How the elites lost their election
In the transition from one administration in Washington to another, some stocks rise and other stocks fall. That鈥檚 true on Wall Street, and for words and ideas as well: One can鈥檛 help noticing that elite has become a pejorative over the last while.
鈥淪ell and cut your losses!鈥� your broker might advise. (Alternatively, it might be a good time to buy cheap.) The outer space video game titled "Elite: Dangerous" (coming next year to PlayStation 4) doesn鈥檛 hesitate to use the e-word in its macho-sounding title. But 鈥渆lites鈥� seem to have become a favorite pi帽ata of headline writers of late: in , for instance (鈥� 鈥楩ake News鈥� Outrage Is All About Restoring Power To Elites鈥�) or (鈥淓lites Must Either Engage Populists or Lose to Them鈥�).聽
Remember when 鈥渆lite鈥� meant the 鈥渃r猫me de la cr猫me鈥� 鈥� and that was a good thing?
Elite, as a noun, came into English around 1400 to mean 鈥渁 person chosen,鈥� specifically a bishop-elect. Like elect, elite stems from a Latin word, eligere, 鈥渢o pick out, choose,鈥� according to the Oxford English Dictionary.聽
That word is related to another Latin term, legere, meaning 鈥渢o gather or select,鈥� according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. Quite a number of English words share that 鈥渓ect鈥� element 鈥� select and collect, for instance.
is rooted in the idea of 鈥減icking up on鈥� things, to use a rather modern locution. 鈥淲hen we were talking in the cafe, he let it slip that he鈥檚 just been laid off. Did you pick up on that?鈥澛�
Intelligence also involves discerning distinctions between things: 鈥渁n intelligent decision to go with the new software rather than stick with what they have.鈥澛�
That 鈥渋ntel鈥� element was originally 鈥渋nter,鈥� 鈥渂etween,鈥� as in 鈥渋nternational.鈥�
Even turns out to be another part of this word clan. To neglect is 鈥渘ot to pick up,鈥� according to both the Online Etymology Dictionary and Oxford.
But back to our troubled 鈥渆lites.鈥� If they are the 鈥渃hosen ones,鈥� the big question is, 鈥淲ho is doing the choosing?鈥� Elites may be in the eye of the beholder, or the denigrator.
I recall first running across 鈥渆lite鈥� in the name of a dry cleaner in my childhood hometown. I can see it now, in my mind鈥檚 eye, on the paper wrapping the wire hangers: 鈥淓lite Cleaners,鈥� in swirly script, with an illustration of a woman in a formal ball gown, impossibly tall, slender, and elegant.聽
We might call elite an aspirational adjective. Or we might call it an opinion adjective, for which there is no objective standard and which cannot be disputed. That鈥檚 part of why it works as the name of a business like Elite Cleaners. (It may, however, have a particular definition in a specific context: 鈥淔or purposes of this study, an 鈥榚lite鈥� school is one where...鈥�)
and have a common Latin root. But 鈥渆lites鈥� are in a different spot from 鈥渆lected officials.鈥� It may be that 鈥渆lites鈥� are catching it just now because they really are 鈥渃hosen.鈥� It鈥檚 just that nobody voted for them.
