Show TAI TAKE E MY WORD FOR IT By Frank Colby During recent months American American Amer Amer- American ican writers have been seized with a new madness which manifests itself in using the word nostalgic on every possible occasion as a nostalgic song a nostalgic book a nostalgic poem Writers apparently are using the word in the meaning yearning yearning yearning yearn ing for or reminiscent of the hood good old days or bygone times But the word doesn't mean that Nostalgic is an adjective meaning meaning mean mean- ing inS homesick and nothing g more Nostalgic is derived from nostalgia nostalgia no no- homesickness especially especial especial- ly by homesickness in its severe sever e forms producing derangement of mental and physical New New Century Nostalgia Nostalgic is from the Greek a return re return return re- re turn home plus algia algi a. a pain Life magazine has just discovered discovered ered Bred the word and is as delighted d with it as a child with its first firs t hunk of bubble gum In it its s editorial of October 25 1948 Life uses the adjective nostalgic c as a noun ten times The first firs t sentence is typical II Why is it asked the nostalgic that the new popular music isn't any good The editorial speaks of war as breeding nostalgia for old tunes adding remember remember remember ber them with nostalgia too Its It's really very pretty if one can figure out what Life thinks nostalgic and nostalgia mean What is a nostalgic A man who likes the old songs Absurd What is nostalgia Pleasant thoughts of old tunes Non Non- sense The Homers on Lifes Life's staff not wily only nod they also frequently fall flat on their faces |