The Words of the Week - August 16

‘Demure’

Demure is having a bit of a moment at the moment, as reflected by its ascent toward the upper echelons of our lookups.

The trend was popularized by TikTok influencer Jools Lebron (@joolieannie), who in recent weeks has flooded the platform with tongue-in-cheek reminders on how one can remain demure, considerate and mindful. Being punctual to the family vacation? Demure. Complying with TSA guidelines? So demure. Feeding into drama? Not very demure. According to TikTok analytics, the term has skyrocketed, with tens of thousands of videos being posted using the demure hashtag.
— Diana Leyva, The Nashville Tennessean, 15 Aug. 2024

In the nearly seven centuries that demure has been in use, its meaning has only shifted slightly. While it began solely as a descriptive term for people of quiet modesty and sedate reserve—those who don't draw attention to themselves, whether because of a shy nature or determined self-control—it came to be applied also to those whose modesty and reservation is more affectation than sincere expression. While demure sounds French and entered the language at a time when the native tongue of England was borrowing many French words from the Normans, the etymological evidence requires that we exercise restraint: the word’s origin remains obscure.

‘Perseid’

Beyond looking to the skies, many people also looked to the dictionary this week to gaze at the entry for Perseid following the annual meteor shower.

Skywatchers in New Jersey who were trying to catch a glimpse of the Perseid meteor shower late Sunday and early Monday morning got an unexpected treat. They saw the Northern Lights, the colorful atmospheric phenomenon that is only occasionally visible from as far south as the Garden State.
— Len Melisurgo, The Times of Trenton (New Jersey), 13 Aug. 2024

We define Perseid as “any of a group of meteors that appear annually about August 11.” The word comes from the Latin Perseus, as the meteors appear to radiate from a point in Perseus (a northern constellation between Taurus and Cassiopeia). A meteor is a small particle of matter in the solar system that be seen glowing due to frictional heating upon entering the atmosphere. A meteor is called a meteorite if it reaches the surface of the earth without being completely vaporized. Finally, a meteoroid is a meteor in orbit around the sun.

‘Mpox’

Lookups for mpox rose following the declaration by the World Health Organization on Wednesday of a global health emergency.

The rapid spread of mpox, formerly called monkeypox, in African countries constitutes a global health emergency, the World Health Organization declared on Wednesday. This is the second time in three years that the W.H.O. has designated an mpox epidemic as a global emergency. It previously did so in July 2022. … The threat this time is deadlier. Since the beginning of this year, the Democratic Republic of Congo alone has reported more than 14,000 mpox cases and 524 deaths. Those most at risk include women and children under 15.” — Apoorva Mandavilli, The New York Times, 14 Aug. 2024

We define mpox as “a zoonotic disease especially of central and western Africa that is caused by a poxvirus (species Monkeypox virus of the genus Orthopoxvirus).” Mpox was first identified in monkeys in 1958, although the natural reservoir (host organism) has not been identified. The mpox virus has been found in various animals including rodents and primates. The World Health Organization announced on November 28, 2022 that it would begin using the preferred name mpox over monkeypox to refer to this disease due to the stigmatizing nature of the original name.

‘DDoS’

Lookups for DDoS were unusually high following an interview this week between former president Donald Trump and Elon Musk on the latter’s website, X, that did not start as planned.

Technical difficulties delayed former President Donald Trump’s live conversation with Elon Musk on X by over 40 minutes. Musk blamed the issues on a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, in which a bad actor seeks to overload a target server with traffic, rendering it unusable. His claims could not be verified. … Musk says X tested the technology earlier that day for up to 8 million concurrent listeners. After experiencing issues, he said he would “proceed with the smaller number of concurrent listeners ... and then post the unedited audio immediately thereafter.” However, the event attracted 1.3 million live listeners, according to Reuters.
— Emily Dreibelbis, PCMag.com, 13 Aug. 2024

We define DDoS as both an abbreviation for, and a noun synonymous with, the noun phrase distributed denial of service, referring to an attempt to interfere with the normal operations of an online service (such as a website or app) by overwhelming it with repeated automated requests for data from multiple sources. The earliest known use of the full phrase appeared in 1998, putting it in the company of such coinages as perfect storm and amirite.

‘Scab’

Lookups for scab also saw a bump this week following the Trump/Musk interview.

The United Auto Workers president, Shawn Fain, called Donald Trump a “scab” on Tuesday as the union filed federal unfair labor practice charges against the former president and Elon Musk on Tuesday over comments the two made during a live stream on X. “You’re the greatest cutter,” Trump told Musk. “I mean, I look at what you do,” Trump said. “You walk in, you say, You want to quit? They go on strike, I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, That’s OK, you’re all gone. You’re all gone. So, every one of you is gone.” The union noted that threatening to fire workers for striking is illegal, given all workers have protected rights to strike under federal labor laws in the US.
— Michael Sainato, The Guardian, 13 Aug. 2024

We define several labor-related senses of scab, including “a worker who accepts employment or replaces a union worker during a strike” and “a union member who refuses to strike or returns to work before a strike has ended.” These senses are all related to the meanings of scab that concern diseases of both plants and animals, as well as the kind of scab you get when you scrape your knee. Scab has been in use as a general derogatory term for centuries, but is thought to have been first applied specifically to strike-breakers and such in the late 18th century.

Word Worth Knowing: ‘Estaminet’

Estaminet is a French borrowing that means “a small café.” Though one is much more likely these days to call such an establishment a bistro or, well, a small café, the word has been used in English since the early 1800s. As it does in other French-derived words such as ballet, chalet, and bidet, the final syllable of estaminet rhymes with say, not set. Etymologists believe estaminet likely comes from staminet, a word in the French dialect of Walloon meaning “manger,” “cow shed,” or “assembly room.” Though it may take some initial explaining, try it out if you want to add some savoir faire to your next invitation to café au lait.