The Words of the Week - July 29

Photo: a ruined castle on the shore of Loch Ness

’Recession’

Recession was in the news a considerable amount last week, as headline writers (and others) grappled with the thorny question of whether or not we are now in one.

If it looks like a recession and quacks like a recession…
— (headline) CNN Business, 28 Jul. 2022

The economy shrank in the first half of 2022 — but the US isn't even close to entering an actual recession
— (headline) Business Insider, 28 Jul. 2022

The economy may look like it’s in recession, but we still don’t know for sure
— (headline) CNBC, 28 Jul. 2022

Our definitions for the economic sense of recession can be broad (“a period of reduced economic activity”) or somewhat more specific (“a period of reduced general economic activity marked by a decline in employment, profits, production, and sales that is not as severe or as prolonged as a depression”). A number of economists consider two consecutive quarters of decline in a country’s gross domestic product to be an indication of a recession. If one uses this standard of measurement then the U.S. is currently in one.

It is worth noting, however, that not all economists (or business journalists) consider this to be the only indicator of a recession, or view it as nothing more than an informal definition.

There is no precise definition of a recession, helping complicate the debate over whether the U.S. is already in or will soon see one.
— Amar Omeokwe and Andrew Duehren, The Wall Street Journal, 28 Jul. 2022

No, two quarters of negative growth aren’t, whatever you may have heard, the “official” or “technical” definition of a recession; that determination is made by a committee that has always relied on several indicators, especially job growth.
— Paul Krugman, The New York Times, 28 Jul. 2022

Two straight negative readings is considered an informal definition of a recession, though in this case economists think that's misleading.
— Christopher Rugaber, Treasury & Risk (New York, NY), 25 Jul. 2022

The ‘two consecutive quarters of declining GDP’ sense of recession is not new; it has been in use by some economists since at least the middle of the 1960s.

If recessions are measured, as some economists chose to, by two consecutive quarters of falling Gross National Product, history will probably show that there was only a brief hesitation, and no recession in 1967.
— Hobart Rowen, The Washington Post, 18 Jun. 1967

’Loch Ness’ & ‘Plausible’

Loch Ness and plausible spiked in lookups, after it was reported that the existence of the former might be described by the latter.

Existence of Loch Ness monster ‘plausible,’ scientists say after fossil discovery
— (headline) The Independent (London, Eng.), 28 Jul. 2022

Loch Ness is a lake 23 miles (37 kilometers) long in the northwestern Highlands of Scotland, long reputed to be the home of a large creature that many have described as a monster. This is the only meaning of Loch Ness. Plausible, on the other hand, is one of those tricky words with several shades of meaning, including “appearing worthy of belief,” “superficially pleasing or persuasive,” and “superficially fair, reasonable, or valuable but often specious.“ It entered English use in the 16th century, coming from the Latin word plausibilis, meaning “worthy of applause.”

’Fake’

Fake was in the news as well, following reports that political allies of former President Trump had used this word in describing the electors they proposed sending to Congress on his behalf.

Previously undisclosed emails provide an inside look at the increasingly desperate and often slapdash efforts by advisers to President Donald Trump to reverse his election defeat in the weeks before the Jan. 6 attack, including acknowledgments that a key element of their plan was of dubious legality and lived up to its billing as “fake.”
— Maggie Haberman and Luke Broadwater, The New York Times, 26 Jul. 2022

When used as an adjective fake carries the meaning of “not true, real, or genuine.” This sense is a relatively recent addition to English, first appearing in print as an adjective about 140 years ago. The uses of fake as a noun and verb are older, but not by much; they show up in written use in the beginning of the 19th century. The word was initially viewed as slang (many of the earliest citations of its use come from dictionaries of slang), and we may safely assume that it was used in spoken use for some time prior to its appearances in print.

’Swap’

Another four letter word, swap, was prominently feature in many headlines, following news reports that the Biden administration was attempting to set up an exchange of prisoners with Russia.

Brittney Griner: US could swap Russia arms dealer for two Americans
— (headline) BBC, 28 Jul. 2022

The sense of swap used here is “to give in exchange, to barter.” There is a dialectal sense of the word, not now in common use, with the meaning of  “to cause to strike or fall against something by throwing, moving, or flinging.” This definition makes more sense when one considers that the common sense of swap came from a Middle English word, swappen, meaning “to strike” (from the practice of striking hands in closing a business deal).

’Semiconductor’

A number of people turned to their dictionary to brush up on the meaning of semiconductor after politicians announced a plan to invest significantly in domestic production of these.

Senate passes bipartisan bill investing $52 billion in US semiconductor production
— (headline) CNN, 27 Jul. 2022

A semiconductor is “a material or object that allows some electricity or heat to move through it and that is used especially in electronic devices.” They are made of a crystal material whose ability to conduct electricity rises as its temperature goes up. That is, a semiconductor will sometimes acts as a conductor and sometimes as an insulator. Its conducting ability can be much increased by chemical treatment.

Words Worth Knowing: ‘Quiddity’

Our word worth knowing this week is quiddity, defined as “the essential nature or ultimate form of something : what makes something to be the type of thing that it is.” If you do not like this meaning, quiddity conveniently has other meanings, including “a trifling point, a quibble,” and “a highly individual and usually eccentric opinion or preference.”