Category: Word Of The Year - The Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum

They Got Me Covered

1/25/2020

From our master grammarian and resident logophile, Angstrom Dickinson:

The meaning of some of Emmett Lee Dickinson's poems are quite apparent -- like "Because I could not stop for Debt" and "After Formal Feedings a great pain comes." Others are little more elusive if not downright vague. However, Dickinson was quite a visionary, so as time has marched on, the meanings of some of his more abstruse poems have emerged -- as is the case for "I am allowed to own a Body," the meaning of which came into greater focus earlier this month.

On January 3rd, the American Dialect Society (ADS) met and named "(my) pronouns" as the Word of the Year for 2019. They also selected "singular 'They'" as the Word of the Decade. Information is HERE.

From the ADS press release: "When a basic part of speech like the pronoun becomes a vital indicator of social trends, linguists pay attention,” said (Ben) Zimmer (chair of the American Dialect Society’s New Words Committee and language columnist for the Wall Street Journal). “The selection of “(my) pronouns” as Word of the Year speaks to how the personal expression of gender identity has become an increasing part of our shared discourse. That trend is also reflected in singular “they” being chosen as Word of the Decade, with a growing recognition of the use of they for those whose identities don’t conform to the binary of he and she.”

Pictured at the right: Ben Zimmer's twitter profile -- with his preferred pronouns highlighted, an example of the ADS's Word of the Year choice.

The ADS selections for the 2019 Word of the Year and the Word of the Decade have helped to shed light on the meaning of Dickinson's "I am allowed to own a Body" -- as we are now in a "new day" when one is allowed to own a body, a soul -- and a pronoun of choice.

Below on the left: Emmett Lee Dickinson's "I am allowed to own a Body." Below on the right: Emily Dickinson's "I am afraid to own a Body." Emily was inspired to write the poem after reading her third-cousin's poem.

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

I am allowed to own a Body –
I am allowed to own a Soul –
Pronoun – vicarious Property –
Possession, now optimal –

Single Debate – increased by plural
Upon a self-respecting They –
Done in a moment of Singularness
And Good, for a New Day.

By Emily Dickinson:

I am afraid to own a Body –
I am afraid to own a Soul –
Profound – precarious Property –
Possession, not optional –

Double Estate – entailed at pleasure
Upon an unsuspecting Heir –
Duke in a moment of Deathlessness
And God, for a Frontier.

For information on the ELD Museum's annual countdown of Words of the Year, click HERE.

Choice of Words

1/5/2019

From our resident logophile, Angstrom Dickinson:

The American Dialect Society chose “tender age shelters” as their Word of the Year (WotY) for 2018 last night thus bringing the annual Word of the Year season to a close. Information about the ADS vote is HERE.

The Word of the Year season opened in November when Collins Dictionary announced “single-use” as their word of the year. Other dictionaries followed suit with their announcements of these choices:

Dictionary.com

Cambridge Dictionary:

Nomophobia (a fear of being without your mobile phone)

Oxford English Dictionary:

Merriam-Webster:

Others posted words of the year lists too. Word guru Nancy Friedman published her picks HERE. The countdown from the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum of 2018’s Words of the Year is HERE. The ELD Museum chose “GUILTY” – the word most closely associated with the Trump administration and its corrupt cronies – as the Word of the Year. Our report includes other ways 2018 was rife with guilt.

Now that the WotY season is complete, logophiles turn their attention to 2019 to watch, study and listen to the words that will shape the year. We’re just five days in, and already some words are emerging as contenders for WotY status:

Acting (as in Acting AG, Acting Chief of Staff, Acting UN Ambassador, etc.)
Shutdown / Trump Shutdown
#ImpeachTheMF

Join us next December when we count down the words that will characterize the year. All the fun will happen HERE.

Below: The nominated words at the meeting of the American Dialect Society on January 4, 2019. The winners in each category are highlighted.

NOTE: In the "WTF Word of the Year" category, "deleted family unit" was added with a nomination from the floor, and it won the category.

Below: Here's how the vote went down:

Plogging Along

11/8/2018

From our master grammarian and resident logophile, Angstrom Dickinson:

The Word Prom is coming soon. It's scheduled for Friday, January 4, 2019.

What's the Word Prom, you ask? Click HERE for information (related to 2018's Word Prom); then click HERE for information related to the coming Prom in January of 2019.

And now that the Word Prom season is upon us, news was recently released about Collins cictionary's Word of the Year for 2018: "single-use." Click HERE to read all about it!

Starting on December 1, 2018, we will begin our annual Word of the Year Countdown, and we will announce our Word of the Year at 12:00 noon (EST) on Monday, December 31, 2018.

Information about our WotY countdown can be found HERE.

