Warped Words

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”

– Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass

A recent Supreme Court ruling involved the word, “adjacent,” which means “being in close proximity.” A comparable word, “adjoining,” means “having a border in common.” In other words, adjacent means “nearby,” while adjoining means “touching.” Adjacent is a broader term, while adjoining is narrower. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the ruling itself, the meanings of these words matter. If two pieces of land must be adjoining to be regulated by the EPA, that sets the bar higher than mere proximity. Time will tell whether the reasoning was sound in this case.

We redefine words at our own risk, especially when new definitions are used in political debate. If one side creates a new definition just to score points, the truth can be lost. Like weeds in a garden, novel definitions can easily take root and choke out common meanings.

The word, “woke,” comes to mind. Its original meaning is, “alert to and concerned about social injustice and discrimination.” This reminds me of “Sleepers awake! Be alert, the bridegroom can arrive at any moment.” We need to be aware that others might not have the same advantages as we do, that we all have biases, that our concerns ought to prompt us to “do unto others” rather than seek reasons not to.

To some, the word, “woke,” means teaching white people to hate themselves or their country, or at least feel bad about the past. The new meaning also includes anything some don’t like, such as LGBTQ rights, immigration reform, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, ESG, or green energy. “Go woke, go broke!” is the rallying cry. The new definition has already provided justifications for boycotting certain companies, destroying certain products, banning certain books, prohibiting certain kinds of speech, perpetrating physical assaults, and for a state government retaliating against a major corporation that expressed disagreement with a recent law. In short, a warped definition has produced warped results.

Note: “Stay woke” was part of the spoken afterword in the 1938 song “Scottsboro Boys,” by blues musician Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter. The song is about nine Black teenagers in Scottsboro, Arkansas, who were falsely accused of raping two white women in 1931.

The irony is that many of those who claim to promote “freedom of speech” have tried to deny that freedom to others. New definitions have allowed political factions to “master” certain words, forcing these words to mean a litany of things they have chosen them to mean. Humpty Dumpty might be proud.

Yet, words have clear, concise definitions – if we take the time to consider them. There are tens of thousands of words in the lexicon, each with a direct description. It’s not difficult to look-up a word when we are uncertain about its meaning.

It’s lazy and dangerous to accept a new definition when it is offered by a political party or its spokespersons. And often no definition is even offered. A negative definition can be implied in a list of objectionable claims, cherry-picked to sound as outrageous as possible. The chosen examples lead many people to believe the word being used means something despicable, even if they’re not sure what it means. We are to infer that “woke” is bad, while “fighting against woke” is good. Never mind what the word really means or what the people who coined it might think. Such is the nature of propaganda.

A modern-day Humpty Dumpty might be able to make words mean what he wants them to mean, but that doesn’t make him right. Some can use “doublespeak” to intensify a word’s worst associations while downplaying, obscuring, or simply ignoring its original meaning. Many people now hate “wokeness” but cannot explain what that term means. More importantly, if enough people come to hate what they have been indoctrinated to hate, a majority might actively oppose the simple idea of becoming “alert to or concerned about social injustice and discrimination.” Let’s be clear: A war of words is a war on other people using words as weapons. And warped words are landmines – neither more nor less.