Ten years ago today, it was a summery Sept. 10 here in Central New York. The temperature hovered in the 80s and there was an occasional drizzle here and there. Mostly, though, it was just another Monday. The weekend had given way to a new work week, and classrooms bustled with kids who were still settling in to the early days of a new school year.
In other words, a perfectly unremarkable day. Folks went to work and came home from work. Meals were made, dishes were washed, homework was done. People laughed, loved, talked, argued, ignored each other, and whatever else people do on perfectly unremarkable days. The next day was a blue-sky beauty in the 70s. But it was not the change in weather that would leave its indelible imprint. If only. On Tuesday morning, at 8:46, the normality of everything unremarkable vanished in an instant and our entire world changed ... forever.
As we reflect this month on the atrocities of Sept. 11, 2001, we can't help but recall those horrific moments and their aftermath with vivid recollection. Life as we knew it had stopped, and our personal concerns and private little lives with our petty little differences ceased to exist. For weeks, we all watched the same images, prayed the same prayers, and waved the same flags. By the time November arrived, we had forged a unified conscience and pride that had not so defined a Thanksgiving since our first one at Plymouth Plantation in 1621.
In December, the holidays were marked by a collective desire to contribute in financial and other tangible ways to the victims' families and to acknowledge the efforts and sacrifices of our uniformed heroes at home and abroad. When the New Year began, we instinctively knew that Sept. 11 was not over, and we were right. Ten years later, we know that to still be true.
Of all the dreadful acts of human aggression (e.g., at Pearl Harbor) that have marred the timeline of modern civilization, there is perhaps none with as much of a persistent influence on our everyday lives as the ungodly assaults that took place on Sept. 11, 2001. I don't know of another single event that has generated as much immediate (as well as ongoing) and likely permanent revision to our language. I would even say that there is no term new to the vocabulary of the 21st century that exceeds the prominence (and historical permanence) of "9/11." Just below the surface of that is a stream of related terminology and phraseology that is either completely new or which has taken on new post-9/11 significance.
Consider these following examples of such, and think about how familiar and entrenched in our lives they have become over the past 10 years: Global War on Terror (GWOT), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Ground Zero, Islamophobia, al- Qaida, biowarfare, Axis of Evil, sleeper cells, Twin Towers, "a field in Pennsylvania," Osama bin Laden, weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Abu Ghraib prison, jihadist, The Falling Man, survivor guilt, bioweapons, "Let's roll," Flight 93, anthrax, border patrol, Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), homegrown terrorists, counterterrorism, the Taliban, first responders, World Trade Center (WTC), improvised explosive device (IED), threat level orange, "Please remove your shoes," Transportation Security Administration (TSA), waterboarding, cybersecurity, enhanced interrogation, suicide bombing, anger unity, 3-1-1 rule ("3-ounce bottles in 1-quart zip-top bag, 1 bag per traveler"), agroterrorism, dirty bombs, Guantanamo ("Gitmo"), body scan, ethnic profiling, "If you see something, say something."
Few of us will need to be nudged into remembrance tomorrow. For most of us, these past 10 years have erased neither our grievous memory nor our unflagging resolve to seek justice and preserve freedom. Of all the bywords to survive our 9/11 experience, none ring truer than these: "We will never forget."
Edmeston resident Christine A. Lindberg, senior U.S. lexicographer for Oxford University Press, is the principal content editor of Oxford's American English dictionaries and thesauruses. Opinions expressed by Lindberg in this column are done so independently, and do not necessarily reflect the policies and practices of Oxford University Press. Have a question or comment relating to the English language? E-mail: languagewithlindberg@gmail.com. Selected submissions will be answered here periodically.
Let's Look At The Language
Sometimes an unremarkable day is the one we should cherish the most
- Let's Look At The Language
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'We'll take a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne'
By Christine A. Lindberg A song that "owns" a particular day of the year is rare.
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Here comes Santa Claus ... where'd he get that snazzy red suit?
