The Perfect Storm is Surging

I was pleased to see that some people took it upon themselves to compile a list of "banished words," or more accurately, words that should be banished but instead are destined to be used ever more frequently. One of them, my nominee for Word of the Year, is "surge." This word has become so pervasive that as a journalist, I now find it difficult to think of any synonyms. ("Candidate X is surging in New Hampshire.") The problem with this word, other than its vaguely sexual connotations, is that it has no distinct meaning and it is not even clear whether it refers to someone acting or being acted upon. Is it an increase (in power or manpower)? A sprint (to the head of a race)? An acceleration (of force, of ideas)? We should restrict usage of this word to its political reference, "The Surge," which is just a proper noun.

Another target on the list are "is the new," as in "War is the new peace." Another is "the perfect storm," which was not even a good movie to begin with. I would add my own grievance in the word "tsunami" used metaphorically, as in, "The Obama tsunami engulfed Iowa." Because the word is not commonly used in our culture, it sounds flippant to stretch it beyond its literal meaning, and hence it appears disrespectful to the victims of a real tsunami to use the word in a casual way. The sensitivity here might become apparent if we tried to substitute a word like "carnage" or "massacre." If we can't talk about the Mike Huckabee Massacre then we shouldn't talk about the tsunami of Hillary Clinton supporters, either. But the word "earthquake," in the political sense, is fine (if a bit dramatic). An earthquake is something that happens outside of anyone's control ("Last week, an earthquake in Iowa reverberated across the nation"), but "tsunami" is used in such a way that a person or group takes on the role of the storm. I am more agnostic about the word "hurricane" since in New Orleans it was already the name of a drink, so I will leave that up to the authorities.