I think it’s supposed to like the en- in entrenched. To be trenched would be to be put in a trench but to be entrenched, well, that’s when you already got trenched. Now have been inside the trench. The tench is all around you and you’re stuck in a mire. So things get shittified, then they stay that way until they just get mired, I mean just completely covered, in shit. At that point they are enshittified. Trenched is a made up word, but so is enshittified. I guess Doctorow could have called it shitslapped or shatblasted or whatever.
I don’t like the word because it comes across like general whining about any and everything not being like the “good 'ol days” with a hint of immaturity. It’s a shame because I don’t think Doctrow meant for it to take off outside the context of his books where it has a very specific meaning. He’s also used the term “platform decay” which is I guess less fun.
Do most words convey anything? Honest semi-rhetorical question.
Shittification - Becoming shit
Enshittification - Becoming covered in shit
It’s Tomato/Potato which you prefer
It’s not very entergaging
