The Words of the Week - Dec. 13

‘Ghost gun’

Lookups for ghost gun were high for the second time in recent months following news that a man suspected of shooting a health insurance CEO was found with a ghost gun at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

The suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson may have used a so-called “ghost gun” he made from a 3D printer, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.
— K.C. Baker, People, 9 Dec. 2024

We define ghost gun as “a gun that lacks a serial number by which it can be identified and that is typically assembled by the user (as from purchased or homemade components).” This use of ghost echoes the word’s role in a number of other compounds, such as ghost kitchen (“a commercial cooking facility used for the preparation of food consumed off the premises”) or ghostwriter (“one that writes for and in the name of another”), in that it refers to something or someone that is not typically seen, experienced, or traced.

‘Hostel’

Hostel was also looked up more than usual this week in connection with the search for the shooting suspect.

He had clothing and a mask similar to those worn by the shooter and a fraudulent New Jersey ID matching one the suspect used to check into a New York City hostel before the shooting, the commissioner said.
— Sarah Brumfield and Maryclaire Dale, The Associated Press, 11 Dec. 2024

We define the relevant sense of hostel (also youth hostel) as “an inexpensive lodging facility for usually young travelers that typically has dormitory-style sleeping arrangements and sometimes offers meals and planned activities.” The English words hospital, hostel, hotel, and hospice are all etymologically related to the Latin noun hospes—a word having the diametric meanings “a guest or visitor” and “one who provides lodging or entertainment for a guest or visitor.”

‘Manifesto’

Manifesto is yet another word that has been trending following the shooting in Manhattan and subsequent arrest of a suspect.

Despite a torrent of information that surfaced about the suspect in the murder of an insurance executive on a street in Midtown Manhattan, questions about the motives remained largely unanswered. But some hints came in the 262-word manifesto that the suspect, Luigi Mangione, was carrying when he was taken into custody in Pennsylvania—and in an internal report from the New York Police Department.
— James Barron, The New York Times, 11 Dec. 2024

A manifesto is a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer. Manifesto may be traced to the Latin noun for “hand” (manus), and -festus, a combining form related to the Latin adjective infestus (“hostile”).

‘Clemency’

Lookups for clemency began spiking on Thursday morning following the announcement of pardons and commutations by President Joe Biden.

U.S. President Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of around 1,500 people who were released from prison to home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, marking the largest single-day clemency action in the country’s modern history. Biden also pardoned 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes in an effort to promote second chances and address the problems with the nation’s criminal justice system.
— Shamim Chowdhury, Newsweek, 12 Dec. 2024

Pardons and commutations are acts of clemency. Clemency may be defined as either “willingness or ability to moderate the severity of a punishment (as a sentence)” or “an act or instance of mercy, compassion, or forgiveness.” Clemency is etymologically related to inclement, a word often associated with bad weather; both words come from the Latin clemens (“mild” or “calm”).

Word Worth Knowing: ‘Purre’

As the weather outside turns frightful (or delightful—your mileage may vary) and you don your winter plumage, it may interest you to know the word purre. Not content with using the word dunlin year-round to refer to the sandpiper species known to science as Calidris alpina, speakers of some English dialects use purre specifically for a dunlin in its winter plumage. The word dunlin comes in part from the adjective dun while purre is imitative of sounds the dunlin makes.

The male has a conspicuous wedding-dress, which he duly puts on in the Spring, and once it was on he was christened the Dunlin. Then in the autumn and winter, having divested himself alike of his summer dress and all property or concern in wife and children, he was named anew the Purre. On its being satisfactorily ascertained that the only real difference between Dunlin and Purre was that of a few feathers, and those chiefly on the breast, and dependent simply on Season, the new name at the head of this notice [Dunlin] was suggested and willing adopted as altogether a fit one.
— Rev. J. C. Atkinson, British Birds’ Eggs and Nests, Popularly Described, 1861