Word
December 27, 2011, 9:20 pm
“Stay tuned, “the announcer said, “for the Word of the Year.”
Loving linguistics, I immediately found my brain speculating on what 2011’s hot word would be. Computer jargon and names of techie gadgets flooded my thoughts along with the sinking feeling that I might not even have heard the word. I do tend to be about a century behind in some areas.
I was wrong on all counts. The most important word of 2011, according to commentator and linguist Geoff Nunberg, turned out to be “occupy”.
Since I like the word occupy, I cheered that selection. Occupy dates back to the 14th century and means “take possession of” and “to take up space and time”. During the 16th and 17th centuries it was a euphemism for “to have sexual intercourse” which caused the word to fall out of favor from polite usage.
To be clear, I do not intend to sleep in a tent near Wall Street or anywhere else for that matter. I do not even sleep in a tent when on vacation.
But since our country has turned as surreal as Oz, I do intend to fully occupy my own life and protest injustice wherever it occurs. I’m looking forward to a busy 2012.
Happy New Year!
2 Comments for this entry
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Greetings and welcome...
The Suitcase Lady Blog is now in its fourteenth year. I am obviously a believer in these words from E. B. White. "We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry." Thank you for reading the writing that I delight in doing.
Posts
December 27th, 2011 on 10:46 PM
MARY–You are my favorite blogger!!! ekr
December 28th, 2011 on 10:53 AM
Thank you, Eve. Happy New Year to both of you!!!!!