Published Jan. 4, 2004 in the Hibbing Daily Tribune
Each year brings new things – new events, new people and as one popular dictionary Web site points out, new words.
The last year was no exception. “yourDictionary.com,” an Internet company that provides proper spelling and grammar at the click of a mouse, recently released its top words, people and phrases of 2003. The list includes many recognizable entries.
The war in Iraq elevated many of the top words to fame. Included are “embedded,” “Shock-and-awe,” “Rush-to-War,” Saddam Hussein and his “spider-hole.”
These words are all examples of how the modern media influence our language. At a press conference before the war in Iraq, a Pentagon official announced the “embedded journalist” program. Henceforth, everyone in America was introduced to the word “embedded.” If the same official had used the term “schnooked,” we’d be saying “schnooked” right now.
A better example is the word “spider-hole,” the term used to describe Saddam’s living quarters during the last several weeks of his hideout. I never heard the term “spider-hole,” until the morning when officials announced Hussein’s capture. Some reporter out there decided to call it a “spider-hole” and from that moment on, everyone felt compelled to call his tiny hole in the dirt a spider-hole.
For journalists attempting to clarify the news, this seems a little bizarre. I’ve heard of “rat holes.” Rat hole would have been just as effective. There were both spiders and rats in Saddam’s hole. But I bet this was never discussed. Somebody was watching Fox News, MSNBC or what-have-you and heard “spider-hole.” After that, even if “spider-hole” is a confusing way to describe a rat hole, that’s what it was, by gosh.
That’s how we get our new words these days. Someone in the media starts using it and it’s spread across the land a million times faster than the traveling minstrels of the Middle Ages could spread their new words.
Take, for example, the new “youthspeak” words released by “yourDictionary.com.” Among them are “What up?” “Give it up” and “Hottie” – all staples of the mass media. My favorite was the new youth word “Poppins,” to describe things that were perfect in every way (just like Mary Poppins). I think it’s safe to say, though, that the moment I utter a word, it ceases to be cool.
The Web site also issued a list of the worst new product names of 2003. My favorite was “Poolife.” As the authors write: “Here is a name in need of a hyphen (it seems to already have a colon). Would you want to put a product with this moniker in water you occasionally gulp?” Another funny one was “Hywire,” a new fuel cell car from GM. It has two double meanings – danger (as in “high wire”) or mechanical failure (as in “haywire”).
The most used word in the English language, according to the Web site, is “OK.” I never knew the history of this word, but it turns out OK is really a joke from the 1830s used by Boston newspapers to mockingly say things were all right. They would say things were “oll korrekt” even though both words were misspelled. It took off from there, fueled by Martin Van Buren’s presidential nickname “Old Kinderhook.” It makes me wonder how we’ll use President Bush’s “W” (also on the list of new 2003 words) in the future. I guess that depends on your politics.
It remains to be seen how many of the new words will survive through 2004 and beyond, but in our mass media world, it’s easy to see how fast stupid stuff enters our vocabulary.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for The Daily Tribune.