A Word on wordsmiths
IN HIS MEMOIR I Want To Thank My Brain For Re membering Me, Jimmy Breslin calls attention to his contributions to contemporary expression through book titles such as Can't Anyone Here Play This Game? and The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. Although reviewer Christopher Lehman-- Haupt says Breslin probably credits himself too much, the fact is that columnists such as Breslin as well as editorial writers and other journalists have played a significant part in American expression since its earliest days.
In the contemporary media world where political correctness, the use of cliches, or even plagiarizing phrases from others is becoming more accepted, it's essential to recall past times when writers relied on themselves or their own creativity to come up with original phrases or words to better describe a complex world to a mass audience.
A survey of journalism history reveals that a number of editorial writers, columnists, and print journalists have reached into the deep wells of their mind or experience to create neologism, which Webster defines both as 1.) a new word usage or expression, and 2.) a meaningless word coined by a psychotic.
Thus, it is no surprise that Noah Webster, whose name is synonymous with dictionary, had his passion for words whetted as a journalist before moving on to become America's foremost lexicographer. Before taking 20 years to finish his dictionary, his contributions for the Federalist daily newspaper American Minerva were said to be among the earliest true editorials. Caustic satirist and columnist Ambrose Bierce added to this wordsmith tradition with his Devil's Dictionary. Today columnist William Safire continues to chronicle such changes in the language in a weekly column in the New York Times magazine. Changes are also published annually in American Speech, a journal founded in 1925 at the instigation of "The Sage of Baltimore," H.L. Mencken, whose avocation was studying the language of America.
Mencken, the reporter, editor, columnist, and wordster for the Baltimore Herald and Sunpapers, is probably the most prolific of all creators of words. Among his most famous terms to describe the not-too-- bright American citizen was "Boobus Americanus" and dozens of others. Columnist Walter Lippman described Mencken as "the most powerful influence on this whole generation of educated people."
Still another originator of words was columnist Walter Winchell, who coined such expressions as "G-men" after the term was used by Machine Gun Kelly to describe FBI agents as "government men." A columnist as well as broadcaster, Winchell wrote the items for his newspaper columns and radio broadcasts in a brash style that influenced other writers. Divorce became "cancellation" or "Reno-vation"; bandleaders were "batoneers"; the people in love were "cupiding."
According to Richard M. Brown, Winchell was among the first to attack the "ratzis" as he called the Nazis, and he evaluated Hitler and the "swastinkas" as no different than the racketeers he had known on Broadway. In spite of the efforts of Hearst and CBS to shut him up, he was defiant of censorship and broadened his attacks to damn the "Hitlerooters" as he branded the "Assolationists" and the "American First" movement.
Broadcast historian Irving Fang says that Winchell's lasting impact on the American scene, his footprint, may be his coinage of words. In addition to those cited, Fang says Winchell was responsible for: "making whoopee"; "flicker" (a motion picture); "giggle water" (liquor); "the hardened artery" (Broadway); "fooff" (a pest); "keptive" (a mistress); "the idyll rich." There were bad guys around: "swaticooties," "pink stinkos," "Chicagorillas." There were also delights to ogle: 'hatchicks," "tersichorines."
Winchell also combined words to use them in a new way. People didn't marry. After they were "on the verge," "that way," or "on fire," they "lohengrined," "merged," or "middle-aisled." After their "pash dimmed," they would be "phewd." People didn't divorce. They were "on the verge." They "reno-vated," "soured," "curdled," "wilted," "melted," "told it to the judge," or went "phfft." People didn't have babies. They "got storked," or had a "blessed event," or a "bundle from heaven." And if the baby had not yet arrived the couple was "infanticipating." When the baby did arrive, it was an "image" or a "parrot."
In addition to the creativity of Mencken, Winchell, and other columnists, editorial writers are recognized for their wordsmithing contributions with a variety of methods. In his book Fifty Years Among the New Words, John Algeo of the University of Georgia notes there are at least six basic etymological sources for new words: creating, borrowing, combining, shortening, blending, and shifting. Here's a few of the best and brightest contributions from the opinion pages.
Afghanistanism - coined by Jenkin Lloyd Jones, a former member of the National Conference of Editorial Writers as well as columnist and editor of the Tulsa Tribune:
"It takes guts to dig up the dirt on the sheriff, or to expose a utility racket, or to tangle with the governor. They all bite back, and you had better know your stuff. But you can pontificate about the situation in Afghanistan in perfect safety. You have no fanatic Afghans among your readers. Nobody knows more about the subject than you do, and nobody gives a damn."
Beatnik and Beserkeley - Coined by San Fransico Chronicle columnist Herb Caen. Cauliflower Industry - The term used by sports columnist W.O. McGeehan to describe wrestling, which he refused to take seriously. He once described boxing as "the manly art of modified murder."
Cold War - Jay M. Shafritz claims the phrase was first used by Herbert Bayard Swope of the New York World in speeches he wrote for financier and industrialist Bernard Baruch. After Baruch told the Senate War Investigating Committee on October 24, 1948, "Let us not be deceived -- today we are in the midst of a cold war," the press picked up the phrase and it became a part of everyday speech.
