The Common Use of "Filter"

6/15/17
Thursday
Early Morning
Serene

There is a certain use of the word filter that must have been introduced to our vocabulary in the very recent past. Clarendon, Gingham, Moon, Lark, Reyes–these are just a few examples of what we call a filter. We use filters to alter the color or contrast of a photograph we have taken, and thus we can evoke a certain aesthetic or feel from a picture when we post it on social media. This is a relatively recent invention.

The original use of the noun filter is straightforward:  an object that filters. We of course define the verb to filter as to remove excess or unwanted material, to purify. This modern sense of filter as an additional aesthetic change to a photograph is influenced from the noun form of filter. We attach a filter to an object to add a filtering capability to a device. We add a coffee filter to a coffee maker so we don't have grounds in our coffee. We add water filters to sinks so we can drink clean water straight from the tap. In the same sense, we add Snapchat filters to our pictures so we can have a nicer looking image–a cute dog overlay, for instance.

Nevertheless, there is a sense in which the adoption of the word filter to this modern meaning is precisely opposite. To filter means to remove excess. However, a Snapchat filter (or Instagram filter, etc.) adds vanity, adds extra fluff to an image before sending it. These are precise antonyms:  a removal versus an addition.

Perhaps we should use a more technically informed word for the concept of filter. Perhaps "alteration" or "enhancement"?


Note: above, italics are used to indicate reference to the usage of the word, not the meaning of the word