contemplation was the nationwide trend of job quits among the working class in November. Or, maybe introspection wasn’t the genesis, but a Gen X, Y, and Z push for more cash.
None uttered “Existential Ennui”… though perhaps “Take this job and shove it.”
Now that we’re fully removed from the time warp the protracted quarantine for COVID caused, I want to start a movement to stomp out the use of this phrase. May I enlist your assistance, Constant Reader? We just need a suitable slogan and tee shirts, donchathink? Perhaps a banner and a flag – Argh!
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