From our master grammarian and resident logophile, Angstrom Dickinson:
The Oxford English Dictionary recently announced its Word of the Year for 2017, "youthquake," and the aftershocks produced nothing more than confused shudders. Youthquake? From when/where did this choice come? Who is at fault for this? (#BaDumpBump)
The Oxford English Dictionary recently announced its Word of the Year for 2017, "youthquake," and the aftershocks produced nothing more than confused shudders. Youthquake? From when/where did this choice come? Who is at fault for this? (#BaDumpBump)
The dictionary claims that usage of the word increased fivefold times from 2016 to 2017, but leogophiles struggled to find uses of it throughout social media and the news from over the course of the past year.
Reaction to "youthquake" was tepid at best.
Reaction to "youthquake" was tepid at best.
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Interestingly enough, this is not the first time that "youthquake" has been selected as the Word of the Year.
In the mid-1800s, the Oxford Mississippi Dictionary of Southern English (OMDSE) proclaimed "youthquake" as the Word of the Year" for 1859.
At that time, many secessionists who wanted to break away from the Union immediately were known as "fire eaters." Senator John Breckenridge (R-KY) dismissed this group's fervor and called it "nothing more than a youthquake," a term from the 1830s coined by Maggie and Kate Fox, two sisters from upstate New York. The two had supposedly heard noises by spirit visitors and sparked a wave of spiritualism which swept the nation -- "like a youthquake," said the sisters.
Pictured below: Kate (left) and Maggie (right) Fox with their sister Leah (center). Kate and Maggie Fox are credited with coining the term "youthquake."
When the OMDSE crowned Senator Breckenridge's use of the word "youthquake" as the 1859 Word of the Year, many southerners balked at the choice and said that the honor should have gone to the more prevalent expression "fire eaters."
Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) wrote a poem about the OMDSE selection of "youthquake" as the Word of the Year (below on the left). His poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "Left in immortal Youth" (below on the right).
| By Emmett Lee Dickinson: Lift the abnormal Youthquake With that Word Play It hath some introspection Now Again – Word of the Year? Sequestered from Decay Brings on a Yawn When honored in this Way – | By Emily Dickinson: Left in immortal Youth On that low Plain That hath nor Retrospection Nor Again – Ransomed from years – Sequestered from Decay Canceled like Dawn In comprehensive Day – |
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