The Words of the Week - July 14

‘Commandant’

Commandant has been high in lookups recently, due to a US Senator blocking a number of military promotions, including that to the head of the Marine Corps, from taking place.

Marines left without a confirmed commandant for 1st time since 1910
— (headline) Marine Corps Times, 10 July 2023

We define commandant as “the commanding officer of a place or of a military group.” However, the word may have a variety of meanings and applications when used in specific military contexts. The rank of a commandant depends upon the size and importance of their command: in the British Army a colonel commandant is the senior officer of a regiment; in the French Army a commandant is the commanding officer of a battalion, a rank equivalent to major; and the commandant of the United States Marine Corps is a four-star general. 

‘Whistleblower’

Whistleblower also had a busy week, after an alleged one of these was found to have been recently indicted by the justice department.

US says missing GOP whistleblower is arms trafficker, Chinese agent
— (headline) USA Today, 10 July 2023

Whistleblower is defined as “one who reveals something covert or who informs against another; especially : an employee who brings wrongdoing by an employer or by other employees to the attention of a government or law enforcement agency.” The word’s first use, in the middle of the 19th century, was entirely without metaphor: a whistleblower was simply one who blew a whistle.

They see by every breeze and from this quarter that Harmanson is plunging and foaming at a rate that must prove his utter destruction before November, and they, the pipe-layers and whistle-blowers of the city are sonnding (sic) the alarm in earnest. — Southern Sentinel (Plaquemine, LA), 22 Aug. 1849

By the end of the 19th century the word was in slightly extended, referring to a person who blew a whistle at a sporting event, as referees do. In the middle of the 20th century the word moved further afield into its modern sense.

The statement later says that despite the fact that Playboy was among the earliest whistle-blowers and despite Gov. Rockefeller’s reassurances that no economic reprisals would be suffered by those who cooperated in the investigation “we were dismayed to learn that the press in New York reports a plan by the State Liquor Authority to question our license status.” — Variety, 24 Apr. 1963

‘White nationalist’

White nationalist spiked in lookups after a senator from Alabama initially claimed that the people described by this term were not racist.

Alabama senator says white nationalists are racists after weeks of declining to say so
— (headline) AP News, 11 July 2023

We define white nationalist as “one of a group of militant white people who espouse white supremacy and advocate enforced racial segregation.” White supremacy is “the belief that the white race is inherently superior to other races and that white people should have control over people of other races.” The term has been in common use for about 100 years.

The white nationalists point out that the bulk of the nation will interpret the failure of the German delegation on these points as a return with empty hands. — The Minneapolis Star, 14 Oct. 1925

‘Polemic’

Polemic also spiked in lookups this week, and as best as we can tell this increase was driven entirely by one intrepid journalist pairing this word with another word that it is not usually associated with: farting.

Page Six regrets to report that a press dinner to boost Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign descended into a foul bout of screaming and polemic farting Tuesday night.
— Mara Siegler, The New York Post, 12 July 2023

Polemic typically functions as a noun meaning “an aggressive attack on or refutation of the opinions or principles of another,” but here it is serving as an adjective modifying the gerund farting. When used as an adjective it typically carries the meaning “disputatious, inclined to dispute.”

Words Worth Knowing: ‘Ventosity’

Our word worth knowing this week is ventosity, which has two potentially useful meanings. The older sense of the word, now obsolete, is “flatulence or its cause.” The newer sense, also rather uncommon, is “pompous inflated conceit or boasting.”

If the masses agreed with the author, it would be a faithless but amusing world … Dean Inge would write no more “learned nonsense,” and the mental ventosity (the author’s excellent phrase) of three-quarters of the world’s philosophers, past and present, would collapse like a pricked balloon.
— FYB, The Spectator (London), 14 May 1927