Who Is Harm?

 

Who is Harm?

A friend of mine told his young son that they needed to move something “out of harm’s way.” With the wonderful curiosity of childhood, the boy asked: “Who is Harm?” He quite understandably defined harm as a person.

We’d say the word means something like “physical injury, hurt, damage,” to use Wiktionary’s definition.

Some words are more difficult to define, especially abstract concepts. Try telling your 4-year-old what love or art or poetry means.

If you asked me to define torque, I’d steer you to a dictionary. Or how about the word itch?

Also difficult to define are the definite and indefinite articles: the, an and a.

Same with fillers we use in speech, like um, like and you know. These words provide what linguists call structural cues.

Think for example of people you know who pepper their speech with like. That brings us to a related issue: the difference between a word’s definition (its “semantic meaning,” to be technical), versus its function in a sentence. We know that like means having similar qualities. (“He’s behaving like a thug.”) But how about its use in these sentences: “So I’m like, ‘No way’” and “It was like ten miles.”  A website offering writing tips for students says that like in contexts like these “Cushions an assertion, introduces direct speech or thoughts, or marks an approximation.” But defining like in these contexts isn’t easy.

In each case, a good communicator omits like and rewords the sentence if necessary.

Other tricky words to define are prepositions. Native English speakers can easily tell how to use to, on and by, but not when they should or why. Much of English depends on idiomatic usage. There’s no special reason for saying “Dinner’s on the table,” not “Dinner’s by the table.”

Dinner’s ready? Time for eat.

[300 words]

Thank You for Reading this Blog

 

Thank You for Reading this Blog

Thank you too for not smoking.

Sounds different from “Read this Blog” and “Don’t Smoke,” right? Why this shift from a command to what we could call “anticipatory” gratitude or compliance?

The act of thanking you for something you haven’t done yet relies on shrewd psychology. The psychologists have a term for it: presuppositional compliance. A Google search told me that this constitutes “thanking someone in advance for an action to make it socially awkward for them to refuse.”

A polite approach is less bossy than a direct command; we prefer to be thanked rather than being ordered around. Then there’s positive reinforcement, which heightens the chances of us obeying the rule. The rule is still there; despite our hotel room sign thanking us oh-so-politely in advance, we’ll still be liable for a $400 cleaning fee if we do smoke.

Consider anti-littering signs: “Thank you for not littering” is a step beyond “Don’t litter.” These two approaches reflect a shift in tone from what has been termed “authoritarian” to “nudging.”

The nudging messages are subtle in the way they elicit our response. Google again: “Human social contracts dictate that when someone treats us with respect (by saying ‘please’ or ‘thank you’), we feel a subconscious obligation to return the favor by cooperating.”

I encountered similarly manipulative wording on a recent Delta flight, delayed for two hours. We were told, “Thank you for your patience.” The gratitude was accompanied by repeated apologies. But this announcement could be termed “retroactive presuppositional compliance.” The unspoken message was, “If you weren’t patient, you should have been; that’s how polite people behave in these situations.” Unlike choosing not to litter or smoke, we had no option but to wait.

We’re done. But in parting let me thank you for celebrating National Chewing Gum Day today.

[300 Words]

I'm at a Loss for Words

 

I’m at a Loss for Words

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[0 words]

That's Nice

 

That’s Nice

Effective communication between us assumes we agree on the meaning of the words we’re using. At least two issues arise. One concerns the confusing use of slang that inverts a word’s meaning, a practice typical of teens and those in their twenties. The other is words whose meaning changes over time.

Take the word bad. We agree that it means “not good” or “harmful.” Yet its slang usage is the opposite and means “good,” “appealing,” etc., as in “That party was bad.”

Then there’s sick. That’s the reason you didn’t show up to work. In slang the meaning becomes “awesome,” “impressive,” etc. Example: “Your presentation was sick.”

Words with opposite meanings are called contronyms. But the slang meanings are likely to be short-lived; slang tends to have a short half-life.

English has a surprising number of what we could call established contronyms, words whose double meanings have endured. One example is cleave, meaning to “split” and to “hold together.” Another is: overlook, meaning to look over and to neglect to look at.

Then what of words that change their meaning over time? Girl, for example, used to refer to a child of either sex. Egregious once meant “remarkably good” or “eminent.” Today, it means “shockingly bad,” as ThoughtCo puts it.

The poster-child for a word whose meaning kept changing is nice. Michael Quinion, a lexicographer, says it has gone through more shifts in meaning than almost any other English word.

It entered English around 1300, meaning “foolish” or “ignorant.” Calling someone “nice” was an insult. Its meaning shifted in the 1600s to mean “dainty” or “fussy,” then “precise” or “careful.” It then slowly morphed into meaning “agreeable” or “delightful,” and eventually to “kind” or “pleasant,” the sense in which we use it today. Now you know.

Have a nice day.

[300 words]

 

Words of the Year, and then Some

 

Words of the Year, and then Some

I read this week that a good contender for the word of the year for 2026 is affordability, given how prices in the US and elsewhere continue to rise.

