[Ads-l] Wokeness

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Ben and co-authors discussed woke and wokeness here:
American Speech, Vol. 92, No. 2, May 2017, Among the New Words by
Benjamin Zimmer, Jane Solomon and Charles E Carson:

wokeness, wokeness n State of being woke

The first citation listed for wokeness is this 2010 tweet
https://twitter.com/SnowThaProduct/status/25137693977

Twitter handle: SNOW THA PRODUCT @SnowThaProduct
Timestamp: 1:32 PM · Sep 21, 2010
[Begin excerpt]
RT @wokemario: the whistle go woooo < mario!!!!!!!!!! We need to have
a meeting! Wooooo wokeness is on full!
[End excerpt]

woke adj Conscious, aware or enlightened, esp with regards to matters
of social justice and racial inequity; freq in stay woke

1962 May 20 William Melvin Kelley New York Times Sunday Magazine 45
(head & text) If You’re Woke You Dig It / woke (adj): well-informed,
up-to-date (“Man, I’m woke”).

Garson


On Sat, Jan 14, 2023 at 5:11 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> I have a lexicographical question that is puzzling me.  The vogue use of "woke" is now well recognized.  But I don't see "wokeness," which surely has become an important word in its own right, in OED or Merriam-Webster.  It has over 3 million Google hits, and over 10,000 hits on Nexis.  "Wokeness" is in the Urban Dictionary, Wiktionary, and Cambridge English Dictionary.  According to Nexis, the word has appeared as early as Feb. 5, 2014 (in University Wire).  Why haven't the two major dictionaries picked it up yet ?
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org