MERRIAM-WEBSTER SURELY NAILED “POLARIZATION” as its Word of the Year 2024. As noted, it “happens to be one idea that both sides of the political spectrum agree on. Search volume on Merriam-Webster.com throughout the year reflected the desire of Americans to better understand the complex state of affairs in our country and around the world.”
Geez, purist that I am, I’m a bit put off by the split infinitive.
As you may recognize, Merriam-Webster and the microprinted Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary are the official SimanaitisSays sources for definitions, origins, and usage. Recall that Oxford University Press recently had “brain rot” as its Word for 2024.
Polarization. M-W defines the word as “division into two sharply distinct opposites; especially, a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes.”
Balancing its definitional examples, M-W cites Fox News, MSNBC, and Forbes, which in itself deftly avoids polarization.
An Optical Origin. “Polarization, and the verb polarize,” M-W says, “date back to the early 1800s, when they first described light waves. That physical meaning of polarize—‘to cause to vibrate in a definite pattern’—led to the political and cultural meaning that helps define the world today.”
“The polar in polarization,” M-W also notes, “is from Latin polaris, which describes the Earth’s poles. Polaris is also a name for the North Star.”
Totality, Another Contender. M-W recounts, “In April, the moon generated astronomical excitement when it passed in front of the sun and cast a narrow shadow across 13 U.S. states, briefly turning day into night. The allure of experiencing totality, ‘the phase of an eclipse during which it is total; the state of total eclipse,’ inspired much travel and commentary, and introduced many to a less common meaning of a word that rarely piques interest.”
It also resonated (see below) with the SiriusXM “Radio Classics” rebroadcast of “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” first heard on October 5, 1947. This is an interesting time-shift rendition to the “modern” era, i.e., immediate post-WWII.
Back in 528 the Connecticut Yankee avoids burning at the stake by recalling that a total eclipse occurred at noon June 21 of that year. “Hey there, King Arthur,” he says, “I’ll cook up the worst disaster since Noah’s Flood!” All in good fun.
Demure. M-W’s word “demure” made the Oxford list as well. M-W notes, “In August, TikToker Jools Lebron posted the first of a series of videos with a catchphrase that went viral. ‘You see how I do my makeup for work?’ she asked. ‘Very demure, very mindful.’ ”
“In its earliest use in the 14th century,” M-W continues, “demure described people who avoid drawing attention to themselves. Since then, it has also come to describe those whose shyness is a bit of an act.”
Fortnight. M-W says, “Taylor Swift’s song ‘Fortnight’ yanked a primarily British word meaning ‘a period of 14 days; two weeks’ out of relative obscurity and into our frequent lookups. In use for more than 700 years, fortnight comes from the Old English term fēowertȳne niht, ‘fourteen nights.’ ”
Pander. M-W defines “pander” as “to say, do, or provide what someone wants or demands even though it is not proper, good, or reasonable.” Hmm. There’s a lot of pandering going on.
Resonate. M-W says “resonate” spiked in its lookups following the word’s being a fav on ChatGPT (along with explore, captivate, and tapestry).
Not to knock M-W’s (or Oxford’s) methodology, but having ChatGPT and TikTok as determinants of culture?? Perhaps I’m being less than hep, though I’m happy to accept Taylor Swift.
Allision. By contrast, there’s etymological curiosity in M-W’s last word on its 2024 list: News sources reported the container ship Dali hitting Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge as a “collision.” However, M-W notes, “Maritime publications mostly used allision instead. The difference is this: allision occurs when a ship runs into a stationary object, while collision, according to some traditional definitions, refers only to contact between two moving objects. (As recently as 2015 the New York Times Manual of Style and Usage insisted that ‘only two objects in motion can collide.’)” Apparently it’s because of the “co” in the word.
Now there’s a competition I’d like to see: ChatGPT and TikTok versus The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024