If you ask me, 2007 was the year that the term Best Friends Forever (BFF) was so over-used and inappropriately-used by the media that its meaning became trivialized and misunderstood.
A few memorable examples:
Hillary Clinton and Katie Couric were labeled BFFs on the basis of posing for a photograph together at a fundraiser for children’s mental health. (See my earlier blog entry)
Onstar and General Motors were declared former BFFs because GM introduced Bluetooth to its line of cars
Parents who bought their children tickets to the Hannah Montana concert in Cincinnatti were called BFFs
A column headline by NY Times opinion columnist Gail Collins called presidential-candidate Rudy and his infamous friend Bernie BFFs
An unforgettable and over-played commercial for Cingular cell phones mocked the iconic term, showed a granny named Rose texting her BFF.
A Spongebob episode showed Spongebob and Patrick pledging to be BFFs
A quick peek on Amazon lists board books, craft books, and Holly Hobbie paperbacks--all named BFF---aimed at little girls as young as four-years-old!
Here are my suggestions for bringing restored meaning and legitimacy to the term in 2008:
- Don’t use BFF when you speak about inanimate objects or corporations [unless you are using proper acronyms for the Bhubaneswar Film Festival (BFF) or the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF)]
- Don’t inappropriately use the term BFF to convey exclusivity. You can actually have more than one BFF and many women do.
- Be careful using BFF with little girls. Little girls are more likely to have a best friend of the moment. As women age, their commitment to their BFFs becomes stronger.
- Little girls and big ones need to realize that most friendships aren’t always forever. Even a close friendship that feels like a BFF today is likely to be fleeting more often than not.
Everyone has a best friend during each stage of life but only a precious few have the same one. – Author unknown
May you find and nurture warm and close female friendships in 2008 and may some of them turn into long-lasting ones!
by Irene S. Levine, PhD