Some might call us linguistic sadists
and it would be difficult to argue that point.
We take a perverse joy in torturing language,
as though trying to make it agree with what
we imagine it should do in our delusional world.
And I am willing (and quite able) to lay some
of the blame on social media, that bane
of modern existence that my generation
in its youth couldn’t even find in
the most forward-looking science fiction.
We crave likes, relish adding to our list
of followers even though those we count
may know nothing of us and would not
follow us across the street if we were not
front and center on their devices, keeping them
from doing other valuable things they
are constantly avoiding, liking at a click
although there is no other option so
it is an all or nothing choice and all is simple.
And if that were not enough, we have grown
so enamored of superlatives they have long since
lost any real meaning (hint: you cannot have
a hundred best friends, you can have one,
so pick carefully lest the 99 unfriend you
or worst-case haunt you by ghosting you.