Existential Bloviation

   Broadcast pundits speak of "existential threats" but it's never clear how such a threat differs from any other kind of threat.
   Clearly, the term comes from the word "existence," but does this mean that such a threat has an existence all its own, or does it threaten the existence of some other person or thing?
   Or is simply a way of suggesting that an "existential" threat is more terrifying than an ordinary threat?
   The term began its existence in philosophy, where the term "existentialism" was used to describe the study of existence, and how a person or thing comes to know, accept or deal with his/her/its existence.
   On that basis, an "existential threat" would be one that is somehow aware of its existence, and therefore has a life of its own, independent of any other person or thing.
   But in the context of broadcaster punditry, it seems to have no purpose other than to emphasize that something is important. That, however, is only a guess, and many educated and literate people have scurried to their dictionaries for a definition, since they know what "existence" is, and are puzzled as to why the adjective "existential" should be applied to something that has no material existence of its own.
   They scurry to no avail.
   A background in linguistics doesn't help, since that academic specialty only documents what is, not necessarily what should be.
   An accomplished grammarian would be puzzled, since this academic field focuses on how people use their language, what rules there are, and how people should adhere to these rules.
   A philosopher would go bonkers, since the word as used in the world of punditry is contrary to its use among those who study existence and how we know we exist. If in fact we exist at all.
   In short, the adjective "existential" as used to modify the words threat or crisis, has no solid meaning at all, other than to imply that the modified term is somehow really, really big.
   But it's still not clear whether an "existential threat" endangers our existence, or whether it has an existence all its own. In which case, it threatens us not at all.
    As the king said to Anna, "Is a puzzlement."