First, we over-use the word icon, which is most often used in a religious connotation; however, that being said, it becomes hilarious to hear the news readers one-upping each other in their quest to find a new way to ascribe iconic status to dead entertainers.
One of the younger news readers enthusiastically reported on the iconization of these no-longer-living legends, a word that was probably created on the spot and made his former English teachers cringe. He then continued to discuss the iconography of the deceased entertainers, a word that actually refers to images of religious icons, but which he ascribed to the deceased individual's career accomplishments. His summation is that these iconoclasts have forever changed American culture, applying a word that is defined as a person who attacks and/or destroys sacred images (icons), the diametric opposite of what his mind defined the word to mean in his application of it.
Yes, language is dynamic, not static, and meanings ascribed to words back in the day often morph to fit new applications. It will be amusing to me to see how many other news readers jump on the "let's apply as many forms of the word icon as we can to make ourselves sound well-educated" bandwagon. We do have 3 funerals coming at us for 3 different entertainment icons who had the misfortune to die in rapid succession and step all over each other's PR, which does allow for adequate time to develop a serious iconology before their bankability diminishes, perhaps creating total iconostatis in the media!
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