[Ads-l] Wokeness and the English language

Fri Oct 22 19:13:05 UTC 2021

Just out of curiosity, what is the nature of Michael Lewis's highly lauded earlier work ?

Fred Shapiro

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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of dave at wilton.net <dave at WILTON.NET>
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2021 2:55 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Wokeness and the English language

In addition to the linguistic problems with Lewis's piece, he gets non-linguistic facts wrong that would have been corrected had he done a modicum of background research. Notable: his framing of California Senate Bill 219 is inaccurate, and Chelsea Manning was not "pardoned." Her sentence was commuted on compassionate grounds after it was revealed that she had been abused while in custody. She remains a convicted felon.

Had there been even a minimal amount of fact-checking, this piece would never have seen the light of day, at least not in its present form. But then I guess he's Michael Lewis and above such trivial matters like getting facts right. It makes me question his earlier work which has been so highly lauded, and which I had thought was excellent.

-----Original Message-----
From: "Baker, John" <JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM>
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2021 2:28pm
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Wokeness and the English language

While I'm hesitant to be in the position of defending Michael Lewis's article, with which I disagree, I think a fair reading of his claims about "pasta" and "relatable" is that these terms had dramatic increases in their use around 1980 and 2010, respectively, not that they were new terms that previously had not been used. He bases this on Google Ngram Viewer, where you can see that these terms have long histories but became strikingly more popular about those times. I myself recall how noticeable it was when everyone suddenly stopped saying "spaghetti" and started saying "pasta" instead.

As Fred Shapiro points out, however, Lewis's claim that "sexist language" first appeared in a 1971 essay is lightly researched, as JSTOR has examples from 1970. I also see its use in the (Pasadena) Star News from Jan. 2, 1971, in an article by Aileen Hernandez, National President of the National Organization for Women, which likewise predates the essay Lewis references.

John Baker

From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of Shapiro, Fred
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2021 9:38 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Wokeness and the English language

External Email - Think Before You Click

Lewis does actually mention the Oxford English Dictionary in his article, but doesn't seem to have realized that the OED is a source that might be helpful in determining dates of appearance of words and phrases.

Fred Shapiro

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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>> on behalf of Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM<mailto:bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>>
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2021 9:23 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>>
Subject: Re: Wokeness and the English language

A little Googling might have revealed this NYT column from 2010 where I
trace the history of "relatable":

https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2010%2F08%2F15%2Fmagazine%2F15onlanguage.html&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40yale.edu%7C28eedac164e24d93580308d9958d85e7%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637705258393301610%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=HwJsm6CI8o%2F9XSLxoNsyRw3VOQJd9VlxbPSacb6VZB8%3D&reserved=0<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2010%2F08%2F15%2Fmagazine%2F15onlanguage.html&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40yale.edu%7C28eedac164e24d93580308d9958d85e7%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637705258393301610%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=HwJsm6CI8o%2F9XSLxoNsyRw3VOQJd9VlxbPSacb6VZB8%3D&reserved=0>

Or perhaps Lewis saw the reader's claim that the term was new in 2010 and
didn't bother reading further.

Elsewhere, Lewis does at least get the origin of "Ms." right, dating it to
1901, based on research by Fred and me.

https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2009%2F10%2F25%2Fmagazine%2F25FOB-onlanguage-t.html&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40yale.edu%7C28eedac164e24d93580308d9958d85e7%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637705258393301610%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=fEHgPc9GAJvAFaGK3kPz%2FJzIcsl7hNACmA8wIOgrg%2BU%3D&reserved=0<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2009%2F10%2F25%2Fmagazine%2F25FOB-onlanguage-t.html&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40yale.edu%7C28eedac164e24d93580308d9958d85e7%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637705258393301610%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=fEHgPc9GAJvAFaGK3kPz%2FJzIcsl7hNACmA8wIOgrg%2BU%3D&reserved=0>

--bgz

On Fri, Oct 22, 2021 at 6:43 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu<mailto:fred.shapiro at yale.edu>> wrote:

> Lewis's statement about a sense of the word "relatable" dating only from
> about 2010 also shows his ignorance of the OED and probably of Google Ngram
> as well.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>> on behalf of
> Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU<mailto:fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>>
> Sent: Friday, October 22, 2021 6:34 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>>
> Subject: Re: Wokeness and the English language
>
> Like Wilson, I was struck by Lewis's strange line about "pasta." I don't
> know whether he was basing his "never before 1980" statement on his own
> memories or on some erroneous Google Ngram, but is it possible that this
> great champion of the traditional English language is ignorant of the
> existence of the Oxford English Dictionary ? The OED has lots of citations
> for "pasta" going back to the early 1800s.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>> on behalf of
> Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM<mailto:hwgray at GMAIL.COM>>
> Sent: Friday, October 22, 2021 12:10 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>>
> Subject: Re: Wokeness and the English language
>
> "no one said _pasta_ before about 1980"
> - Michael Lewis
>
> Clearly, he means that no one _wrote_ "pasta" before about 1980. And his
> encomium yo James Brown is also ill-conceived.it was the Black Panther
> Party, especially Stokeley Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, and Malcolm X, who
> made "black" cool and hip, no longer a gross insult cringeworthy and
> hurtful enough, at one time, to bring tears in schoolyards and playgrounds.
> Richard Pryor had those days inn mind, when he quipped, "I'm not black. I'm
> colored!"
>
> On Wed, Oct 20, 2021 at 8:08 PM David Daniel <dad at coarsecourses.com<mailto:dad at coarsecourses.com>>
> wrote:
>
> > Well, what scared me about the article is that it described what I have
> > observed. I saw no claims that were beyond the reality I have observed. I
> > just had not read anything that gathered them all together. If he missed
> > some linguistic history, I don't think that affects the value of his
> > comments about present events. Cancel-culture linguistic mania is way
> over
> > the top, and social media is allowing the tail to wag the dog. "One guy
> > with
> > a twitter account..."
> > DAD
> >
> > -----Mensagem original-----
> > De: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] Em nome de
> > dave at wilton.net<mailto:dave at wilton.net>
> > Enviada em: quarta-feira, 20 de outubro de 2021 17:48
> > Para: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Assunto: Re: Wokeness and the English language
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>>
> > Poster: "dave at wilton.net<mailto:dave at wilton.net>" <dave at WILTON.NET<mailto:dave at WILTON.NET>>
> > Subject: Re: Wokeness and the English language
> >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---
> >
> > =0AI had respect for Michael Lewis, but not only does he demonstrate
> > ignora=
> > nce of linguistics and the history of the English language, but he gets
> > bas=
> > ic, easily researched facts wrong.=0A =0AHe is going the route of J.K.
> > Rowl=
> > ing. Sad, really.=0A =0A =0A-----Original Message-----=0AFrom: "David
> > Danie=
> > l" <dad at COARSECOURSES.COM<mailto:dad at COARSECOURSES.COM>>=0ASent: Wednesday, October 20, 2021
> > 4:23pm=0ATo:=
> > ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU=0ASubject<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU=0ASubject>: [ADS-L] Wokeness and the English
> > languag=
> > e=0A=0A=0A=0AVery interesting article and, at least for me,
> > scary.

>
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