When lexicography is a political act
I鈥檓 sitting here trying to imagine on Twitter, and it鈥檚 not quite working. The great lexicographer and the social networking service would seem to be at opposite ends of the gravitas scale, for one thing.
For at least one set of Johnson鈥檚 intellectual heirs, though, the story is different.
Merriam-Webster has been making a (new) name for itself over the past year with a stream of tweets and online offerings that seem 鈥渞ipped from the headlines鈥� 鈥� because they are.聽
M-W has been posting a list of top five terms 鈥渢rending now,鈥� as measured by spikes in lookups in the company鈥檚 online dictionary.聽
Here they are, as I write:
鈥�Impugn, as in 鈥淭he senator has impugned the motives and conduct of our colleague.鈥� This is a reference to the silencing in the US Senate chamber of Elizabeth Warren (D) of Massachusetts.聽
M-W notes that impugn shares a Latin root, pugnare, 鈥渢o fight,鈥� with pugnacious and pugilism. Impugn means 鈥渢o oppose or attack as false or lacking integrity鈥� or to attack someone鈥檚 character. When there is impugning, it is often of 鈥渕otives,鈥� as here.
鈥�Bodega, 鈥渁 usually small grocery store in an urban area.鈥� This one spiked when Yemeni-owned bodegas in New York shut down to protest the new administration鈥檚 immigration ban. Who knew there were that many Yemeni-owned bodegas? And from a lexicographical perspective, who knew 鈥� a Spanish cousin of our English apothecary and the French import boutique 鈥� had broadened sufficiently in meaning to refer to any small urban grocery, not just one with a Latin accent?
鈥�Calamity, 鈥渁n event that causes great harm and suffering.鈥� Lookups spiked after John Dean used the term to predict how the current administration will end. A former White House counsel to Richard Nixon, he speaks with some credibility.
鈥�Betrayal. This is the of a verb meaning, among other things, 鈥渢o deliver to an enemy by treachery鈥� or 鈥渢o fail or desert especially in time of need.鈥� Lookups spiked after the the acting attorney general he fired for refusing to enforce his immigration ban had 鈥渂etrayed鈥� his administration.聽
鈥�, 鈥淎 person who manipulates or exerts excessive control over another.鈥� Svengali, an evil hypnotist, was a character in 鈥淭rilby,鈥� an 1894 novel by George Du Maurier. Lookups spiked after The New York Times expressed editorial concern that one of the president鈥檚 advisers is 鈥減ositioning himself not merely as a Svengali but as the de facto president.鈥澛�
Is Merriam-Webster out to 鈥済et鈥� the president, as only lexicographers could?
say yes. An NPR piece in January was headlined, 鈥淭he Merriam-Webster Dictionary Has Been Trump On Twitter For Months.鈥澛�
Exhibit A: A tweet, issued after the phrase 鈥�alternative facts鈥� entered the national vocabulary, reminding the public of the definition of 鈥渇act.鈥�
Facts matter, and so do words. Good for Merriam-Webster for continuing to remind us.
