Originally posted by §cooter
Ya know what AC, have you ever considered the true definition of a term is what the greater majority of it believe it to be, whether or not that coincides with it's actual definition?
Depends. Homosexual is more or less the primary meaning of the word "gay", in today's society. The primary relevant meaning anyway. The dictionary probably still holds "happy" as the primary one by definition. The etymology of "gay" as it was to gay as it is now, is quite clearly a logical progression.
"Emo" in terms of it's meaning today and all it's other similar terms (Emo kid, Emo's etc) were not created via evolution from it's origin. Going by the etymology of "emo", you can see why. What began with Fugazi, Rites of Spring and Jawbreaker as "emotional/emotive hardcore" (for obvious reasons; "hardcore" bands producing "emotional" music and lyrics, more so than other "hardcore" bands), has become anything from Taking Back Sunday to My Chemical Romance to Fall Out Boy in the eyes of many. Evolution of the term would have been continual change in what was there, resulting in an always prominent connection to the original flag-bearers of the "genre". When you listen to Taking Back Sunday, Saves the Day or such (today's "emo" bands), you don't think "Oh yeah, I can hear how the term ended up here from beginning at Fugazi". You think "Anybody have a gun handy?".
Some clever (ironically stupid) scene kid just decided to start smacking labels on every band and now we have the "emo" of today. I don't even think the labels such as "emotional hardcore" were even necessary and I think those who started that are to blame for the labelling trends of today. It's out of desperation and the need to classify. I don't see Fugazi etc as "emotional hardcore". I see them as rock bands, just rock bands with different sounds to a lot of other rock bands. I'm not doing them any discredit because I'm still noting the fact that they are unique (which people seem to forget). I just don't need to label things in hopes that I'll look impressive.
-AC