The Words of the Week - Nov. 10

‘Snitch’

Snitch had a spike in lookups last week; we know why, but aren’t going to tell you, because we’re not … actually, it’s because we’re not sure why it spiked. One possible reason is that there were a number of news stories about the Hearst publishing company purportedly asking their employees to snitch on each other.

Hearst Magazines Reportedly Encouraging Employees to Snitch on Each Other’s ‘Hot-Button’ Social Media Posts
— The Messenger, 9 Nov. 2023

To snitch is to inform on another person, or tattle on them. One who snitches may be referred to as either a snitcher or a snitch (the latter is more common). The word has been used as a synonym for tattle and tattletale since the 18th century; the common idiom snitches get stitches is a recent addition to our lexicon, dating from the 1980s.

He said correction officers involved in clashes often strike agreements to “squash the incident,” while prisoners who consider reporting battles with other inmates are dissuaded by the jailhouse maxim that “snitches get stitches.”
— Susan Milligan, The New York Daily News, 21 Oct. 1986

‘Pundit’

Pundit also had a busy week, as the results from election day prompted many to weigh in on the merits (and lack thereof) of the pundits who had made recent predictions.

President Biden’s reelection campaign pushed back on political pundits after positive election results for Democrats on Tuesday and what it argued was a GOP debate Wednesday that boded well for Biden.
— Alex Gangitano, The Hill, 9 Nov. 2023

A pundit is “a person who gives opinions in an authoritative manner usually through the mass media.” The word came to English from India; it can be traced to the Hindi word pandit and the Sanskrit paṇḍita, meaning “learned.”

‘Daylight saving time’

Daylight saving time also had a busy week, as many people turned to the dictionary to see if this was still a thing that we were doing, and if so, what precisely it was.

Daylight saving time has ended for 2023, as the clocks for millions of Americans “fell back” on Sunday, moving back an hour to create more daylight in the mornings.
— Emily DeLetter, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2023

Daylight saving time is time usually one hour ahead of standard time. In the United States this is currently set for the second Sunday in March (when clocks move forward an hour) and then ends on the first Sunday in November (meaning clocks are moved back an hour earlier). The U.S., along with a number of other countries, adopted this general practice during the First World War, although it had been suggested as far back as 1784 (in a somewhat humorous essay by Benjamin Franklin). In case you are worried about whether it is daylight saving or savings you can relax, as there are many variant forms, including daylight saving, daylight savings, daylight savings time, and daylight time.

‘Censure’

Censure was also in the news a considerable amount after a Democratic member of Congress was censured.

House votes to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib over comments about Israel
— (headline) The Washington Post, 7 Nov. 2023

Censure often carries with it the meaning of official disapproval: the word may be defined as “a judgment involving condemnation,” “the act of blaming or condemning sternly,” or “an official reprimand.” And although it is similar in spelling and pronunciation to censor the two words are distinct in meaning: to censor is to remove, block, or interfere with the communication of another.

Words Worth Knowing: ‘Deipnosophist’

This week’s word worth knowing is deipnosophist, defined as “a person skilled in table talk.” There are a lot of holiday dinners coming up, and if you aren’t very good at table talk it may come in handy to know this word, so that you can at least talk about something.