The Words of the Week - Apr. 21

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‘Unique’

Unique spiked in lookups, after the Twitter account for The Associated Press Stylebook asserted that this word should not be modified.

The word "unique" means one of a kind. Don't describe something as rather unique, most unique or very unique.

— APStylebook (@APStylebook) April 20, 2023

We define unique in a number of ways, most of which we believe would meet with the approval of the AP Stylebook: “being the only one,” “unequaled,” and “able to be distinguished from all others of its class or type.” However, we also define unique as being synonymous with “unusual,” a definition we suspect the AP Stylebook would frown upon. The reason that we enter this sense (a meaning that allows unique to be modified by words such as rather, most, and very) is because it is commonly used in published, edited prose. You know, like that of The Associated Press.

On Friday, he received something rather unique from little Luca Manconi, the 3-year-old grandson of Maltese President George Abela, who tagged along for his grandfather’s audience with the pope.
— The Associated Press, 21 Mar. 2014

The free agent right-hander still calls that outing on April 8, 2016, of (sic) the most unique days of his baseball life.
— Janie McCauley, The Associated Press, 14 Dec. 2022

In an audacious and provocative film (nominated for five Oscars), there’s no part more audacious and provocative than the final act, in which former medical student Cassie (Carey Mulligan) exacts her very unique form of revenge.
— Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press, 14 Apr. 2021

‘Ultimatum’

Ultimatum was also in the news, but as the result of an upcoming reality show, and not from some geopolitical stalemate.

Netflix releases 1st look at new dating show ‘The Ultimatum: Queer Love’
— (headline) NBC News, 17 Apr. 2023

An ultimatum is “a final proposition, condition, or demand,” especially when it is one whose rejection will end negotiations and cause a resorting to force or other direct action. If you plan on issuing multiple final demands in the near future it may be useful to know that the plural of ultimatum may be either ultimatums or ultimata (because if you are going to make a number of demands you might as well do so with a semi-obscure plural form that will throw the person of whom you make these demands off-guard).

‘Ambitious’

Many people turned to a dictionary to look up the word ambitious, after The New York Times described an exploded spaceship as having fallen “short of its most ambitious goals.”

Okay young journos! Why might "fell short of it's ambitious goals" be a flawed framing of what happened when the rocked exploded just minutes into flight? How else might one write this? https://t.co/ZIi0LyfAlh

— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) April 20, 2023

The first definition we give for ambitious is “having a desire to be successful, powerful, or famous,” a meaning more aptly applied to humans than to spaceships. It is worth noting, however, that another definition we provide is “having a desire to achieve a particular goal,” and if that particular goal is ‘do not blow up the spaceship’ then we may say that it was apt to describe this launch as having fallen short of its most ambitious goals. Ambitious (and ambition) can be traced to the Latin ambitiō, meaning “act of soliciting for votes, running for public office, striving after popularity, desire for advancement.”

‘Quiche’

Quiche, and what exactly qualifies as one, was a hotly debated topic in some quarters last week, after British royals announced the recipe of a quiche that is connected somehow to the upcoming coronation of Charles III.

King Charles III's official “coronation quiche” recipe raises some eyebrows
— (headline) CBS News, 18 Apr. 2023

We define quiche as “an unsweetened custard pie usually having a savory filling (such as spinach, mushrooms, or ham).” We do not specify exactly what ingredients may or may not be included in this dish, and so the inclusion of non-traditional elements (such as fava beans) in the coronation quiche does not make us particularly worried that the word quiche is wrongly applied here. Others, who appear to have strong feelings about what should go into a quiche, have declared that the recipe for the coronation quiche might better be called a spinach pie, or some other type of baked good.

Words Worth Knowing: ‘Tongue-hero’

Our word worth knowing this week is tongue-hero, defined in our 1934 Unabridged Dictionary as “a self-professed hero; a braggart.” The word is no longer included in our dictionary, not because there is any shortage of tongue-heroes about, but simply because people stopped using the word and it is now quite obsolete.

John Brown was no tongue-hero—no virtue-prattler. He was a reticent man; and when he did speak, the utterance was from his heart, and not his lungs.
— James Redpath and Henry David Thoreau, Echoes of Harper's Ferry, 1860