But what about past years?

Here are the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) selections, from 2016 until last year. As you read the list, you might want to ask yourself the two questions I did: “Do I know what each of these words mean?” And “Have I used any of them in a sentence this past week?”

• 2025: Rage-bait
• 2024: Brain rot
• 2023: Rizz
• 2022: Goblin mode
• 2021: Vax
• 2020: No single word chosen (acknowledged as an unprecedented year)
• 2019: Climate emergency
• 2018: Toxic
• 2017: Youthquake
• 2016: Post-truth””

How fleeting is fame. The forces propelling Goblin mode into prominence in 2022 apparently vanished. Same with Youthquake.

Toxic is still around, as is the idea of Climate emergency. But I’ve never heard anyone speak of Brain rot.

I looked up rizz, which is short for charisma. Ít’s “internet slang for charm, style, or romantic appeal.” (I might need that if I’m asked to describe myself in a job interview.)

Most of these words or phrases, which received the linguistic equivalent of an Oscar, were one-year wonders: waving to adoring fans one year but fading into oblivion the next.

If you want to go back farther, other has-beens await your attention. The OED started announcing their words of the year in 2004.

If you want to go back farther still, say 15,000 years, Inc.com reports that scientists have identified the 23 oldest words in English that have survived all these millennia. Among them are thou, I, mother, bark and black.

Here’s the study, reported in 2017: https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/science-says-these-23-words-are-oldest-in-world.html. That was the year of youthquake, a word that I’m confident won’t be around in 15,000 years.

[300 words]

The 2026 Word Cup: All You Need to Know in 300 Words

 

The 2026 Word Cup: All You Need to Know in 300 Words

This year’s Word Cup, featuring participation of a record 48 entries, is now at the half-way mark and has reached the Knockout Stage.

The 16 words remaining in the competition are:

1.     Aardvark

2.     Amok

3.     Baguette

4.     Flammable

5.     Haiku

6.     Hum

7.     Introspective

8.     Nasal

9.     Otorhinolaryngologist

10.  Pebble

11.  Plop

12.  Rhythm

13.  Stewardesses

14.  The

15.  Titanium

16.  Wobble

The Group Stage saw several surprises, including the elimination of Flummox, last year’s champion, by 28^th ranked Pebble – a first-time entry that nobody expected to advance to the Knockout Stage.

Another surprise was Otorhinolaryngologist (an ear, nose and throat doctor, or ENT, as its fans abbreviate the word), which beat Thinker in extra time. ENT proved to be surprisingly nimble and completely outplayed its opponent despite its length disadvantage.

Another favored word that didn’t make it past the Group Stage was Bookkeeper. Admired by its supporters for its unique OO-KK-EE spelling, this word was eliminated for using the F-word. It incurred a red card and was ousted from the tournament.

Sacrilegious couldn’t participate because of a spelling error; its visa spelled the word “sacriligious,” and US immigration officials denied it entry into the country because of the discrepancy. Fragile was forced to withdraw because of injury in its first-round match against Plop.

A highly anticipated upcoming match is between Rhythm and Stewardesses. Rhythm is one of the longest English words without a regular vowel and Stewardesses is the longest word that can be typed on a regular keyboard with only the left hand.

The remains the odds-on favorite, however, having won the Cup four times. It’s the most used word in English and that makes it a perennial favorite with the fans.

The final is scheduled for July 19, the same day as another, lesser-known, cup event.

 [300 words]

Picky, Picky, Picky

 

Picky, Picky, Picky

We’ll divide today’s blog into two kinds of problem: the imprecise use of words and advice that is plainly wrong.

Category 1: “In our hiring, we don’t discriminate against anyone.” Nonsense. The act of hiring by definition excludes people who aren’t qualified. If you’re hiring a butcher you discriminate against bakers and candlestick makers. What candidates should expect is unjustifiable or unwarranted discrimination.

Another overstatement: Maybe your church or some other organization proclaims that “everyone is welcome.” Everyone? How about a dozen neo-Nazis in full fascist regalia? Barely tolerated, perhaps, but certainly not welcome.

Then there are the idealistic young souls who may say: “I want a career where I can make a difference.” Good and well. But remember: Adolf Hitler made a difference. We presume the young person means a positive difference.

Category 2: Now consider the inherent inaccuracy in many English proverbs or words of advice. Example: “A watched pot never boils.” Really? Just wait.

How about “What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger”? Try telling that to someone who’s been diagnosed with Ebola and is at death’s door.

Then there’s this nonsense we hear at graduation ceremonies: “If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.” Anything? So if I just tried hard enough, I could become a champion sumo wrestler? Or a gold medal gymnast?

Yes, I’m being unfair, using these examples of speech whose intent people understand perfectly well. We know what’s intended when someone aspires to “make a difference.” We recognize too the wisdom embedded in proverbs or advice that isn’t intended to be understood literally.

The point is to think more carefully about our words. If I’m to err in my choice of words, I’d rather do so in the direction of more, not less, precision. Pickiness has its place.

[300 words]