LEND ME YOUR EAR: BUZZ WORDS ARE ONLY A SMALL DOT IN HISTORY

Ever wonder why an ordinary word suddenly becomes a buzz word? American Heritage defines the term as "A usually important-sounding word or phrase connected with a specialized field that is used primarily to impress laymen."

This fails to cover the ordinary words that qualify. Take "hot." A gourmet cook demonstrating his prowess over TV has announced that "hot" is the new buzz word in the food industry. New? The term was applied in my youth to everything from music and dancing to hot dogs, and in college I had a raincoat sporting a Hot Potato motif all over. Years later, "cool" tried competing with "hot," but the age-old word has survived and again qualifies everything from entertainment and sports to restaurant menus. Mexican and Cajun are in, and only cucumbers are "cool."

Take "experience." Until recently, this word denoted something that had happened to us or to others, whether by intention or forces beyond our control. At this writing, we note "experience" attaching itself to itself like Velcro. TV commercials offer a "chewing experience," be it gum, cold cereal, or digestive pills. Travel agents want to sell us a "southern cruising experience" when we are already deep in hot water. A psychiatrist on a talk show tells a patient she's having a "fantasy experience."

As everyone who isn't comatose must agree, President Clinton's favorite buzz word is "sacrifice." Additional favorites are "invest," meaning spend; "revenue," meaning taxes; and "contributions," another word for revenue or taxes.

Our new president also receives credit for popularizing "Bubba." He even approves Bubba as a nickname for himself. This choice tidbit has been published in a magazine called Slick Times. Currently, Bubba can refer to anything from a president to a toy, though to my knowledge no one has come up with a definition.

Buzz words now infesting Hollywood appeared in the Feb. 15 issue of The New Yorker. A Hollywood Lexicon, one of David Freeman's manifold projects, lists more than we need. Among those we can mention without tarnishing a family newspaper is "turnaround." This expression was once limited to the legal profession, but now describes a script that has been rejected by the studio that financed it. To those in the loop, "buff" is a verb used to "buff up" relationships through gossip columns. What this has to do with the more familiar phrase "in the buff" is left to the reader's imagination.

In the Feb. 8 issue of The New Yorker, we read that the advertising world now substitutes FAX for "facts." The fax machine, the writer avers, "has already changed the world and is reaching up to Heaven." The Israeli government's telephone company, Bezek, has set up a special line on which people can fax their secret requests to God. However, the vice president of the Fax Information Network of America warns participants that fax pirates could tap into their messages. The company is now looking into ways to secure these private prayers and pleas. They're called SAFE FAX.

"Power" as in "power of the press" has been with us for more years than we can count, but "power" and "empower" have begun buzzing around in new ways. A new product advertised over TV is named "Power Gel." Another is "Nutrition to empower puppies." On "Larry King Live," we learned of efforts to fight mail fraud." New York's Whitney Museum is presently devoted to art that signifies the demise of Western culture "through the power of multiculture." And the bombing of the World Trade Center was called a "power move."

It was a "power outage" that caused trouble with our last column. Words underlined for bold type were reduced to standard because of a glitch in an office computer. I feel duty-bound to point this out lest readers think I agree with all who believe underlining words is insulting. In a language column, clarity is essential.

As for the universal struggle for power, otherwise known as "power struggle," a Cape Central High senior of distinction says it all. Rene Robinson, to allay fears expressed in her presence for the future of our country, responded with an indifferent shrug, "An American president will be only a small dot in history."

Where does this leave the rest of us? How many angels can dance on the point of a pin?