Regime Change

Here is something interesting, recent increased use of the word regime.

I am not sure exactly when it started, sometime in the last five years or so.  I suspect it started with what I would consider the Bush administration's best strength: naming things.  And the administration chose the phrase "regime change" to describe it's goal in Iraq.  Then that was ironic when people called for "regime change" here to get rid of Bush.  I am totally on board up to this point, but then it starts getting hokey.

People use the term regime to mean "time during which something happened."  That is not a Webster sanctioned meaning.  For example "Kathryn never went out to clubs back then, but that was during the boyfriend regime."  That is not really what regime means.  It has to do with government.  At furtrest stretch it means a system of something not exactly governmental.  It does not refer to the period of time during which someone cut your hair or your stint in a fraternity.

Glad we got a chance to clear that up.

Furthermore, I think this new (mis)use of the word is particularly ironic, because before regime referred to something stable and dependable, now it is used to refer to some kind of change.  Oh English language, I am so sorry for what we do to you.

Regime
Government.  Monarchy.
Dictating, Leading, Overpowering.
The next new thing.
Anti-establishment.