Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/04/22/netflix-drops-trailer-for-2018.html
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AOC is kicking asses and taking names, I like that!
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Sweet!
Also, when I initially read “Netflix drops” I was a little angry at Netflix for deciding not to air this documentary. Clicked through and realized the term has expanded from its use in music. No criticism, just an interesting linguistic evolution in our living use of the English language. 
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I was a little confused too by the reversal of the meaning of the phrase ‘drops’. I must be getting old.
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It happens to the best of us.
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Will there be gum for all?
This use of “drops” leads to confusion when places like CNN inevitably use it in a chyron like “Mueller drops indictment of Russians”
Yes language evolves, but evolution often hits dead ends that serve no purpose or are harmful. Having a word evolve to mean its exact opposite is probably one of those times, especially when context doesn’t help immediately (when “literally” changed to mean “figuratively” it was pretty easy to tell what was really meant)
If I were in charge of any media, I’d mitigate the confusion by avoiding this term in headlines…but then, maybe it adds to clicks from confused people wondering about some kind of controversy (what? they dropped the pilot episode?! But I was waiting for that show!)
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That is a pretty sick analysis.
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I think this might be the only context where it’s actually confusing. If it was a new album by a musician I’d know exactly what “drops” meant. If it’s criminal charges or a lead actor accused of sexual harassment I’d know what “drops” meant. But when the “drops” as in “releases” bleeds over from music to Netflix (which might also have a headline, “Netflix drops Fuller House because of Lori Loughlin arrest”) it does feel like, as you say, an evolutionary dead end.
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There’s slang…
http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/drop
there’s fashion / trendiness / trying to sound hip…
and this crossover from one industry’s terminology to a different sphere or industry…
Meanwhile, back at the the good ol’ beleaguered Oxford English Dictionary, work continues apace for the benefit of English learners worldwide:
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/drop_1
And here’s an American English dictionary, trying to do a bit of heavy lifting on this seemingly simple four-letter word:
I would love to see the bOING staffers who curate and post here to remember at all times that the first part of the term “The World Wide Web” is in fact The World which has quite a few non-native English speakers.
I am not going to @ Gina or Cory or the rest of the crew, but hope for the best (that they read their comments threads), and respectfully request this please:
Avoid pretension.
Make clarity one of your primary goals.
When you post on this bbs, no matter what your [other] day gig[s], please remember that here you are all writers.
And we are your readers.
And monetized eyeballs and purchasers at the BB store etc. 
The web also has English-majors like me in it. Long have I wondered who’s to blame about how “bad optics” rather suddenly replaced the term “looks bad” or “the appearance of impropriety” in various news media. It’s as if PR flacks have become news reporters. 
https://www.yourdictionary.com/optics
/rant
/pedantry
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That gets me, too. One from a few years ago making the rounds in my world was “plus up,” as in we had to plus up some grants. Every time I heard it my inner pedant screamed, we already have a word for that! It’s “increase”! But I kept it to myself, considering the optics and all. 
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It used to be, not long ago, that a person could not “drop” an album, but an album would drop itself. Artists would say “my new album drops on the 21st” in a pseudo future-tense use. But websites started saying things like “Beyonce drops new album” and now Netflix can ‘drop’ things too. That’s where the confusion starts. We expect Beyonce to drop albums, but don’t expect Mueller to drop charges.
Netflix is somewhere in-between: they drop my favorite movies all the time! (In both senses of the word)
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What one drops, and where… such distinctions are so important.
And AOC is the only one in the documentary who won her campaign.
Yes, she is a winner.
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I don’t get premature victory laps
Without the senate for the federal judges or the presidency, the house is literally getting absolutely nothing done but spinning its wheels.
Even the investigative authority is being held up left and right by lawsuits and infighting
Or am I missing something, what are they actually changing in this country?
Ugh. The hallmark of ambitious middle management. Using neologisms to create an impression of deep comprehension of the future of _______ (insert industry name).
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Literally doesn’t ever mean “figuratively”, as clever as people think that analysis sounds. It is sometimes used as an intensity modifier, but that’s not the same thing.
