Why the word 'empower' is beginning to choke

• How to say no, the pending subject... of almost everyone

• How to hang up the phone (instead of dying of boredom to the receiver)

Although it has not been invented in this decade -we can trace its Anglo-Saxon origin back to the 19th century ('empowerment'), and its current meaning was fixed in the 1980s-, the truth is that the word

seems newly released, given the enthusiasm with which he

today.

Because of being completely

from speech just a decade ago, today empowerment and all its derivatives are even in the soup (in the soup and in the RAE, which in 2014 added the aforementioned 'empowerment' as a second meaning).

To begin with, in the

that wants to be

, meaning what its coiners, the activists and researchers of the

at the World Conference on Women in Nairobi in 1985: a

by which women gain

of the

of a given area, whether these are material or symbolic, and in this process

their own

and their

.

But beware, it is easy to believe that the 'abuse of empowerment' is produced today fundamentally by appropriation and massive exploitation of the term by the left (which would have its logic, since the feminist discourse of the 80s emerged from that political sector , not precisely from conservatism).

But... the world has changed a lot a lot in this last decade.

So much so that a bank tells us that "we help people to prosper and enjoy the benefits of growth by

(by the way, that would be 'empowering' them, not 'empowering them', blatant leism).

the

Unsurprisingly, he is no stranger to empowerment fever -'Towards the safe empowerment of health', an insurer announces.

And in politics, the same.

said

last January: "That which they speak now of the empowerment of women that seems to have been invented by the Spanish left, that was already here [in medieval Castile]".

The thing about the Spanish left is for

of course, the party that not only dusted off the word for the political patio, but also made it shine (shine, yes, in the plural) from rubbing it so much.

Already in 2014, the press echoed that 'empowerment' was the key word in Pablo Iglesias's speech and the then party of him.

The mattress that empowers: give me three

If we can all

ourselves regardless of the party we vote for, we can also do it, and here is the tremendous thing, through our

Because since marketing has discovered the popularity of empowerment, there has been an abuse of the term that would make one laugh if it weren't for the fact that it can end up trivializing and even obscuring its meaning.

An example, up front: "Why choose the xxx memory foam mattress? (...) we believe that people are at their best when they sleep well. Our mission is

The way we challenge the status quo is by making our xxx extremely comfortable, best priced, beautifully designed, and eco-friendly." Speechless lets me a mattress is going to empower me (aside from the fact that the verb has become transitive, not insignificant novelty).

The writer

author of 'Rich Style, Poor Style' (Debate) where he broths, with graceful elegance, some of the deficits and excesses that we journalists commit in our day to day grammar, tells Yo Dona that it is not This translation of empowerment-'empowerment' is surprising, if we take into account that "it seems that very soon they were terms that were incorporated into the business world: an 'empowered' employee is one who is given resources, authority, motivations, responsibilities, etc. to make it more efficient in its work. So you can see that they are not foreign terms to the neoliberal jargon. That is why they have become popular in the field of consumption".

And of the company.

Because you can even take your word for it in office, like

Responsible for

of the We-Vibe brand.

At this point, we discover that a

can also

"Empowerment and security, among the psychological benefits of having a pet", we read in a press release sent by CEAC.

And if you don't have room for the dog, but you still want empowering at all costs, you can achieve it with

: "The (...) toughest in our repertoire.

Without so much rudeness, a

offers you to let yourself go every morning "by the pleasant sensation of the aroma of geranium essential oil on your face. A

that

you,

and it makes you connect with your femininity". Then, already feminine to the max, and if you're already an age, you can wear

that, according to its manufacturer, "empower women over 50".

Semantic degradation: the sad fate of a 'cool' term

"It's not a surprise," says Luis Magrinyà, "the

appropriates everything, especially

that for one reason or another not only become

but also give

. Empower and derivatives indicated who said them that it was a informed, up-to-date, innovative and also committed person. The trait of

once

a

or a

that empowers, is the one that ends up being the most

because in fact it has not disappeared of meaning but is retained as a claim".

And he clarifies: "It is a variety of what in

is called, somewhat dramatically,

It is not that here there is a degradation of a previously neutral or positive meaning to become negative, but simply that

I mean, I really had it before;

in the cases you mention, he now has him neutralized and actually disempowered, and, yes, it's kind of a joke."

The

of the word 'empower' does not end, in any case, in the

more or less successful

Its power and sound have made the verb even begin to

from its

leaving behind exotic headlines such as 'Apple lowers its sales while Xiaomi enhances its image';

'Generation Z "empowers the mind" through nuts in this new campaign';

'Unlocking the power of computing: how the Edge empowers any industry anywhere', or, my favourite, because it includes the words of a former director of the RAE itself, Darío Villanueva: "There is an empowerment of ignorance and stupidity" .

I'm marrying the latter, come on.

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