Hello, and welcome to the first Questions for a Language Ninja of 2015! May this year bring many and sundry language-related treats for web content-readers to enjoy, and for the Language Ninja to lightheartedly ridicule. Let’s get started!

Q: Which language trend would you like to see abandoned in 2015?

A: Without question, the Ninja would like the suffix “–ista” to be jettisoned from the popular English lexicon, permanently. Does the addition of “-ista” to a subject really cause anyone to think that the title is suddenly weighty or fabulously European? The Ninja is overdosing on cute.

Where on Earth did this get started, anyway?

It began so harmlessly. After all – “-ista” is used in Spanish/Italian/Portuguese as “-ist” is used in English, to describe a practitioner of a particular avocation, or the believer in a particular philosophy. Since the suffix was also applied to followers of aggressive left-wing ideologies (Zapatista; Sandinista), in English it was ultimately associated with political radicalization. Fair enough. Then came the 1990s [ominous drum roll here].

For some reason, popular interest in the style, fashion, and modeling industries reached its apex in the 1990s, when the term fashionista began its miserable journey throughout contemporary culture. It seems to have been coined by writer Stephen Fried, who used it a noun for everyone directly involved in the fashion industry. He apologizes for unleashing this virus in a 2013 Atlantic Monthly article, which the Ninja views as being un-subtly self congratulatory. The word has evolved in an irritating way, too. When it was originally unveiled, it referred to those who actually earned their livings performing fashion industry-related tasks. Now, any idiot who wears a sombrero paired with bedazzled lederhosen can deem himself a fashionista. Ugh.

Today, we have a glut of largely beauty and fashion-related terms unabashedly using the suffix, and every one of them is ridiculous. Beautista. Stylista. Hairista. Curlista. And – appallingly – T.J. Maxxinista. The Ninja is even noticing uses of the suffix that make no sense whatever, like Smartista. The Ninja suspects that the appropriation of the –ista suffix by beauty and fashion enthusiasts is largely to do with the fact that “-ista” has a feminine ring to the English-speaking ear. You are certainly less likely to hear the terms fashion-nik, or style-ologer.

The real reason the Ninja hates this trend is because it is something that is meant to connote authority beyond the level of mere “hobby,” but in reality saps the user of all authority due to its inherent twee-ness. Would you put your life and health in the hands of someone who called himself a Plastic Surgerista?

The Ninja gives a pass to the term “barista,” since it is a legitimate Italian word, meaning bartender or anyone who works at a coffee counter. However, the artisan coffee house industry, being the evil empire that it is, would have the world believe that the title “barista” is only bestowed upon someone who possesses a breathtaking level of skill – sort of like “architect” or “biochemist.” The Ninja wonders why people who work at Starbucks are allowed a title that earns them a modicum of respect above and beyond others in the food service industry. The Ninja would like to see Burger King employees given the honorific “Whopperista.”

The good news is that the use of “-ista” is on the wane. It reached its peak at the very end of the first decade of the 21^st century and began a mind-bendingly slow decline. Nevertheless, it’s still with us, and we must cope as best we can.

But please do not refer to the Ninja as a Languagista. Remember – she has swords.

Holly Troupe is a professional web content writer and an amateur everything else. She spends her days writing, eating, and looking for ways to incorporate the term “perfidy” into the urban vernacular.