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When this forum was originally scheduled, it was intended as a conversation about how our language is changing. Example, the idiom "woke" or "#woke" has a very keen set of meanings to one group and flies by another.

I still want to do a little of that, but it’s also possibly more important to talk about the battle over basic meaning in the public square. I think it can be argued that:

(a) some phrases are being accorded an almost incantatory power (e.g. the long-running debate over whether or when Obama would use the phrase “radical Islam”),
(b) some words are used to define the political landscape despite the fact that they themselves elude definition (e.g. the way the word “elites” was used in 2016),
(c) there’s a whole pile of isms – fascism, nativism, nationalism, exceptionalism , even terrorism – that currently pepper our national discourse without a common consensual understanding,
(d) it seems at least possible that the events of the last two years have been grinding away like termites at the substructure of American language so that a phrase like "what’s happening last night in Sweden" – in addition to being out of tense – is no longer held to any particular meaning/standard and can be translated by its utterer into "what I saw last night on television about things that have been transpiring over a period of time in Sweden."

When <a href="https://www.watkinson.org/page/programs/freshly-squeezed-with-colin-mcenroe">this forum was originally scheduled</a>, it was intended as a conversation about how our language is changing. Example, the idiom "woke" or "#woke" has a very keen set of meanings to one group and flies by another.
I still want to do a little of that, but it&rsquo;s also possibly more important to talk about the battle over basic meaning in the public square. I think it can be argued that:
(a) some phrases are being accorded an almost incantatory power (e.g. the long-running debate over whether or when Obama would use the phrase &ldquo;radical Islam&rdquo;), (b) some words are used to define the political landscape despite the fact that they themselves elude definition (e.g. the way the word &ldquo;elites&rdquo; was used in 2016), (c) there&rsquo;s a whole pile of isms &ndash; fascism, nativism, nationalism, exceptionalism , even terrorism &ndash; that currently pepper our national discourse without a common consensual understanding, (d) it seems at least possible that the events of the last two years have been grinding away like termites at the substructure of American language so that a phrase like "what&rsquo;s happening last night in Sweden" &ndash; in addition to being out of tense &ndash; is no longer held to any particular meaning/standard and can be translated by its utterer into "what I saw last night on television about things that have been transpiring over a period of time in Sweden."

The Colin McEnroe Show is public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric weekday program. The best way to understand us is through the subjects we tackle: Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor, Rasputin, houseflies, zippers. Are you sensing a pattern? If so, you should probably be in treatment. On Fridays, we try to stop thinking about what kind of ringtones Neanderthals would want to have and convene a panel called The Nose for an informal roundtable about the week in culture.

<a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/show/the-colin-mcenroe-show/about">The Colin McEnroe Show</a> is public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric weekday program. The best way to understand us is through the subjects we tackle: Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor, Rasputin, houseflies, zippers. Are you sensing a pattern? If so, you should probably be in treatment. On Fridays, we try to stop thinking about what kind of ringtones Neanderthals would want to have and convene a panel called <a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/tags/the-nose">The Nose</a> for an informal roundtable about the week in culture.

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