One other bit of WotY news: "Plogging" was included in Collins' list of possible contenders for their annual Word of the Year:

We believe that the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum site was the very first to introduce the concept of "plogging" on our site's plog (poetry blog). Even though we use the with an alternate meaning, we were both thrilled and honored to see our term on Collins' list.

Here was our first use of the word -- way back in May of 2013 (HERE) -- when were introduced our plog:

Hole to the Chief

1/11/2018

From our 19th century historian, Eudora Dickinson:

The ELD Museum’s Word of the Year Committee chose “Sad” as the Word of the Year for 2017, “not to spotlight any of Trump’s nasty and venomous attacks” (which he would often punctuate with “Sad.”), but because our country is in an "incredibly sad state of affairs.”

One of our saddest Word of the Year entries was “on many sides,” posted on December 29th. The post included the following:

When Donald Trump insulted entire ethnic and religious groups, I did not think he could go any lower. Then he mocked the disabled, and I thought he could go no lower. Then he insulted Gold Star families and war heroes, and I thought he could go no lower. Then he stepped off an Access Hollywood bus and admitted he was a sexual predator, and I thought he could go no lower. Then came the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Trump refused to denounce the KKK and the Nazis because there were "fine people" there -- and he condemned hate "on many sides" in response to the terror and violence of White Nationalists.

How low can Trump go? At this time in his presidency, we cannot answer that question. We just don't know. Sad.

Today, Trump sank even lower into his swamp: In a meeting with lawmakers in the Oval Office, Trump derided immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries. He called these countries “shithole countries” and wondered why we do not attract more immigrants from Norway.

Pictured above and below: Why would Trump prefer immigrants from Norway over those from Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations? Why, oh why? What could be the reason?

Today’s sickening incident is not the first time “shithole countries” has made the headlines. No, back in the 1800s, Drittereich Drümpf, a distant relative of Donald Trump’s, referred to a host of countries as “shithole countries." At that time even the Republican party censured his remarks.

More Information on Drittereich Drümpf is HERE, HERE and HERE.

Poet Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request) was incensed, and he wrote a short poem “The Shithole Countries – like the Others” (below on the left). His poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem “Between My Country – and the Others” (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

The Shithole Countries – like the Others –
Have Dignity –
But Morons – differentiate between us –
With Bigotry.

By Emily Dickinson:

Between My Country -- and the Others –
There is a Sea –
But Flowers – negotiate between us –
As Ministry.

I would like to know who was in the room with Trump when he made this racist comment. Did even ONE of them shout, "ENOUGH"? Or did they all laugh and nod their heads?

Happy Fake News Year

1/6/2018

From our master grammarian & resident logophile, Angstrom Dickinson:

2017 was a sad year.

This year, our dispirited and discouraging times are wholly characterized by the “Word of the Year” (WotY) selections by the various dictionaries and organizations, including one chosen by the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum (formerly above the coin-op Laundromat on Dickinson Boulevard in historic Washerst, PA, the birthplace of Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed at her request).

As a matter of fact, the depressing descent of our country over the past few years is completely evident in the recent WotY choices over time:

Dictionary-dot-com: From "identity" (2015) to "xenophobia" (2016) to "complicit" (2017)

Merriam-Webster: From "culture" (2014) to the suffix “-ism” (2015) to "surreal" (2016), to "feminism" (2017)

Collins Dictionary: From “binge watch” to “fake news” over the past few years

Oxford English Dictionary: From the tears-of-joy emoji in 2015 to "post-truth" (2016) to "youthquake" in 2017 (which left a lot of heads shaking)

American Dialect Society: From the singular use of the word “they” (2015) to "dumpster fire" (2016) to "fake news" (2017)

Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum: From “love” (remember “Love Wins”?) in 2015 to "divided" in 2016 to “sad” in 2017

"'Sad' is undeniably the most accurate word to exemplify 2017,” said Zada Sapworth, the Southwest Regional Relational Metrics Specialist and Response Planner for the American Psychological Association.

“‘Sad’ not only characterizes the pathetic state of affairs our country finds itself in,” said Sapworth, “but it aptly represents the alarming increase in the number of cases of depression brought on by Trump fatigue.”

Acute Trump Fatigue (ATF) is the latest disorder to be recognized by the World Health Organization, and its escalation around the world is shocking.

“The APA cannot keep up with the demand for Emergency Trump Fatigue Mobile Therapy Units,” said Sapworth. "Trump’s relentless attacks on facts as he tries to portray the truth as ‘fake news’ is as insidious as it is harmful."

Pictured at the right: Zada Sapworth, Southwest Regional Relational Metrics Specialist and Response Planner for the American Psychological Association.

