MyThis and MyThat — My, My, MY!

The advent of the computer, The Knack’s 1979 hit song (My Sharona), and Microsoft corporation could very well be responsible for the “my” generation. Or was it “My Generation” by the rock group The Who? Maybe Ronald Reagan? Free love of the 1960s and ‘70s? (We seem to blame everything bad on that!) Frank Sinatra, maybe?

“My”, in its newest form, is used as a prefix with no space after, and the word following has a capital letter at the beginning, i.e., MySpace. It seems to provide a heightened sense of ownership for the owner and cautions the non-owner to tread carefully into “MyTerritory”.

Or does it just show how selfish and self-centered we individuals are?

Here are a few examples of the MyWord syndrome:

• MyComputer. We can blame Microsoft for this one, not that it made computer use any easier — just more cute. Of course they didn’t stop at MyComputer, creating on your (or my) computer MyFiles, MyDocuments, MyMusic, MyPictures, and so on. To make it even more My-centric, the latest operating systems let an “administrator” set up various “users” who can have their own sets of MyFiles, MyPictures, etc. That way your computer can suffer from multiple personality disorder, eh? (As if viruses aren’t enough!) And just try to spell check a document with a lot of MyWords in it! (God help you if you use WordPerfect, another name with a mashed word!) Redlines all over the place! And, of course, you can always go to the Microsoft website and check out what they think you would like to buy in “MyMicrosoft”.
• MyMcDonalds. Jumping on the MyCrosoft (ha ha!) bandwagon is one of the biggest purveyors of cholesterol in the world. I get my weekly dose of MyFat by running (to burn off calories) to Mickey D’s (they used to hate that name; now they’ve embraced it) and consuming MyBigMac meal. Sure beats Burger King making it MyWay — or was that the song sung by Frank Sinatra?
• MyTorahPortion. This must be the origin of the My- syndrome. Almost every Bas Mitzvah student that I have observed during these services begins their sermon with this (or, if you put spaces in, these three) ominous word(s). Could it be that this sticks with the poor schmucks (like the aforementioned cholesterol) for the rest of their lives??

Oh my, we all are seemingly consumed by MyCorporate. Most of the My-creations (except for MyTorahPortion) seem to be commercially related. So many websites of commercial entities, like Verizon and Yahoo!, use the “My-“ prefix as a tool of marketing to supposedly give the websurfer (or customer, or client) more of a feeling of ownership and comfort when visiting. That doesn’t work with me; indeed, it personally results in MyDisComfort. (I wonder if The Knack can sing that?)

I’d rather all of that “ownership” be focused toward different things. What about MySociety, MyNeighborhood, MyFriends? And MyEnvironment, MyVillage, MyWorld? My- is a word or, in this case, a prefix that can close people off from reality and put them into MyFantasyLand.

Reality will some day catch up to all of the “My’s”. Hopefully, I’ll be in MyReality when that happens. Good luck, MyFriends!