Art Buchwald once said "You cant make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it" and in the new century this is a known truth. Our society has become so immune to media influence, we are no longer consciously aware of certain catchphrases uttered around us. In a sense, these common images and phrases become subliminal messages, resurfacing at the quirkiest of times as "original" ideas.

            I've seen this type of subliminal implantation in many of my friends. The creation of bizarre new words appears to be funny and unique, yet they are heartbroken to discover that their inventive cries have been spoken before. However, as different people are receptive to different things, these catch cries become idioms, and can, very specifically, only apply to a small group of peers.

            A boy in my grade started the small novelty phrase of "Nah, ten!", which, besides being occasionally annoying, was a rather eccentric and unexpected outburst. As it became increasingly familiar within their group, we all started to wonder what had caused the creation of his catchphrase. By coincidence, a few weeks ago I noticed a small visual joke in The Simpsons in which Troy McClure says to the press "Here's a little something for page one" as he kisses Selma, only to have the article appear on page ten. "Nah, ten!" Seems to fit, but was his phrase a direct response to that particular joke?

            While this sparked my curiosity, I still considered that it may have been a coincidence; until the phrase "Don't doggit" began to infest the speech of my friends and I. Created by the same person as "Nah, ten!", we dismissed it as his overactive imagination. But where of all places did I again find his inspiration? Crashed on the lounge watching The Simpsons. Slipped nonchalantly into Homer's speech he explains to Marge that "I'm not going to let my son dog it on the field!" Understandably this caught my attention, causing me to think about my original theory in more detail.

            While these seem to be isolated incidents, it is evident that many of the idioms and colloquial phrases present in modern society, particularly teenage culture, have originated from popular culture, usually from television shows and movies. Why are we so susceptible to these strange thought patterns? It seems only natural that a society reliant upon the expression of other people's ideas for entertainment would suffer from a lack of imagination, intentional or not.

            Even still, in a world filled with clichés, these phrases and words can be unwittingly plucked from the original imaginations of peers. One case I have witnessed involved a friend believing he had produced his own unique word, only to discover that it had been in use by my group for several months previously. While he had picked up this word from us, my friends most likely stole it from another source.

            This is not only evident in high school society, but also on several television shows. The one that sticks in my mind the best was a case on North Square. During the episode, the lawyers had to argue a difficult copyright case but weren't sure who in fact had the original rights to the song. Of course, the litigants both claimed rights to it. In a streak of brilliance, one of the lawyers walked into the court room carrying a tape player. After silencing the court he started to play the extract of the song both men had claimed the original rights to. In fact, it was a classical piece. The case was dismissed. Goes to prove that we borrow ideas thinking they're our own. 

            It is becoming increasingly difficult to manufacture original concepts now as many of the good quality concepts have already been explored in some form elsewhere, by another person. Have we reached the age where nothing is original anymore, or are we rapidly approaching it?