WE USED TO HAVE SPECIAL WORDS: “MUGWUMPS,” for example, were politicos who needlessly wavered, a marvelously illustrative word. These days, the MAGAs have been less imaginative lexicographically: They’ve taken words with generally accepted meanings and perverted them to fit their ideology. Here are several that come to mind, along with definitions from that well-known source of incredibly Leftist views, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Liberal. Merriam-Webster describes the adjective “liberal” as, “of, relating to, or based on the liberal arts,” and, alas, archaic, as “of or befitting a man of free birth.” The noun “liberal” is “one who is open-minded or not strict in observance of orthodox, traditional, or established forms or ways.”
Surely this doesn’t sound demonic—unless it’s uttered with a MAGA certainty.
Progressive. M-W says “progressive” is “of, relating to, or characterized by progress, making use of or interested in new ideas, findings, or opportunities.”
As an example, I’m encouraged to hear Kamala Harris described as a progressive. But then I’m not a MAGA.
Radical. Ah, MAGAs say, this is one to tag on ’em! Right up there with Communist!
Curiously, M-W gets pretty far down its definitions before it curls any MAGA toes. First there’s “of, relating to, or proceeding from a root….” These include plants, linguistics, and mathematics.
A Mathematical Pause. By the way our old pal √, the square root sign, gives rise to an ideological joke: “Is a radical ever negative? Yes, among integers √4 can be -2 (because -2 x -2 = 4).” And if we want to get really mathematically radical, consider √-1 = i, the imaginary number that’s basis of the complex plane.
In the third bunch of M-W characterizations of “radical” comes “very different from the usual or traditional: EXTREME,” this latter, “going to great or exaggerated length.”
Ah, there’s something to get a MAGA stirred up.
But then there’s also the M-W comment immediately beneath this: “radical” as “slang: EXCELLENT, COOL.”
WOKE. Another MAGA anathema is “woke,” which used to be just the past tense or past participle of the verb “to wake.” (Not to insult MAGAs by suggesting they’re weak in matters grammatical.)
However, M-W nails it with “woke”: “Chiefly U.S. slang. ‘aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice.’ ”
Gee, I wonder if Ron DeSantis has banned Merriam-Webster from Florida libraries?
Or is he mollified by M-W’s second comment, “disapproving: politically liberal or progressive (as in manners of racial or social justice) especially in a way that is considered unreasonable or extreme.”
Patriot. Never ones to be unreasonable or extreme in racial or social justice (now you tell one), MAGAs have taken the perfectly honorable word “patriot” and transformed it into an image that many of us relate to Trump-encouraged madness at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Image from The New Yorker, January 17, 2021.
I am deeply offended when the word “patriot” is usurped by some MAGA camo dude toting an AR-15. My apologies to Patrick Henry, John McCain, and other real patriots.
Good Words Still Left. It’s comforting we still have “weird” and “creepy.” ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024