by Jackson Elliot
Consider yourself lucky if you started learning English before last year. With Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s addition of 1,373 new words and 4,000 revisions since 2018, you got in on the ground floor.
There’s also some bad news. The new words include several additions and definition changes that politicize language and drive it leftward. Here are seven of Merriam-Webster’s most recent left-wing words.
1. Woke: Perhaps the most “woke” of all the new words, the publisher says this one is a slang term for being “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).”
If Gillette runs an ad campaign that suggests real violence against women can be stopped by one guy tapping another guy on the shoulder to remind him not to harass people, that’s “woke.”
2. They: At Merriam-Webster, they’re saying we should use “they” to “refer to a single person whose gender identity is nonbinary.”
This decision follows hundreds of years of English speakers who have used words like “he” or “she.”
3. Mansplain: The publisher says this means “To explain something to a woman in a condescending way that assumes she has no knowledge about the topic.”
Of course, a woman would never explain anything to another woman in a condescending way. Isn’t it sexist for a word to make it sound like only men can condescend?
4. Latinx: Nothing shows respect for Latino culture like altering the way you say “Latino” because the way it’s said in Spanish isn’t genderless enough for the tastes of an American liberal.
Merriam-Webster says “Latinx” means “of, relating to, or marked by Latin American heritage—used as a gender-neutral alternative to Latino or Latina.”
5. Antifa: This word has two definitions—an anti-fascist movement, or a person or group actively opposing fascism.
And nothing says “opposing fascism” like masked people clad in black and carrying chains and crowbars who attack journalists and other targets.
6. Inclusive: What dictionary would be inclusive without “inclusive”? Merriam-Webster added a meaning-shifting expansion to the original definition, “Including everyone.”
The publisher adds, “Especially: allowing and accommodating people who have historically been excluded (as because of their race, gender, sexuality, or ability).”
Groups that include everyone are inclusive, but some groups are more “inclusive” than others.
7. Top Surgery and Bottom Surgery: At the bottom of the list, we’ve got “top surgery” and “bottom surgery.”
The dictionary says the first word means “A type of gender confirmation surgery in which a person’s breasts are removed or augmented to match their gender identity.”
The second word means “gender confirmation surgery in which a person’s genitalia are altered to match their gender identity.”
It’s sex organ-slicing said with a smile.
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Jackson Elliott is a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation.