Daddyknowsbestism -- Coined by Joseph and Stewart Alsop in an article criticizing the American government for telling the American people less than one-tenth of what they ought to know about the atomic bomb.
Era of Good Feeling -- First appeared in an editorial written by Benjamin Russell welcoming President James Monroe to Boston in 1817 following the decline of the Federalist opposition. The phrase has since been used to refer to that period in general.
Gangster -- Robert W. Davenport believes the word was coined by Fremont Older, editor of the San Francisco Bulletin from 1895-1918.
Gerrymandering -- Coined in 1812 by Benjamin Russell, editor of the Federalist Columbian Centinel in Boston to describe the system of drawing new political districts by Elbridge Gerry, who was serving as governor of Massachusetts. The Boston Weekly Messenger picked up on Russell's term and ran a cartoon with head, wings, and claws added. Governor Gerry lost the election and "Gerrymander" became part of the American language.
Gutter Journalism - Media historian Frank Luther Mott believes the phrase was used by reformer, author, and critic Oswald Garrison Villard of the New York Evening Post and Nation magazine in a radio debate in March 1927.
Hawks and doves - Described first by Stewart Alsop in the debate about Vietnam. Dwight Jensen says Alsop described John Kennedy's "Irish Mafia" and "eggheads" and "eyeball to eyeball" confrontations. His phrase "the Masada complex" drew him a scolding from Golda Meier.
Higher Up - Attributed to Fremont Older.
Indegoddamnpendent -- Publishing giant Joseph Pulitzer once referred to his "indegoddamnpendent" editorial page editor Frank Cobb. Cobb would be fired - once even being put ashore at midnight from the Pulitzer yacht - or would quit. But always returned.
Linotype -- Whitelaw Reid, editor of the New York Tribune, originated the name "linotype" for Ottmar Mergenthaler's invention when he examined a line-long slug and cried, "It's a line of type."
Manifest Destiny - John Louis O'Sullivan, editor of the United States Magazine and Democratic Review, gave life to the phrase "Manifest Destiny," coined when Texas was annexed in 1845.
Middle America -- Syndicated columnist Joseph Kraft of The Washington Post is credited with inventing the term "Middle America." Like many other "revolving door" journalists such as Safire and David Gergen who regularly shuffle between government and journalism phrase making, Kraft also served as a speech writer for John F. Kennedy.
Mugwumps -New York Sun editor Charles Dana created this term to describe those who desert their political party to support another candidate, particularly the Republicans who would not support the candidacy of James G. Blaine, the Republican candidate for president in 1884. More damning to Louis Filler in A Dictionary of American Conservatism is the definition by Ambrose Bierce, "In politics one afflicted with self respect and addicted with the vice of independence. A term of contempt."
Right to Know - Associated Press administrative officer Kent Cooper is credited with introducing the phrase as a reference to journalists and the public's right of access to governmental information.
Slick Willie - Created by NCEW member and Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer Paul Greenberg of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette to describe the remarkable capacity of then-- governor Bill Clinton to consistently extricate himself from serious moral, ethical, and legal charges on a regular basis. The term is a kissing cousin to "Teflon president," used to characterize president Ronald Reagan's ability not to negative charges stick to him.
Sob Sisters - Irwin Cobb, a reporter for the New York Evening World used this term to describe four "chosen women" who were assigned a "royal pew" of seats to cover the notorious Nesbitt trial. The off-hand sarcastic two-- word alliteration as the "trial of the century" began described the new form of reportage and was destined to become an integral part of the popular culture.
The System - Introduced by muckracker Thomas Lawson in his series "Frenzied Finance" in Everybody's magazine. It pertains to stock manipulation and trusts in general.
Underworld - Used to describe the world of organized crime. A term invented by muckraker Josiah Flynt. According to William McKeen, Flynt's articles in the Century and McClures were peppered with colorful expressions and his extensive use of argot has been credited with loosening up journalistic style. An alcoholic and drug addict, Flynt introduced such terms as "mob" (for organized crime), "squeal", "speakeasy", "fix" (as in a bribe), "handout", "pull" (for influence), "pinch" (for arrest), and "joint" (for an illegal establishment).
Whig - James Watson Webb of the New York Courier and Enquirer broke with the Democratic Party and became a leading voice for the opposition, which, upon his advice, began calling themselves "Whigs."
Finally, in addition to those in the editorial writing and column-writing business who did so much to create words, tribute must be paid to at least one journalist who helped kill words in the American lexicon.
He was Josephus Daniels, the much respected editor of The News and Observer in Raleigh who carried out his killing job not as a journalist but as a secretary of the Navy, where he served from 1913 to 1921. It was Daniels who caused controversy not only for abolishing the officer's wine mess, but for substituting the words "left" and "right" for "port" and "starboard". One wit remarked that at one fell swoop the secretary had 'jettisoned larboard, starboard and sideboard."
Journalists who kill words, however, are the exception in American media history. As seen in this survey of the creative act, editorial writers, columnists, and their kin are on the cutting edge of helping to make the blooming, buzzing world we live and write in just a little bit easier to see, interpret, and understand.
Alf Pratte is a media historian at Brigham Young University. He is also the author of Gods Within the Machine: A History of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
Copyright MASTHEAD National Conference of Editorial Writers Spring 1999
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved
