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Jewish World Review
Jan 2, 2012/ 7 Teves, 5772
Pragmatic look at top words
By
Dale McFeatters
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Merriam-Webster recently announced that its top word of the year is “pragmatic.” Is it too punny of us to note that it was a logical choice?
The word was looked up so many times on the company’s online dictionary that publishers had no choice but to be, as the word is defined, practical, realistic, hardheaded, sensible, matter-of-fact or down-to-earth about the decision.
It is a word that we are so often asked to be, and so often by people who do it much too well, at times at the expense of compassion – Congress, CEOs and other authority figures, just to name a few.
But we’re not sure that this is the season to emphasize, as John Morse, president and publisher of the dictionary company told the Associated Press, “practicality over frivolity.”
For this is the time of year in which we are fanciful and sometimes foolish and whimsical and other words – also found in Merriam-Webster – that indicate we’ve reverted to childhood, at least for a time.
“Austerity” was 2010’s top word. In 2009, it was “admonish.” And, as you might recall, “bailout” was the big one for 2008. Sadly, other words making the top 10 list this year include some we’d rather not use in reference to ourselves or friends: ambivalence, insidious and vitriol.
We have other wordsmiths out there who designate words of the year. A good bet for the American Dialect Society is “occupy,” not so much because people need to look it up for a definition but because it is a word in the American consciousness. According to AP, the group’s annual choice refers to a word that “members consider widely used, demonstrably new or popular and reflects the year’s popular discourse.”
Which “occupy” does.
The Oxford English Dictionary, that bastion of all things proper, selected not one word but two: “squeezed middle.” It’s credited to a British politician and used to describe “the financial pinch” felt by Great Britain’s middle class.
Of course, that phrase could also refer to us, as we exercise our non-pragmatic season of celebration by consuming tidbits we deny ourselves the rest of the year and find ourselves with a “squeezed middle” come January.
Which will be soon enough, thank you very much, to start thinking pragmatically again.
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Previously:
• 12/22/11 Basketball the way to Kim's heart and nuclear weapons
• 12/21/11 Speculation and wishful thinking can get scary
• 12/20/11 A third Kim has North Korea by the throat
• 12/19/11 Congress pats itself on back for budget bill
• 12/15/11 The U.S. government is cashing in its chips, literally
• 12/14/11 TSA might try trusting its own people
• 12/12/11 That $1.2 billion? It's around here some place
• 12/09/11 State Department Creates ‘Virtual Embassy’ For Iran
• 12/08/11 If you've ever tweeted, you're in the Library of Congress
• 12/07/11 Discoveries go to the core of what makes us humans
• 12/06/11 Stealing elections badly in Russia
• 12/05/11 Sometimes paranoia is common sense by another name
• 12/02/11 When the U.S. truly became one nation
• 12/01/11 Last chance to snap up a Maybach
• 11/30/11 Iran wants respect without earning it
• 11/29/11 Surprise! ‘Spider-Man’ may weave a profitable web
• 11/28/11 Italians entertain novel proposition: Paying their taxes
• 11/25/11 No time to let up on al-Qaida
• 11/24/11 Congress Quietly Abolishing Friday
• 11/23/11 Cleaning up after supercommittee implosion
• 11/22/11 Jailing minors with adults adds to problems
• 11/21/11 Brilliant strategy? Action by inaction
• 11/18/11They're going to eat horses, aren't they?
• 11/17/11 A pretend stick shift for pretend drivers
• 11/16/11 Clinton's ‘vast experiences’: Did NBC pick the wrong Chelsea?
• 11/15/11 Occupy protesters, you've made your point. Now, scat
• 11/10/11 Our vets are a national problem?
• 11/09/11 Requiem for a once-great sport
• 11/08/11 A toilet as smart as its occupant
• 11/07/11 Prerevolutionary gems in need of TLC
• 11/04/11 Feds must stop scam of stealing from dead children
• 11/03/11 Bank listens ‘very closely’ to customer lynch mob
• 11/01/11 TV that's leading the people away from ‘core socialist values’
• 10/31/11 NATO should not be a victim of its success
• 10/28/11 Iran mulls getting rid of president and presidency
• 10/27/11 Bienvenidos a Dayton and bring your businesses with you
• 10/26/11 Archivists long for Obama's teleprompter
• 10/25/11 United Nations to run the Internet?
• 10/24/11 Attention, world: You've got the cash. We've got the houses
• 10/19/11 Oil pipeline must be in America's future
• 10/18/11 U.S. plans ‘limited’ mission in an Africa with no limits
• 10/17/11 Social Security's grave mistakes
• 10/12/11 NASA's help-wanted sign for astronauts
• 10/10/11 Saving Thomas Jefferson''s chimneys
• 10/06/11 Uncle Sam's answer to deadbeats --- robo-calls
• 10/04/11 Christie should ignore jibes on his weight
• 10/03/11 Iran says its warships will head for Jersey shore
• 09/29/11 Europeans bristle at Obama's lectures
• 09/28/11 Jessica Rabbit for the defense
• 09/27/11 Russia learns outcome of next March's presidential election
• 09/26/11 Another try at leaving no child behind
• 09/23/11 This generation needs a job more than a name
• 09/22/11 In the lane next to you: A driverless car
• 09/20/11 Cloudy, cool, chance of falling satellite
• 09/14/11 Humanitarian extortion
• 09/13/11 Paging Dr. Watson; he's there in 3 seconds
• 09/09/11 Forecasting 100 percent chance of heavy metal
• 09/08/11 A jobs program at Obama's doorstep
• 09/07/11 Iran's government afraid of the water
• 09/06/11 Congress returns, tanned, rested and testy
• 09/05/11 Space nations must clean up after themselves
• 09/02/11 Osama bin Laden died a failure and he knew it
• 09/01/11 Time to retire political pie in the face
• 08/31/11 Labor Day celebrates what, exactly?
• 08/30/11 These arrestees really are framed
• 08/25/11 When in an earthquake, block traffic
• 08/23/11 A case for discretion in deportation arrests
• 08/22/11 Tough times or not, parents shell out for school
• 08/18/11 Being unpleasant for fun, profit, promotion
• 08/17/11 Time to prepare for the end game in Libya
• 08/16/11: ‘Super Committee’ starts facing reality
• 08/15/11: World's fastest plane disappears even faster
• 08/12/11: British cops track rioters through security cameras
• 08/11/11: Relax. There is no Death Star
• 08/10/11: House pages run final errands
• 08/09/11: U.S. treading water on job creation
• 08/08/11: Uncle Sam, the world's permanent guest
• 08/05/11: Most 9/11 victims not on federal death records
• 08/04/11: Russian PM calls U.S. a ‘parasite.’ He should be so lucky
• 08/03/11: Congress goes from one bind to another
• 08/02/11: D.B. Cooper may no longer be a mystery
• 08/01/11: Libya's latest weapon against NATO --- lawsuits
• 07/29/11: He'll always be known as Hot Wheels Handler
• 07/25/11: Recruiting children to save a dying town
• 07/22/11: Bachmann's admirable medical candor
• 07/12/11: Social Security's grave mistakes
• 07/08/11: Debt crisis need not be constitutional crisis
• 07/07/11: Startups entice new talent with kickball, treehouses
• 07/05/11: Stranded tourists get rare treat
• 06/30/11: The dollar Americans refuse to spend
• 06/27/11: The hangman doesn't cometh
© 2011, SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
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