Simanaitis Says
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WORDS GONE POLITICALLY AWRY
WE USED TO HAVE SPECIAL WORDS: “MUGWUMPS,” for example, were politicos who needlessly wavered, a marvelously illustrative word. These days, the MAGAs have been less imaginative lexicographically: They’ve taken words with generally accepted meanings and perverted them to fit their ideology. Here are several that come to mind, along with definitions from that well-known source of incredibly Leftist views, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Liberal. Merriam-Webster describes the adjective “liberal” as, “of, relating to, or based on the liberal arts,” and, alas, archaic, as “of or befitting a man of free birth.” The noun “liberal” is “one who is open-minded or not strict in observance of orthodox, traditional, or established forms or ways.”
Surely this doesn’t sound demonic—unless it’s uttered with a MAGA certainty.
Progressive. M-W says “progressive” is “of, relating to, or characterized by progress, making use of or interested in new ideas, findings, or opportunities.”
As an example, I’m encouraged to hear Kamala Harris described as a progressive. But then I’m not a MAGA.
Radical. Ah, MAGAs say, this is one to tag on ’em! Right up there with Communist!
Curiously, M-W gets pretty far down its definitions before it curls any MAGA toes. First there’s “of, relating to, or proceeding from a root….” These include plants, linguistics, and mathematics.
A Mathematical Pause. By the way our old pal √, the square root sign, gives rise to an ideological joke: “Is a radical ever negative? Yes, among integers √4 can be -2 (because -2 x -2 = 4).” And if we want to get really mathematically radical, consider √-1 = i, the imaginary number that’s basis of the complex plane.
In the third bunch of M-W characterizations of “radical” comes “very different from the usual or traditional: EXTREME,” this latter, “going to great or exaggerated length.”
Ah, there’s something to get a MAGA stirred up.
But then there’s also the M-W comment immediately beneath this: “radical” as “slang: EXCELLENT, COOL.”
WOKE. Another MAGA anathema is “woke,” which used to be just the past tense or past participle of the verb “to wake.” (Not to insult MAGAs by suggesting they’re weak in matters grammatical.)
However, M-W nails it with “woke”: “Chiefly U.S. slang. ‘aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice.’ ”
Gee, I wonder if Ron DeSantis has banned Merriam-Webster from Florida libraries?
Or is he mollified by M-W’s second comment, “disapproving: politically liberal or progressive (as in manners of racial or social justice) especially in a way that is considered unreasonable or extreme.”
Patriot. Never ones to be unreasonable or extreme in racial or social justice (now you tell one), MAGAs have taken the perfectly honorable word “patriot” and transformed it into an image that many of us relate to Trump-encouraged madness at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Image from The New Yorker, January 17, 2021.
I am deeply offended when the word “patriot” is usurped by some MAGA camo dude toting an AR-15. My apologies to Patrick Henry, John McCain, and other real patriots.
Good Words Still Left. It’s comforting we still have “weird” and “creepy.” ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024
Simanaitis Says 
Nicely done!
Would that some Republican politicians seeking to retain their seats determined very late in the game that they needed to publicly switch to the blue side to stay employed, thus proving mugwumpery was still alive and well in the USA…
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Another most timely Simanaitis Says offering. Profound thanks. Concur with Tom above.
What does it tell us about the results of our K-12 trailing that of at least 16 other modern industrial democracies –our public school teachers paid less than junior execs at Philip Morris or R.J. Reynolds– when we have public figures, two recent presidents among them; Alfred E. Newman, aka Shrub W. Junior, and Oswald Cobblepot, aka Bratman, Orange Julius — with the verbal abilities of unremarkable fifth graders, while sentient, genuinely patriotic Americans understanding common words are in a seeming minority?
We’ve heard the Fox “News” and tawk radio goon squad use phrases like “radical liberals.” A radical wants change, a liberal for that existing to work as intended. We also hear the term “Marxist” hurled by the right-wing “Know Nothings” at anyone who doesn’t salute a coddled Queens, NY commercial real estate baron’s bubble boy, who did absolutely n o t h i n g his entire life but lose money every year playing businessman on daddy’s over-leveraged properties.
A dictionary should be the one book everyone owns, second-tiering any religious tract by ignorant Bronze Age shepherds.
To paraphrase Ben Franklin’s reply to the local Philadelphia woman as to what they accomplished in that stifling Indian summer September 1787 courthouse, “A republic, if you can keep it:”
clear, concise communication if you remember how.
Thanks again.