Thread: Blurb pet peeves
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Old 12-05-2015, 07:47 AM   #23
gmw
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch View Post
My pet peeve is people using the word "blurb" when they mean "description." A blurb, traditionally, is not the damned description. It's a BLURB. A blurb is a comment or praise from some authority, whether it's Stephen King or the NYTimes' Book Review. Yes--before anyone jumps in--I know that the OED allows that "blurb" can be a short, eulogistic description by a publisher. Nonetheless, in the biz, historically, a blurb is not the description, (as in the description field on Amazon's website); it's the praise.

Offered solely FWIW.
I made the key word of your complaint bold: "historically". Dictionaries pick up a definition after the common use is demonstrated, so if it's in the OED (etc.) it's time to stop getting peeved and start getting used to it.
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