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Writer and editor Home > Blogs > Brain Droppings > Archives > 2008 > April > 04 > Entry
An important weather Event
As we were watching the TV news last night and heard the excited weathercaster declare, with wide-eyed, spaniel-like agitation, that our forecast included a “rain event,” I wondered:
When did we start to define nearly any commonplace happening as an “event”? Didn’t the word used to suggest something special? As in, “The inauguration of the new president every four years is a noteworthy ceremonial event.” Sure, depends on the president, I know, but you see what I mean.
For some time now, however, I have sensed the slow, steady and definitely unfortunate creepage of event devaluation. I trace it back to the old WB Network, which I recall advertising the impending broadcast of two regular programs on atypical evenings to be “an event.” As in, “Don’t miss the special two-hour Buffy-Angel Event!” Well, all right, just because it worked doesn’t mean that now I have to schedule my enjoyment of a spring shower, does it?
The WB nonsense, which is what it was, was at least a sort of gleeful hype-puffery that seemed to work in a breathless commercial context when promoting shows about good-looking teen vampires, and it got picked up as verbal gimmick by other networks. After a while even the WB cut it out, about the time they morphed in the CW. For what it’s worth, I have never heard HBO say that it is broadcasting an event, though reasonable people might argue that they, of all networks, could properly make the claim. They won’t.
That won’t stop the locals, though. Now, the deregulation and normalization of Event-hood has been scooped up by overwrought weather-ditherers who have too many minutes to fill and probably wouldn’t know how to properly swear if their cars broke down at rush hour on the Brooklyn Bridge, as my mother used to say when she was trying to make the younger me think twice about improper language; I mean, really — if a bit of gentle overnight rain is an event, even if it leaks into a few basements, then what the hell do you call a tornado?
Hmmmm… have you ever heard a local weathercaster scream? Some day, I’m guessing we will.
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