The Words of the Week - May 26

‘Disaster’

The governor of Florida took to Twitter to announce he was running for president. The event was sufficiently error-ridden that many news outlets described it as a disaster.

Ron DeSantis Twitter Launch Was a Disaster
— (headline) National Review, 24 May 2023

DeSantis’ Twitter Campaign Launch Was a Glitch-Filled Disaster
— (headline) Rolling Stone, 24 May 2023

DeSantis’ Twitter launch disaster shows Musk’s platform isn’t ready for prime time
— (headline) CNN, 25 May 2023

The sense of disaster being applied to DeSantis’ event can be defined as “a complete or terrible failure.” However, the word had a somewhat different meaning when it came into English, in the 16th century: disaster initially meant “malevolent influence of a heavenly body” or “an unfavorable position of a planet or star.” The word can be traced to the Latin prefix dis- and the Latin astro, meaning “star.”

‘Fubar’

Fubar also trended in lookups last week. While this word is also often found used in the context of something going less well than was hoped, its appearance had nothing to do with politics: it is the name of a new television series, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

‘FUBAR’ Review: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Netflix Series Is Mediocre in Very Familiar Ways
— (headline) The Hollywood Reporter, 25 May 2023

We define fubar as “thoroughly confused, disordered, damaged or ruined.” The word is an acronym that came into use in the 1940s, as part of a burst of military slang that entered English during the Second World War. Our earliest citations indicate that it is an abbreviated form of Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition; most people think that it is likely that an earthier past participle than fouled, also beginning with F, served as the beginning of fubar.

Recent additions to the ever-changing lexicon of the armed services: Fubar: Fouled up beyond all recognition. Janfu: Joint Army-Navy foul-up. Jaafu: Joint Anglo-American foul-up.
— Newsweek, 7 Feb. 1944

The war is giving our language new words, eloquent and economical. Snafu, tarfu, fubar—for a long time these three words have expressed the positive, comparative, superlative of any situation ten million Americans have had to endure. Snafu—the usual mess; tarfu—worse; fubar—the ultimate hell of any situation.
— Harper’s Bazaar, Apr. 1945

‘Child Labor’

Child labor has been high in lookups the past few weeks, as a number of states have expressed interest in having more children in the workforce.

Lawmakers proposed loosening child labor laws in at least 10 states over the past two years, according to a report published last month by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
— Harm Venhuizen, AP News, 25 May 2023

We define child labor as “the employment of a child in a business or industry especially in violation of state or federal statutes prohibiting the employment of children under a specified age.” This definition is of necessity somewhat vague, as the precise age at which a worker is considered to be too young varies from state to state, and from country to country. The term itself has been in use since 1817.

‘Protocol’

Protocol was also looked up more than usual, following reports that a Florida parent who asked to have writing by Amanda Gorman banned at her child’s school had posted anti-Semitic content online.

In March of this year, Salinas shared a Facebook post entitled “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion,” which included a series of anti-Semitic tropes about an alleged Jewish conspiracy to control the world.
— Decca Muldowney & Kelly Weill, The Daily Beast, 24 May 2023

In its most common use protocol typically means “a system of rules that explain the correct conduct and procedures to be followed in formal situations.” The word’s application in the above citation, however, is somewhat fraught, as The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is a fraudulent document (purportedly detailing meetings between Freemasons and Jews, in which plans were made to take over the world) which has served as a pretext for anti-Semitism since it was first published in Russia in 1903.

Words Worth Knowing: ‘Desticate’

Our word worth knowing this week is desticate, defined by Henry Cockeram in his 1623 English Dictionarie as “to cry like a rat.” The word has been little used (if at all) outside of occasionally appearing in dictionaries. This just means that the word is fresh, and has not yet been overworked; perhaps you know someone whose actions merit being described with this word.