海角大神

There is such a thing as too much history, and we are having it.

That line floated up recently from the deep recesses of memory. It was an from a perhaps equally tumultuous time as today. I was just beginning to follow what our teachers called 鈥渃urrent events鈥� and to suspect that the grownups did not have it all figured out.聽

More recently, we had a week in which it seemed that the first sound out of the kitchen clock radio every morning was a recording of gunfire somewhere. Then came reports of a coup under way in Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdo臒an called for his supporters to take to the streets to protest. They did, in their legions.聽

We are at a moment when much of 鈥渢he news鈥� consists of public events, e.g., mass gatherings to protest, mourn, celebrate, and even, occasionally, to deliberate 鈥� if convention halls full of people in funny hats can be construed as 鈥渄eliberative bodies.鈥澛�

Coup is a short French word meaning 鈥渂low鈥� or 鈥渟trike鈥� or 鈥渟troke.鈥� traces it all the way back to the Greek kolaphos, 鈥渁 blow, buffet, punch, slap.鈥� In English, coup is almost always short for coup d鈥櫭﹖at. That phrase very literally means 鈥渂low of state鈥� or 鈥渟troke of the state,鈥� as the dictionary has it: 鈥淭echnically any sudden, decisive political act but popularly restricted to the overthrow of a government.鈥澛�

After the Turkish coup failed, Mr. Erdo臒an 鈥渕ade a brief public appearance amid a phalanx of heavily-armed bodyguards,鈥� as 谤别辫辞谤迟别诲.听

Phalanx is another Greek-derived word we鈥檙e seeing a lot of lately. At the convention in Cleveland, 鈥淸A] phalanx of cops on bikes wearing headlamps circled the central square next to the Soldiers and Sailors Monument.鈥� With a less technical usage, a headline said, 鈥淐NN hires phalanx of contributors to praise Donald Trump.鈥澛�

A phalanx is 鈥淎 large group of people, animals, or things often placed close together,鈥� according to 鈥檚 鈥渟imple definition.鈥� The dictionary notes that the word originally meant 鈥渓og鈥� but has come to refer either to a military formation 鈥� a group of soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder 鈥� or to a bone in a finger or toe.聽

The metaphor seems bidirectional: Bones of hands and feet work together like an effective military formation, and a group of soldiers works together like the fingers on a hand. have been much deployed lately keeping 鈥減ro鈥� and 鈥渁nti鈥� 补辫补谤迟.听

But aren鈥檛 protesters by definition 鈥渁nti鈥�? Not necessarily. Protest is rooted in Latin words meaning 鈥渨itnessing forth鈥� 鈥� from the same root as testimony. From about 1400, the word meant 鈥渁vowal, pledge, solemn declaration,鈥� according to . Only much later did it come to mean 鈥渟tatement of disapproval.鈥澛�

This may indeed be a time when we鈥檙e having too much history. But as the long hot summer wears on, I鈥檒l be giving some thought to the positive protests I can register.聽