Pictured below: One of the APA's thousands of Emergency Trump Fatigue Mobile Therapy Units being deployed across the country.

Trump’s unyielding attack on the truth was certainly on the minds of the members of the American Dialect Society when they chose “fake news” as their Word of the Year for 2017. The word emerged in the ADS’ vote for Word of the Year in 2016; however, a nefarious shift in how the word was used by Trump made it stand out even more in 2017.

“When President Trump latched on to fake news early in 2017,” said Ben Zimmer, chair of the American Dialect Society’s New Words Committee and language columnist for the Wall Street Journal, “he often used it as a rhetorical bludgeon to disparage any news report that he happened to disagree with. That obscured the earlier use of fake news for misinformation or disinformation spread online, as was seen on social media during the 2016 presidential campaign.”

Information from the ADS on their selection of “fake news” as 2017’s Word of the Year is HERE.

Pictured at the left: Ben Zimmer, chair of the American Dialect Society’s New Words Committee and language columnist for the Wall Street Journal

The ELD Museum has written about Trump and “fake news” in the past (HERE and HERE), and of course, it calls to mind Emmett Lee Dickinson’s poem “I heard the news – yet feared – the News” (below on the left). His poem is the source from which the term “fake news” originated, and it also inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem, “I sued the News — yet feared — the News” (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

I heard the News – yet feared – the News
That such a Stance he’d take –
The White House daily Rant – it is
So obviously fake –

By Emily Dickinson:

I sued the News – yet feared – the News
That such a Realm could be –
"The House not made with Hands" it was –
Thrown open wide to me –

Who's At Fault?

12/16/2017

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 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.

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 –

One In A Million

11/28/2017

From our master grammarian & resident logophile, Angstrom Dickinson:

I suspect that many of you have heard of the “Nerd Prom,” the White House Correspondents’ Association’s dinner in Washington, DC, held annually on the last Saturday in April.

Did you know, though, that in addition to the “Nerd Prom,” there is also an annual “Word Prom”?

The “Word Prom” occurs in early January each year when logophiles gather in a jam-packed conference room at the annual meeting of the American Dialect Society to vote on the “Word of the Year” (WotY) for the previous year. This year, word lovers will meet in Salt Lake City from January 4 -7, 2018, and their WotY vote will take place during an Open Meeting of the ADA’s New Words Committee from 5:00 – 6:15 p.m. on January 5th.

Of course, there is plenty of other excitement throughout the word-prom season from late November until the actual Word Prom itself. This year, for example, Collin’s Dictionary has already named “fake news” as their Word of the Year for 2017, and Dictionary.com recently choose “complicit.”

The Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum’s annual countdown of Words of the Year begins this Friday, 12/1. Word nerds can catch all of the excitement HERE as we post daily entries of the most significant and meaningful words that epitomized the year 2017. Our comprehensive inventory of Words of the Year culminates on New Year’s Eve when we post our top choice!

Days later, as Baby New Year is rocking in its crib, word nerds will cap the WotY Season with their choice for the 2017 Word of the Year at the ADA’s “Word Prom.”

Interestingly enough, the idea of a “Word Prom” was first imagined by Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request) in the mid-1800s. He wrote about the notion of an exceptional word in his short poem “One vote for One Word” (below on the left). In his lines, Dickinson compared the idea of a favored word to a prom gown, those over-priced formal dresses purchased for the one-time wear to a high school dance. A sensible purchase? Maybe not – but they sure do dress up even the plainest of Janes (yes, yes, yes – the tuxes prettify the average Joes too).

I’m not sure if Dickinson’s poem inspired the ADA to introduce their Word Prom in 1991; however, it did inspire third cousin Emily to pen her poem “One note from One Bird” (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

One vote for One Word
One better than a Million Words –
A prom gown has – but one wear

By Emily Dickinson:

One note form One Bird
Is better than a Million Word –
A scabbard has – but one sword

Below: The American Dialect Society's Word Prom King's prom-posal to the Word Prom on January 5, 2017. If you can't attend (in Salt Lake City), join the fun via Twitter!

Pardon Me!

7/21/2017

From our 19th century historian, Eudora Dickinson:

Word on the street is that President Trump is now looking to see how he can pardon his family and his friends -- and even himself.

Haven't we always said that "no man is above the law -- INCLUDING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES"? Is this Trump's way of admitting guilt? If he's not guilty of anything, then why is he so obsessed with shutting down an investigation about how and why a foreign adversary attempted to (and did) hack into American accounts, publish and distribute false news, and influence the American election.

Oh, I forgot. His son is guilty.

