Copying other people’s mistakes can lead to ground-breaking innovations and even aid the human ability to adapt, research shows[1]. Even animals and birds acquire some of their vital life skills and knowledge through low-cost copying. That’s because the individuals we tend to copy are typically top performers in their field, so we automatically skip the time-consuming trial and error stage.
Copying is such a huge part of today’s society that we had to draw a list of the top 5 hottest copy trends that shaped 2018 and we expect to see in 2019.
1: Second-hand speeches from the first lady
Remember the unveiling[2] of Melania Trump’s ‘Be Best’ plan back in May 2018? If you thought the ‘Be Best’ slogan sounded familiar, it’s probably because you were thinking of Michelle Obama’s ‘Be Better[3]’ response to Oprah Winfrey’s question at a White House Summit back in 2016. And that’s not the only issue eagle-eyed critics noticed in the grand plan – the companion pamphlet appeared to be copied almost in its entirety from the one the Federal Trade Commission released in 2014, when Obama was running the show. What’s worse, this wasn’t the first time the first lady came under fire for alleged plagiarism. At the Republican National Convention in 2016, FLOTUS borrowed a sizeable portion of her speech from one delivered by Michelle Obama in 2008 too.
2. Food-inspired baby names
Choosing a name for a new baby is tough, so it’s not surprising that in 2018 parents have turned to favourite foods as the main source[4] of namespiration. Topping this year’s most popular name options for girls are Saffron, Clementine, Honey, Brie, Cherry and Ginger – closely followed by gems like Plum, Coco and Peaches. When it comes to boy names,
