Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
For those of us who grew up watching the Apollo landings, "LEM" will probably always have that meaning.
I really see no need to make up silly words like that for the concept of disliking a book.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FatDog
The other genesis of "Lem" came from Veronica Belmont on the "Sword and Laser" podcast and YouTube show. They were reading "Solaris" by Stanislaw Lem and Veronica could just not get through it. "LEM" became a verb for a book you just stopped reading in the middle. I prefer "LEMming" for things that jump over a cliff or a book that is so awful you should toss it into the ocean.
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I think Harry's right about the word being silly. More to the point, using lemming in this way doesn't really work. Lemmings aren't animals that are thrown over a cliff; by reputation (although apparently not in real life), they are animals that mindlessly follow each other over a cliff. When we describe someone as a "lemming," we mean someone who is a mindless follower.
I mean, it's fine if someone on some podcast made a pun of sorts based on a book by Stanislaw Lem, but that hardly makes it a common term, and given the damage it does to existing uses of the word, it's not a useful addition to the language.