Years ago, I had a book of letters written to Santa Claus, and I remember that, among all the messages of "bring me this," "bring me that," and "I'll leave you a plate of cookies," one little boy had written, "Dear Santa, Where did you get your snazzy red suit?" I wouldn't be surprised if the author of that question grew up to be either a reporter or a fashion consultant, but in any event, I hope he got an answer to his question.
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Where do I plug in these Electric Prunes?
Those of us who make the family feasts of Thanksgiving and Christmas magically appear on the table know there's nothing magic about it.
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The sometimes-cryptic language of company names
Cream cheese originated in 1872 as the result of William Lawrence's failure to duplicate the French cheese Neufchatel. By 1880, he knew his "accidental cheese" was good enough for distribution, so he packaged it in foil wrappers and called it Philadelphia Cream Cheese.
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Humorist Will Rogers: One of the crown jewels in American language
Defined as "a humorous writer, performer or artist," a humorist could technically be anyone who makes you laugh, but my concept of a humorist is not nearly so broad
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Not quite an 'Ode to Pepé Le Pew' after gross, stinky encounter
My previous column ended with the words "sweet dreams," which are nice if you can get 'em, but sometimes the occasion of slumber time is a few degrees short of sweet.
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What will my dream-doctor say about this orgledream in my head?
I just read a snippet of folklore that tells me "a dream of grasshoppers means that something is confusing you."
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Names of hurricanes don't match reality
When the storm named Irene barreled up into Edmeston four weeks ago, I didn't think I'd still be looking down upon the vestiges of her destruction from my upstairs windows.
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'Don't miss it, don't even be late' The Great New York State Fair is here
"Our state fair is a great state fair! Don't miss it, don't even be late. It's dollars to doughnuts that our state fair is the best state fair in our state!"
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Some of it's all Greek to me, but mostly it's just herbaceously aromatic
For the past five years, I've been a container gardener (having given up the backyard to my dogs).
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Like gods on the heptagram, so are the days of our week
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'Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?' just not the same
When the Baltimore Orioles' third baseman took the field on May 30, 1982, not even Nostradamus could have foreseen that one of the most celebrated streaks in baseball was beginning at that very moment. The player was Cal Ripken Jr., whose 2,131st consecutive game on Sept. 6, 1995, surpassed Lou Gehrig's "unsurpassable" record.
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A frabjous Fourth of July to everyone!
If there's one date in history that every American can cite, it's the day that the Continental Congress gave its nod to the Declaration of Independence: July 4, 1776.
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I wonder if ancient Romans ever put sanctions on that two-faced Janus
Someone recently asked me if I could explain the meaning of the word "sanction.
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June is bustin' out all over!
When "Carousel," the second stage musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, opened on Broadway on April 19, 1945, the audience left the theater in buoyant spirits.
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Go ahead and have a rat on a stick, but please don't call it a lollipop
I recent read that this Tuesday is National Escargot Day. I was unable to find any compelling evidence that this is an official national day for any nation in particular, but it does seem that throughout the U.K. and North America, French restaurants have happily adopted the day as a time to celebrate their garlicky little mollusks.
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Onomatopoeic power of wheatgrass souffle
“The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named” is the New Oxford American Dictionary’s definition of “onomatopoeia” (Ah-Nuh-mah-tuh-PEE-uh).
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The language of Benjamin Franklin, in whatever name he used
When Benjamin Franklin died 221 years ago this month, the entire Western world mourned, yet his gravestone reads (in full), “Benjamin and Deborah Franklin 1790.”
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There's nothing like a good spoonerism to tickle a bunny phone
The English economist Sir Roy Forbes Harrod (1900"1978) once said that, compared to all the scholars he had known at Oxford and Cambridge, the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844"1930) was the most exceptional in "scholarship, devotion to duty, and wisdom." There is no reason to question Harrod's assessment, but that's not exactly the imprint by which Spooner is best remembered.
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'We'll take a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne'
