Words of the Week - March 11

’Cannon fodder’

Cannon fodder has been in the news a considerable amount in the last week, as the word has been applied to some of the Russian soldiers invading Ukraine.

Russian mothers accuse Kremlin of ‘using our sons as cannon fodder’ amid mounting casualties
— (headline) The Independent (London, Eng.), 7 Mar. 2022

The earliest sense of cannon fodder, dating from the first half of the 19th century, is “soldiers regarded or treated as expendable in battle.” A second, more figurative meaning, is “an expendable or exploitable person, group, or thing.” Fodder itself has the initial meaning of “something fed to domestic animals” (especially coarse food for cattle, horses, or sheep), followed by a second, less literal meaning of “inferior or readily available material used to supply a heavy demand.”

Common soldiers—cannon fodder, who correspond to the bailiffs in the civil warfare or mammon hunt, and to the hounds in the hunt of other animals by man.
— Harbinger (New York, NY), 20 Feb. 1847

’Conscript’

Many of the soldiers referred to as cannon fodder had been said to be conscripts, a descriptor until recently denied by Russian military.

Russia's defence ministry acknowledged on Wednesday that some conscripts were taking part in the conflict with Ukraine after President Vladimir Putin denied this on various occasions, saying only professional soldiers and officers had been sent in.
— Reuters, 9 Mar. 2022

Conscript shares a root with many other English words (such as manuscript, describe, and scripturient): the Latin word scribere, meaning “to write.” As a verb conscript carries the meaning of “to enroll into service by compulsion; to draft.” When used as a noun a conscript is a conscripted person (such as a military recruit).

’Walkout’

Walkout was in the news again, after a number of high school students in Florida engaged in this kind of action last week.

More than 500 students participated in a massive walkout Monday at Winter Park High School in Orange County, Florida, in protest of the "Don't Say Gay" bill currently being considered by the state Senate, according to walkout organizer and high school student Will Larkins.
— Amir Vera and Carroll Alvarado, CNN, 7 Mar. 2022

The earliest meaning of walkout, dating from the 1880s, was as a synonym of strike, meaning “a work stoppage by a body of workers to enforce compliance with demands made on an employer.” The noun has broadened somewhat, and now carries the additional meaning of “the action of leaving a meeting or organization as an expression of disapproval.” The word most recently trended late last year, after employees at Netflix walked out in protest over a Dave Chappelle special.

’Revoke’

Revoke spiked in lookups last week, after a member of Congress was found to have been driving with a license that merited the past participle form of this verb.

North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn charged for driving with revoked license in third recent traffic offense
— (headline) CBS News, 9 Mar. 2022

One of the definitions of revoke is “to bring or call back”; in this use it carries such meanings as “to call back to mind or memory,” “to restore to use or operation,” or “to restrain.” The word may also mean “to annul by recalling or taking back,” as one might do with a license. The Latin word vocare means “to call,” and so with the addition of re- we get “to call back.”

’Occasion’

A large number of people headed to their dictionaries to check up on the definition of the word occasion, after the Supreme Court issued a ruling which hinged, in part, on the meaning of this word.

The ordinary meaning of the word “occasion”—essentially an episode or event—refutes the Government’s single-minded focus on whether a crime’s elements were established at a discrete moment in time.
— Supreme Court of the United States, No. 20-5279, William Dale Wooden, Petitioner v. United States, 7 Mar. 2022

At issue was whether someone might be charged for ten separate burglaries, all of which occurred in the same location on the same day, based on these burglaries having occurred on ten separate occasions. The court ruled that, based on the ‘ordinary’ meaning of occasion, it could not be applied to ten instances so closely occurrent. While we do not disagree with the court’s unanimous ruling, we are compelled to point out that there isn’t really a single ‘ordinary’ meaning of this word. Among the meanings of occasion are “a situation or set of circumstances favorable to a particular purpose or development,” “something that produces an effect or brings about an event,” “ something that helps to bring about an event or produce an effect without directly causing it,” “a circumstance, occurrence, or state of affairs that provides ground or reason for something,” “a particular occurrence,” “a particular time at which something takes place,” “a need arising from a particular circumstance,” “a personal want or need,” “a Scottish communion service,” or “a special event or ceremony.”

Some of these senses may be more common than others (“a particular time at which something takes place” is encountered more frequently now than is “a personal want or need,” which is archaic), but we would shy away from saying any single one of them is ordinary.

Word You Should Know: ’Apricity’

This week’s word we think people should know is apricity, defined by Henry Cockeram in his 1623 The English Dictionarie as “the warmeness of the Sunne in Winter.” Although a handful of other lexicographers in the 17th century included this word it never really caught on; the Oxford English Dictionary enters it, but includes a note stating that it is “apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.” This is almost true: the word seems to never be employed in natural writing, but does come up as the name of a cargo ship built in the early 20th century.

The details of launches from Clyde yards during August are as follows: … Apricity, cargo motor coaster, 450 tons—George Brown & Co. (Ltd.), Greenock, for F.T. Everard & Sons (Ltd.), London.
— The Scotsman (Edinburgh, Sc.), 31 Aug. 1933

We don’t think you should know this word in order to use it (although you certainly may), or because it’s important to improve your vocabulary (which we’re sure is just peachy already), but simply because it’s been a hard winter, and sometimes it’s nice to enjoy the feeling of the warmth of the sun in March and think to oneself ‘there’s a word for this.’ We hope you all have as much apricity as you’d like this week.