I have a hard time with the use of the word “proverbial” as “very commonplace or popular.” Like in this entry on Brand New (one of my new favorites) about the new MSNBC logo.
It succeeds in doing so and forcing you to stop trying to think about what M S N B and C stand for, however, the continued uncapitalization of corporate and brand identity — further enunciated by the proverbial Web 2.0 logos — favors form over substance, and eventually all logos will be blobby, friendly, meaningless avatars of their original meaning.
What proverb would that be? (“Bettr™ late than nevr™”?) But I checked it out in the dictionary, and that’s meaning number 2.
It still pops out at me. In my presence, you better be referring to a proverb when you say proverbial.
