Burying a Buzzword: Is Anything Unprecedented?

by Jamie M. Roes

Unprecedented means “unknown”: we have never done this before. We do not know how to do this thing and we do not know the level of success that lies before us. It is an intimidating word. Sometimes, we like this feeling of the unknown; it’s why mystery novels are so popular. Reading a mystery novel does not impact the larger areas of your life though. In 1927, writer H.P. Lovecraft stated, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest fear is the fear of the unknown.” This phrase was eventually reduced to “the fear of the unknown” and it is a fear caused by a lack of information and a low tolerance for uncertainty. Uncertainty does not allow us to predict an outcome, which means we can not make a future plan.

​Just take one look at someone trying to navigate for the first time the chaotic one mile of roadway in New Jersey where Routes 42, 76, 676, and 55 all merge. The newbies have no idea if they’re driving to Center City Philadelphia, Trenton, or the Jersey shore until they’re many miles into the journey. Recently, one word has become so powerful that it can cause that emotional and mental spiral with ease: unprecedented. But, if history repeats itself, is anything truly unprecedented? Is a call to action to force this inappropriately and overused word into its retirement needed?

In 2020, pandemic was Dictionary.com’s Buzz Word of the Year. In an effort to describe what Covid-19 felt like, another word became overused and organically another buzz word was created: unprecedented. If you were brave (or foolish) enough to watch or read the news, you would hear “unprecedented times” repeatedly to describe how the world was unsuccessfully navigating through the pandemic. The tone was dismal rather than sober

Photo by Felicia Montenegro on Unsplash

This was a sad time in the world’s history but how could this be considered unprecedented when the media also continually referenced its similarities to The Spanish Flu of 1918? We had done this before. The National Library of Medicine published an article in February 2021 which highlighted the similarities of the global, social, political, and economic impacts of the Spanish Flu of 1918 and Covid-19. While nuances regarding how the epidemics differed from one another were discussed, the overarching umbrella had the same outcome: people were isolated, the world shut down, and far too many people died. How could this truly be an unprecedented time in history, especially when we are directly comparing it to another specific time in our history that was eerily similar?
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Since the world has slowly climbed out from the grip of Covid-19, media outlets cannot relinquish the power that “unprecedented” has over their viewers. According to psychologist Ema Tanovic, “Uncertainty can intensify how threatening a situation feels and significantly increases people’s discomfort”. But why does this matter? What value does causing fear and discomfort to its viewers offer to media outlets? The answer is simple: they tap into primal human fears in order to drive higher ratings. Uncertainty makes situations feel threatening and dangerous.  According to evolutionary psychology, humans have a strong impulse to pay attention to danger due to the awareness of dangers being important for survival throughout evolutionary history. There was a 43% spike in American consumers watching news coverage during Covid-19. In China that spike was 77%. People needed to know what was happening and how this centennial event was unfolding so that they could clearly understand the personal impacts Covid-19 would have on their lives. The viewers needed to understand the danger so they could plan for their survival. The irony is that the information was not always presented unbiased or in its entirety. The cycle of fear unfolded: the incident occurs, media outlets present it to viewers in a fear inducing or not entirely truthful way. Viewers become anxious because they are unsure how to navigate around the dangers. In an effort to plan for their survival, they attempt to find more information to gain clarity and understanding. They gather their information by watching the media outlets that they have been gathering their information from; therefore, the media outlets ratings increase right along with the viewers’ rate of anxiety. News media and other social outlets used their viewers’ fear of danger as a catalyst to get higher ratings. And it worked. 

If you were unsure about whether this hurricane was unprecedented or not, consider the amount of Floridians that did not evacuate. The TikTok sensation who earned his five minutes of fame, Lieutenant Dan, stayed in his boat in the Tampa Bay area for the entirety of the storm. One of the reasons for his decision? He had already survived Hurricane Helene. He wasn’t scared because it was not new.

So, now we hear and read about unprecedented hurricanes, such as Hurricane Milton that hit Florida in October 2024. Milton was considered an unprecedented hurricane because of how rapidly the storm intensified. Yet, Hurricane Wilma in 2005 and Hurricane Felix in 2007 both had higher rates for rapidness of intensification. Hurricane Milton was consistently referred to as “One of…”. One of the Strongest. One of the Fastest. One of the Most Powerful. But it was “one of” not “the one”; a very notable difference. Unquestionably, Hurricane Milton is a hurricane for the record books, but it didn’t write the book and yet it is still called unprecedented

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Most Americans are still recovering from the 2024 presidential election; an election where certain media outlets exhaustingly discussed the unprecedented actions of former President Trump, specifically his insistence that he lost the election of 2020 because it was rigged. It became unprecedented for a former president to not acknowledge and respect the outcome of an election. Unheard of. Except that former President Andrew Jackson did exactly the same thing. He boldly claimed the election was rigged and corrupt when he lost the 1824 election.

I don’t need to keep citing examples of unprecedented times that actually are not. I assure you that there are plenty and they are available with a quick Google search. The word unprecedented has been overused and inappropriately used to the point that we're desensitized to the word. It has run its life span and should be shelved among other obsolete words such as, "snowbrowdth" and "grumpish."

It may be a hard sell to get the lexicographers to take the word unprecedented into their dark lair of retired words, but it is necessary. I suggest we make an offering of sorts; let’s switch unprecedented for grumpish. Grumpish describes exactly how I feel when I see unprecedented being used. Until the lexicographers agree and the media outlets catch up with their viewers’ desires, what should we do when we see unprecedented being used? Check yourself; do not emotionally respond. Use logic and eliminate the risk of making a poor decision for yourself. And for the sake of your sanity, when you hear the word unprecedented, do yourself a favor and tell it to buzz off.

Photo by James Wainscoat on Unsplash