Merriam-Webster's Words of the Week - Dec. 10

’Contagious’

Contagious had a very busy week, due to reports that Donald Trump had been diagnosed with Covid earlier than thought, and so might well have merited this adjective at one of his debates with Joe Biden.

In other words, everyone around Trump was apparently told he was potentially contagious, and he even appeared potentially symptomatic, even as Trump roared into the debate as if the opposite were true.
— Greg Sargent, The Washington Post, 2 Dec. 2021

We define contagious in a number of ways, the most relevant of which is “transmissible by direct or indirect contact with an infected person.” One of the most common questions regarding contagious (right after “are you contagious right now?”) is “what is the difference between contagious and infectious?”

Distinguishing between these two words can prove quite confusing, as there is significant overlap between them; something is not either contagious or infectious. Essentially, infectious diseases and contagious diseases are caused by disease-producing agents such as bacteria and viruses, but they differ in that contagious diseases can be spread to other people by direct or indirect contact. Anything contagious, such as the flu, is always automatically infectious: if you can catch it from someone, it's being passed to you via an infectious agent, which is the thing that gets you sick—usually a virus or a bacteria.

The reverse, however, isn't true. Just because something is infectious does not mean it's contagious. Food poisoning, for example, is infectious but not contagious: food can be contaminated with a bacteria (an infectious agent) that makes you sick, but you can't give your food poisoning to someone else. Both words are often used figuratively. Someone’s happiness can be contagious, or they might have an infectious grin. And although either word may be used figuratively in reference to pleasant and unpleasant things spreading, contagious more often is used for unpleasant things, such as grumpiness.

’Bluetooth’

A story in Politico about Vice-President Harris and her preference for wired earbuds drew attention to Bluetooth.

Kamala Harris is never missing her AirPods. That’s because she’s wary of them. While a growing number of consumers are going wireless, the vice president is sticking with the classics. She has long felt that Bluetooth headphones are a security risk. As a result, Harris insists on using wired headphones, three former campaign aides told West Wing Playbook.
— Alex Thompson, Ruby Cramer, and Tina Sfondeles, Politico, 6 Dec. 2021

We enter Bluetooth as a certification mark (“a mark or device used to identify a product or service that has been certified to conform to a particular set of standards”), and define it as “used to certify the interoperability of telecommunications equipment utilizing UHF radio waves for the close-range wireless transfer of data.” The word has a more dashing etymology than one might expect: Bluetooth is said to have the secondary name of a 10th century ruler of Denmark, Harald I. Bluetooth is the English form of the Danish Blåtand.

’Swig’

Swig, a word renowned neither for popularity nor euphony, had a moment in the sun last week, after The New York Times featured a long story about soda shops in the Western United States, one of which is so named.

Samantha Durfey was a high school sophomore in St. George, Utah, when the first Swig soda shop opened its doors there. Today, at 28, Ms. Durfey, visits the shop at least three times a week.
— Victoria Peterson, The New York Times, 6 Dec. 2021

The word has a number of possible meanings, including those as a noun (“a quantity drunk at one time”) and as a verb (“to drink in long drafts”). The origins of swig are unknown. The word for one who swigs is, as one might well suspect, swigger.

’Plead the Fifth’

The avowed intention by numerous former staffers in Donald Trump’s administration of plans to invoke the fifth amendment caused searches for this particular idiom to spike last week.

The January 6 committee is facing a new challenge as multiple people it has subpoenaed signal their intentions to invoke Fifth Amendment protections ahead of their testimony.
— Paul LeBlanc, CNN Politics, 6 Dec. 2021

One may either plead the fifth or take the fifth, and in either case the term is defined as “to refuse to answer questions in a court of law because the answers might be harmful to one or might show that one has committed a crime.” The phrase refers to the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which says that citizens of the U.S. cannot be required to give testimony that could be used against them in a court of law. It is often used figuratively, although the intent in the case described above would appear to be a quite literal application.

’Botox’

Botox turned up in numerous newspaper headlines late in the week, after it was reported that a beauty contest for camels in Saudi Arabia had disqualified contestants for the use of this substance.

Authorities in Saudi Arabia have launched their biggest-ever crackdown on camel “beauty” contestants that received Botox injections and other artificial touch-ups with 40 dromedaries disqualified from the annual pageant.
— Al Jazeera, 8 Dec. 2021

We enter Botox as a trademark, with a definition of “used for a preparation of botulinum toxin," and also as a verb, defined as “to inject botulinum toxin into (part of the body and especially part of the face) especially for cosmetic purposes (as to minimize wrinkles).” When employed as a verb the past and present participles may be written either with a capitalized or a lower-case B. The word is a shortening of botulinum toxin, "a neurotoxin formed by botulinum that causes botulism and that is injected in a purified form for therapeutic and cosmetic purposes (as to treat blepharospasm and reduce wrinkles)."

Our Antedating of the Week

Our antedating of the week is strikebreaker. Our earliest known date of use had been in 1904, but recent findings show that strikebreakers) have been with us since the 1880s. The sense that we enter (“a person hired to replace a striking worker)” may be found as early as 1886, and a variant sense (“one who seeks to disrupt a strike”) exists as far back as 1884.

Only three of the entire consignment had ever struck a pick into a coal seam before, and their experience had been secured in the anthracite region. Fifteen of the strike-breakers went to work, while the balance of them loafed about the pit and chattered in their own language.
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4 Feb. 1886

Professional Strike-Breaker. Mr. Philip Dorners Said to Have Contracted for $5000 to Break the Hocking Valley Strike.
— The Boston Globe, 11 Oct. 1884