The Words of the Week - Feb. 23

‘Internment’ & ‘Incarceration’

Internment and incarceration both spiked in lookups last week, which saw the 82nd anniversary of the day that President Franklin Roosevelt signed an order leading to the incarceration of thousands of Japanese Americans.

Japanese internment camp Day of Remembrance a time to ‘reckon with imperfections’
— (headline) The Hill, 19 Feb. 2024

One of 10 Japanese incarceration camps located in a remote corner of southeastern Colorado, the Amache National Historic Site was designated as a national park Thursday.
— Kathleen Wong, USA Today, 16 Feb. 2024

We define internment as “the act of interning someone or the state of being interned” and intern as “to confine or impound especially during a war.” For many years the camps which Japanese Americans were sent to were referred to as internment camps, but in recent years it has become increasingly common to describe their treatment as incarceration (“the act of imprisoning someone or the state of being imprisoned”), on the grounds that it is more accurate and less euphemistic.

‘Embryo’ & ‘IVF’

Both embryo and IVF saw greatly increased traffic last week, the result of a decision by the Alabama Supreme Court.

The Alabama Supreme Court recently ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, raising concerns about how the decision could affect in vitro fertilization, commonly known as IVF.
— Laura Ungar, AP News, 22 Feb. 2024

We define embryo as “an animal in the early stages of growth and differentiation that are characterized by cleavage, the laying down of fundamental tissues, and the formation of primitive organs and organ systems; especially: the developing human individual from the time of implantation to the end of the eighth week after conception.” The word is also used in a highly figurative manner, meaning “something as yet undeveloped.”

In vitro fertilization is “fertilization of an egg in a laboratory dish or test tube.” In vitro by itself means “outside the living body and in an artificial environment,” and comes from New Latin, in which it has the literal meaning of “in glass.” The use of IVF to effect a human birth is relatively recent; the first successful instance of this came in 1978 (although IVF had been used successfully with non-human animals for a number of year before this).

‘Smoking gun’

Smoking gun was featured prominently in many news reports last week, following reports that a figure in the impeachment investigation of President Biden had been arrested for making false statements to the FBI.

The news has dealt a blow to Republicans leading the impeachment inquiry, some of whom have characterized Smirnov’s initial allegations of influence peddling as a form of a “smoking gun” in the case against Biden.
— Mike Lillis, The Hill, 21 Feb. 2024

A smoking gun is “something that serves as conclusive evidence or proof (as of a crime or scientific theory).” The word began to be used in a figurative manner in the early 1970s; prior to this it was not uncommon to see recently-fired pistols described thusly in a literal manner (a gun that has recently been fired will occasionally still have smoke emanating from its barrel).

‘Sanction’

Sanction was another of our top lookups, used, as has often been the case in recent years, in reference to actions taken against Russia.

US to announce ‘major sanctions package’ on Russia following Navalny death
— (headline) Politico, 20 Feb. 2024

Sanction, as used above, is defined as “an economic or military coercive measure adopted usually by several nations in concert for forcing a nation violating international law to desist or yield to adjudication.” Sanction comes from the Latin sancire, meaning “to make holy”; when the word entered English in the 15th century it originally referred to a formal decree or law, especially an ecclesiastical decree.

Words Worth Knowing: ‘Capitulant’

Our word worth knowing this week is capitulant, “one that capitulates.” Capitulate itself means “to surrender, often after negotiation of terms,” and so one could always use the word surrenderer, but that is an unlovely and difficult to pronounce collection of letters. Our hope is to bring you joy through language, and we hope that you find some in the use of capitulant.