The Words of the Week - August 26

'Debacle'

Election season is upon us, and as a result of this we are seeing an increased number of uses of the word debacle in election-related stories.

DeSantis fighter jet ad conjures 1988 Dukakis tank debacle
— (headline) Washington Post, 23 Aug. 2022

Arizona’s election debacle shows that local officials matter
— (headline) Highland County Press (Hillsboro, OH), 23 Aug. 2022

County leaders said they were embarrassed and frustrated by the election issues, and Frisk's ouster was portrayed as a solution to ensure the debacle wouldn't be repeated in the November general election.
— Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ), 22 Aug. 2022

The most common meanings of debacle today are “a great disaster” or “a complete failure.” When the word came into English, slightly over 200 years ago, the initial meaning was “a tumultuous breakup of ice in a river.” This seemingly incongruous definition came about because the word was borrowed from the French, in which débâcler means "to clear," "to unbolt," or "to unbar.” The ‘breaking up of ice’ sense led to the word also meaning "a violent, destructive flood,” which then gave way to debacle’s current meanings. It may also (although less commonly) be spelled as débâcle.

'Redacted' & 'Affidavit'

Redacted and affidavit both spiked sharply in lookups after a federal judge ordered that the Justice Department release a redacted copy of the affidavit filed when they obtained a warrant to search Donald Trump’s residence.

A federal judge in Florida on Thursday ordered that a redacted version of the affidavit used to obtain a warrant for former President Donald J. Trump’s Florida residence be unsealed by noon on Friday — paving the way for the disclosure of potentially revelatory details about a search with enormous legal and political implications.
— Glenn thrush and Alan Feuer, The New York Times, 25 Aug. 2022

Redacted means “edited especially in order to obscure or remove sensitive information.” The verb this word comes from, redact, has a slightly more confusing set of definitions, as it may mean “to put in writing,” “to obscure or remove (text) from a document prior to publication or release,” or “to select or adapt (as by obscuring or removing sensitive information) for publication or release.”

Affidavit is defined a “a sworn statement in writing made especially under oath or on affirmation before an authorized magistrate or officer.” The word comes from the Latin affīdāvit, meaning "he/she has made a pledge.” 

'Forgiveness'

Many people were interested in the word forgiveness after President Biden announced that this would be applied to a number of student loans.

Here’s what President Biden’s student loan forgiveness means for your taxes
— (headline) CNBC, 23 Oct. 2022

Forgiveness is defined, rather simply, as “the act of forgiving.” The verb forgive has a number of possible meanings, but in this case the most applicable one is “to grant relief from payment of.”

'Quashal'

A large number of people found themselves wondering if quashal was a real word, after this unfamiliar string of letters was featured in a ruling related to whether or not Senator Lindsey Graham would have to testify in a court case.

The appellate circuit ruled that the district court should "determine whether [Graham] is entitled to a partial quashal [rejection] or modification of the subpoena to appear before the special purpose grand jury based on any protections afforded by the Speech or Debate Clause of the United States Constitution.”
— Tal Axelrod, ABC News, 21 Aug. 2022

Quashal is indeed a word, and we define it as “an act of quashing something.” The verb it comes from, quash, may mean either “to suppress or extinguish summarily and completely” or “to nullify especially by judicial action.” Although these two sense look related in meaning, they are actually unrelated in origin. The quash meaning “to suppress or extinguish” comes from the Latin quassare (“to shake violently”); the quash meaning “to nullify” comes from the Latin cassus (“void”).

Words Worth Knowing: 'Catastrophize'

This week’s word worth knowing is catastrophize, defined as “to imagine the worst possible outcome of an action or event.” Many people are prone to doing this, and so it may be of some use to know what the word is to describe it.