I hate the word Ephemera

I just hate the way it sounds, hate spelling it, hate it completely......To me it sounds PRETENTIOUS. I

I would much prefer packs of E%&^$#^ to be called embellishment packs or accessories pack.

I even hate the original definition. ": things that are important or useful for only a short time : items that were not meant to have lasting value" I know that now it means paper items that are collectable but I still hate it.


Sorry.....VENT OVER....I am sorry if I offended anyone but it has been driving me nuts......Is there a term you hate?

I've always thought ephemera evokes the throwaway essence of scrapbooking. We work with so many wonderful scraps of beautiful things that actually have little value in themselves. But those scraps become treasured works of art in the hands of a scrapbook artist.

My pet peeve is embellie, but we discussed that earlier.

Sam, I've written a book here, but please don't take it as an Argument with a capital A. Your post made me really think about the topic, and I'm glad for it. As a bit of a word geek I find this sort of thing fascinating, and I like seeing both sides.

I like 'ephemera,' but I like five-dollar words in general (when used correctly). I enjoy it as a reference to the ephemeral (i.e., short-lived) nature of what we scrapbook - the experiences that become memories.

"Items not meant to have lasting value" ... does not necessarily imply these items have by definition no value. The modern usage (from about the 1930s) is that the original expectation for an item was a temporary existence, but the longer-term reality is that they're treasured to a certain extent by an individual, or by a certain group of people (e.g., collectors), like a baseball card, a greeting card that touched your heart, or a love letter (the latter is technically a manuscript and not ephemera, but you get the gist). Libraries collect ephemera to preserve as history (e.g., digitizing newspaper clippings).

It's all sort of like "hindsight is 20/20" - you might not expect an experience to have such long-lasting repercussions or meaning, but ultimately it does have an effect.

The term 'ephemera' in the immediate context is clearly an advertising tactic, and obviously the items they're selling have no real value, but they can be a supporting symbolic reference to the story and feelings that we're trying to express through scrapbooking. I like the term.

Carol, I like your point of view and how cleanly and simply you've expressed it!

Maybe we could just call them "eppys" in the same vein we use "embellies".
"Embellishment packs" or "accessories pack" are laborious to write, easy to misspell and don't roll off the tongue very smoothly.
More and more it seems English is a second language.
My new "philly" is; "Relax, everything will be OK."

Thanks for an excellent explanation Kara. I don't like saying the word because I say it so seldom that it never sounds right! But it is a useful word, now that I know what it really means.

I appreciate you taking the time to write out all this information - gives me some added insight to the meaning.

I like the word ephemera, but I like big words and I use it to refer to those things that I bring home from a trip that I plan to use in my scrapbooking: brochures, ticket stubs, foreign money, I have no idea whether that fits the original meaning or not, but that's how I use it.

I prefer to refer to those packs from the manufacturers as die-cut packs, whether or not everything in them is an actual die-cut.

Sam, I get where you're coming from, but I love the word ephemera for all the same reasons as Stick so perfectly described.

And, on a completely unrelated note, the spelling of the word reminds me almost every time I see or use it, of a girl I used to work with. She was well-known in the company for getting her words wrong, and one of my favourites was when she opened her new diary and said "eppy-fanny? What's eppy-fanny?" Of course it was Epiphany, and that's passed into the family vocabulary and the family joke vault now.

I find it ironic and quite delightful that ephemera is now being immortalised. What a charming oxymoron.

• RedSquirrel UK Said:

Fantastic point, I love it!!!!

I've never used this word!! Lol.

Not a clue as to pronunciation.

Think I will just call it "cool stuff".

I have been using that word since the 80s I used to sell "That stuff" at antique shows & by mail. My mom had an antique store. WE sold all of it from old magazines, sheet music, antique post cards, old valentines, old greeting cards, old books, antique photos, old holiday decorations that were paper, cookbooks, you name it lol
I use the word embellie & pic because usually my posts are very long so I am abbreviating them to make my posts shorter I respect your right to hate the words lol

Interesting discussion.

"Stick" beautifully expressed my own feelings. I would add that, when my father-in-law passed away I had the task of cleaning out his house. Talk about ephemera! So much ephemera! The word "ephemera" converys the transitory nature of all this flotsam and jetsam of life. They are things that normally have no value to anyone. But, with the passage of time, and association with loved ones, the connection with life experience, and the historical perspective these items take on more meaning and importance to some people, and especially to us scrapbookers who can safeguard the meaning behind such items.

As for packs of die cuts and the like being labeled "ephemera", I suppose to be accurate they should be given another name.

• Puddin Head Said:

that is totally my point. Ephemera is your stuff, stuff that means something to you.....not a per-packaged amount of STUFF that a company decides on.

I can't remember how to spell it... therefore I hate it.

I think it sounds like some kind of medical condition.

• AmyWho Said:

My Mom says it sounds like a medicine for a yeast infection....LOL

LOL!!

lol

I use ephemera on my pages or try to, but I too am referring to items that I have saved. If I have a pack of embellishments to use, well then that's an 'embellishment' if speaking and an sometimes an 'embellie' if typing.

Ggeeeeee. PPilgrim.....I was not giving anyone a hard time for using the word. I just find it pretentious that manufacturers have CO-OPed the word. We did not save these items, they are sold to us so using this word is a marketing ploy.

BTW, I have a substantial vocabulary but I can still hate the word.

LOL I always hear "femoral" as in femoral artery when I hear Ephemera out loud)))

Ephemeral refers to things that live for only one day, such as a butterfly. Ephemeris is an astronomical term referring to the location of a celestial object on a particular day or moment in time.

As for as embellishments, they are typically used only one time and cannot be reused, only viewed. So you might see the connection there. Perhaps, the word "trivia" would be more to your liking.