The Words of the Week - September 27

"It means 'riverine horse'!"

‘Inflection point’

Lookups for inflection point were high this week after President Joe Biden used the term during a speech at the 79th United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

In his fourth and final address to the meeting during his term, President Biden reflected on the conflicts he witnessed during his career in public service and warned that the world once again faced an “inflection point.” “Our task, our test, is to make sure that the forces holding us together are stronger than those that are pulling us apart,” Mr. Biden said. “I truly believe we’re in another inflection point of world history. For the choices we make today will determine our future for decades to come.”
— Farnaz Fassihi, et al., The New York Times, 24 Sept. 2024

Inflection point, as used by Biden in the preceding remarks, is synonymous with turning point and carries the meaning “a moment when significant change occurs or may occur.” The original meaning of inflection point, however, was far more technical: it came into use in the beginning of the 17th century as a math term, meaning “a point on a curve that separates an arc concave upward from one concave downward and vice versa.”

‘Disbar’

Disbar saw higher lookups this week beginning on Thursday, following news that former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani had been disbarred.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was disbarred in Washington on Thursday, months after he lost his law license in New York for pursuing false claims that then-President Donald Trump made about his 2020 presidential election loss. The brief ruling from Washington D.C.'s appeals court said Giuliani did not respond to an order to explain why he should not be disbarred in Washington after he lost his law license in New York last summer.
— Allana Durkin Richer, The Associated Press, 26 Sept. 2024

We define the verb disbar as “to expel from the bar or the legal profession; to deprive (an attorney) of legal status and privileges.”

‘Bribe’

Another New York City mayor, current mayor Eric Adams, was also in the news this week, leading to a rise in lookups for several terms, including bribe.

Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, faces charges of accepting bribes and illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources after an indictment was filed against the controversial leader of one of the world’s biggest cities.
— The Guardian (US), 26 Sept. 2024

We define bribe (noun) as either “money or favor given or promised in order to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust” or “something that serves to induce or influence.” Bribe has been in use as a noun since the 15th century (and as a verb since the 16th), and may be traced to an Anglo-French word meaning “morsel.” The word for someone who gives a bribe is briber; the person who receives one is a bribee.

‘Pygmy hippopotamus’

Lookups for pygmy hippopotamus have been higher than usual since a certain diminutive hippo whose name translates to “bouncy pork” has taken the internet by storm.

Defiant, sassy, slippery, chubby, loves to scream. We can all relate. If you have yet to come across the internet’s favorite pygmy hippopotamus, then meet Moo Deng. She’s a bit of a diva. … Since Moo Deng’s public introduction by the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chon Buri, Thailand, south of Bangkok, on July 25, when she was 2 weeks old, her star has only risen.
— Becca Foley and Noah Riffe, The New York Times, 24 Sept. 2024

We define pygmy hippopotamus as “a small hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis synonym Hexaprotodon liberiensis) of western Africa and especially Liberia that may reach a weight of nearly 600 pounds (270 kilograms).” In addition to its smaller size, the pygmy hippopotamus differs from the common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) in being nocturnal and less aquatic and in having a rounder head with the eyes set to the sides, less webbing between the toes, and only one pair of lower incisor teeth.

‘Black hole’

More people have been looking up the term black hole following the discovery of a particularly large one.

Astronomers have observed a massive pair of jets releasing from a supermassive black hole 7.5 billion light-years from Earth. The megastructure spans 23 million light-years in length, making these black hole jets the largest ever seen, according to new research. Black holes are viewed as the garbage disposals of the universe, gobbling up nearly everything that comes close to them. But a fraction of material is ejected before an object falls in, forming a jet on either side of the black hole, said Martijn Oei, a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology and the lead author of a new study describing the discovery.
— Ashley Strickland, CNN, 25 Sept. 2024

In technical use, black hole refers to a celestial object that has a gravitational field so strong that light cannot escape it and that is believed to be created especially in the collapse of a very massive star. Black hole is also often used figuratively, to refer to something resembling the galactic phenomenon, such as something that consumes a resource continually (as in “a financial black hole”) or a dark and seemingly inescapable state or situation.

Word Worth Knowing: ‘Pumpkin Spice’

It’s decorative latte season, logophiles! Time to throw on your coziest cardigan, line up some gourds on the front porch, and get hip to the flavors (and words) of fall. Pumpkin spice refers to a mixture of spices commonly used in pumpkin pie, and has been around since at least 1930. A recipe in a 1937 periodical published by the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, for example, calls for ¾ of a teaspoon of the tasty, aromatic stuff. The specific combination of spices referred to as pumpkin spice or pumpkin pie spice usually includes cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and often allspice, and is today used in all kinds of foodstuffs—cereal, donuts, coffee, and so, so, so, so, so much more.