fad
a passing fashion
TRANSLATION
die Modeerscheinung
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Internet suffers from the hard sell - The overselling of all things internet is leaving consumers frustrated, cynical and wary, experts warn. Studies show that some people are already turning away from the web because they see it as just another FAD that isn't fashionable anymore.
(BBC News - 23 August, 2000)
(BBC News - 23 August, 2000)
Did you
know?
A fad is something that everyone is interested in for a short time; a fashion or craze.
The temporary craze for playing Trivial Pursuit (for instance) could be labelled a fad. Now, the bit of folk etymology that attaches to this word insists that fad comes from the initial letters of the phrase 'For A Day'. Like most neat folk etymologies, there is no truth in this.
The Oxford English Dictionary says that fad began life as a dialect word (from the midlands) and originally meant: 'a pet project, especially of social or political reform' and from this, more widely: 'any hobby or craze'.
American lexicographer Robert Hendrickson suggests that it comes from the same source as 'fiddle-faddle' which means anything trivial or trifling. Fad, he proposes, comes from the 'faddle' part of 'fiddle-faddle'. This may well be true, because fads tend not to be fashions or crazes for important things, but for the sort of small matters that are covered by this expression 'fiddle-faddle'.
adapted from Kel Richards
The temporary craze for playing Trivial Pursuit (for instance) could be labelled a fad. Now, the bit of folk etymology that attaches to this word insists that fad comes from the initial letters of the phrase 'For A Day'. Like most neat folk etymologies, there is no truth in this.
The Oxford English Dictionary says that fad began life as a dialect word (from the midlands) and originally meant: 'a pet project, especially of social or political reform' and from this, more widely: 'any hobby or craze'.
American lexicographer Robert Hendrickson suggests that it comes from the same source as 'fiddle-faddle' which means anything trivial or trifling. Fad, he proposes, comes from the 'faddle' part of 'fiddle-faddle'. This may well be true, because fads tend not to be fashions or crazes for important things, but for the sort of small matters that are covered by this expression 'fiddle-faddle'.
adapted from Kel Richards
