I’m starting to really dislike the word vintage. It just seems a tad overused – and I fully admit, I’m as much to blame as anyone else for this. There just doesn’t seem to be another good word for old, second-hand stuff that’s quite cool. But it’s starting to be devalued because it’s so bloody ubiquitous. A quick search on etsy with the keyword ‘vintage’ brings up 201,954 items! Over two hundred thousand vintage items? Really? Aren’t some of these just, well, old? Or not-new? Or new, but with 50s reproduction graphics? How do we sift through these gazillion vintage items?
A dictionary hunt brings up three definitions of vintage as an adjective; one, pertaining to wine, one “characterised by excellence, maturity, and enduring appeal; classic” and representing the high quality of a past time” and the third meaning old and out-dated. I’m just not sure vintage is the right word.
So I put my hands up here and admit that most of my Ladybird stuff is described as vintage. I’ve tried other wordings but nothing quite fits…old has negative connotations, second-hand is accurate but not necessarily appealing. I’m stumped. And still using the word vintage far more than is really, strictly necessary.