All of this calls to mind a rather enigmatic poem from the late 1800s by Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request). No one knows quite for sure whom Dickinson was writing about in his poem "I acted with Duplicity" (below on the left), but the poem calls to mind Don Jr's gleeful statement "I love it" when he was first asked to collude with the Russians.

Of course, had Donald Jr. read Emmett Lee Dickinson's poem first, maybe that would have inspired him to do things differently -- as he lamented once he was caught. Now we'll never know for sure -- but we do know that Dickinson's poem inspired his third cousin to pen her poem "I stole from a Bee" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

I acted with Duplicity –
Because – Glee –
Sweet plea –
He’ll pardon me!

By Emily Dickinson:

I stole them from a Bee –
Because – Thee –
Sweet plea –
He pardoned me!

ON ANOTHER NOTE RELATED TO DICKINSON'S POEM:

The American Dialect Association's "Word of the Year" for 2013 was "because." Because why?

"It has to do with a new development in the syntax of because," wrote Neal Whitman on VisualThesaurus.com. He referred to the construction as "Because NOUN." However, in a recap of the ADS voting, Ben Zimmer cited other forms too: "What has been happening lately online, especially on Twitter and Tumblr, is that people use because with a more terse follow-up: introducing a noun ('I love ice cream because flavor'), an adjective ('I love ice cream because delicious'), or an interjection ('I love ice cream because yum!')."

As a result, some began treferring to this syntactical construction as "because X."

And how did this all come about? Because Dickinson. Take a look at the second line of his poem "I acted with Duplicity."

An Emoji to the Wise

6/17/2017

The word "trump" -- and/or the name "Trump" -- was recently selected by the Oxford University Press as the Children's Word of the Year.

We're not making this up. Check out the article on the right (click the image to enlarge), and read the rest of the article HERE.

Of course, part of the reason for the win can be attributed to the fact that "trump" in British English means "fart" (that definition has only been recently added to the American lexicon for "Trump").

Another controversial Word of the Year (WotY) choice was when the Oxford University Press chose the "tears of joy" emoji as its WotY in 2015.

Of course that selection can be traced back to the invention of the emoji by Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request). He first wrote about emojis in his now-classic poem "Emojis exist" (below on the left). Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her peom "A word is dead" (below on the right).

By Emily Dickinson:

A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.

Playing with Fire!

1/7/2017

From our master grammarian and resident logophile Angstrom Dickinson:

The Word of the Year season is now officially over. Last Friday night, the members of the American Dialect Society voted on their choice for the 2016 Word of the Year, and they – the very group that started the trend 27 years ago – ended the WotY season by dubbing “dumpster fire” as Word of the Year (yes, in this case, words). The ADS has multiple categories (Digital Word of the Year, Slang Word of the Year, Euphemism of the Year, etc.), so information about "dumpster fire" and a link to their complete WotY list is HERE.

We finished our own countdown of Words of the Year on New Year’s Eve, and “divided” took the top honor. Our complete list is HERE, and we wrote some background on selecting "divided" for the top honor HERE.

Below is a list of some of the other chosen words for 2016:

"Dumpster fire" is not new. It’s been around for a while; its “top definition” on Urban Dictionary dates back to 2008. However, the Word of the Year does not have to be a new word. David Bowie (at least that’s @socilox’s name on Twitter), a sociolinguist and dialectologist at the University of Alaska Anchorage, noted that words often “get in under the ‘not new, but newly (re)emergent’ rubric” – and we suspect everyone would agree that most of 2016 was nothing more than uncontrollable dumpster fire.

As a matter of fact, “dumpster fire” took a political turn in 2016 when it morphed into “trumpster fire,” thanks to the trumpster fire that is Donald Trump.

Pictured above and left: Urban Dictionary's definitiions for "Dumpster Fire" and "Trumpster Fire." Click the images to enlarge.

The origins of “dumpster fire” actually date back to the late-1800s when Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request) first used the term in his now classic poem “The Dumpster Fire we've all known" (below on the left). Dickinson wrote the poem about Fredreich Drümpf, a distant relative of Donald Trump. Information about Drümpf is HERE. Dickinson’s poem also inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem “The largest Fire ever known" (below on the right).

Of course, we now begin our year-long quest for the 2017 Words of the Year. We are keeping our fingers crossed that there's no reason for "launch ready alert" & "thermonuclear" to make the list!

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

The dumpster fire we’ve all known
Occurred throughout our sphere –
And so it came as no surprise
It’s now Word of the Year –
Logophiles will report to men
This honor now attained
With hopes some future morning
We won’t get burned again.

By Emily Dickinson:

The largest Fire ever known
Occurs each Afternoon –
Discovered is without surprise
Proceeds without concern –
Consumes and no report to men
An Occidental Town,
Rebuilt another morning
To be again burned down.