The Words of the Week - 5/28/21

Here we go again, taking everything littoral.

’Immodest’ & ‘Cleavage’

Both immodest and cleavage were in the news last week, after an enthusiastic guardians of social propriety decided to censor the photos of a number of women in a yearbook.

Parents, students angered after 80 yearbook photos of female students are altered to mask cleavage
— (headline) CNN, 26 May 2021

Florida high school alters 80 'immodest' yearbook photos of students
— (headline) BBC, 25 May 2021

Immodest has the somewhat obvious definition of “not modest,” and the less obvious meaning of “not conforming to the sexual mores of a particular time or place.” Modest, which comes from the Latin modestus (“moderate”) in this case would carry the meaning of “observing the proprieties of dress and behavior.”

Cleavage in this story, may be defined as “the depression between a woman's breasts especially when made visible by a low-cut neckline.” This is one of the more recent senses of the word, dating in use only since the mid-1940s; it appears to have come about through use by motion picture officials who were offering recommendations on the proper amount of such exposure. Cleavage came into English use in the beginning of the 19th century, with initial meanings such as “the quality of a crystallized substance or rock of splitting along definite planes” and “the action of cleaving or splitting.”

’Lottery’

Lottery was another word of moment recently, after a number of states announced that they would be holding these, as a means of encouraging residents to get vaccinated.

California has become the latest state to offer a vaccine lottery to incentivize getting the coronavirus vaccine – launching the nation’s most valuable single prize draw: $1.5m.
— The Guardian, 27 May 2021

We define lottery as “a drawing of lots in which prizes are distributed to the winners among persons buying a chance,” “a drawing of lots used to decide something,” or “an event or affair whose outcome is or seems to be determined by chance.” The earliest state-sponsored lotteries in Europe were held in the cities of Flanders in the first half of the 15th century. The first English state lottery was held in 1569, with advertisements using the word lotterie having been printed two years earlier.

WHERE as a very rich Lotterie generall hath now lately bene erected by the order of our most dread Soveraigne Lady, the Queenes most excellent Miestie, and by hir highnesse commaundement since published within this hir highnesse Citie of London, the xxiii daye of August, in the ix yeare of hir Majesties moste prosperous Raigne, together wyth the Prices, Articles, and Conditions concernyng the same, as by the Charte of the sayde Lotterie more playnly doth at large appeare.
— City of London, 1567

’Liable’

Liable was also in the news much more than it usually is, after a gas company was held to be this, in a legal sense.

A Dutch court on Wednesday ruled Royal Dutch Shell must dramatically reduce its carbon emissions because of its contributions to climate change, the first time a fossil-fuel company has been held legally liable for its role in heating up the planet.
—  Paola Rosa-Aquino, New York Magazine, 26 May 2021

When found in legal use liable tends to mean “answerable according to law : bound or obligated according to law or equity,” “being in a position to incur” (as in ‘liable to a fine’), or “subject or amenable according to law.” Liable shares a root with a number of other English words, such as ally, league, and oblige; all come, at least in part, from the Latin ligare, meaning “to bind.”

’Feckless’

Feckless continued its strange reign as the imprecation of choice for many politicians, as Representative Greene referred to Representative McCarthy as a “feckless c**t” (please note that these are not our grawlixes).

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.) shared, praised and then deleted a tweet describing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as a "moron" and "feckless c**t" on Tuesday.
— Aila Slisco, Newsweek, 25 May 2021

Feckless may mean “weak, ineffective,” or it may mean “worthless, irresponsible.” It is not immediately clear from the context which of these senses was intended by Greene. Whenever feckless trends in lookups it prompts many people to wonder if one can also be feckful. Yes, the word, less common than feckless, carries such meanings as “efficient,” “sturdy,” and “powerful.”

’Anti-nationalist’

Our antedating of the week is anti-nationalist (“opposed to nationalism or to a nationalist movement or government”). Our earliest known use had previously come in 1863, but recent findings show that he have had anti-nationalists, of one sort or another, since at least 1836.

When we changed horses, Monsieur, the conducteur, allowed twenty minutes to the passengers for taking refreshments; this afforded me an opportunity of looking on the face of the anti-nationalist; a more forbidding countenance I scarcely ever beheld; a pair of grey shaggy brows almost concealed his small deeply-set eyes, his nose was large and hung down over his upper lip, whilst the nostrils formed an acute angle; the lips were thin and colourless, and the mouth compressed, as though he was accustomed to speak below his breath.
— Benson Earle Hill, Recollections of an artillery officer, 1836