What do you do when you really can’t do much because, as the ER nurse said, “you busted your arm up but good”? Word-nerdy stuff. It takes much less of a toll on me, who is still pretty cranky from this whole ordeal, and doesn’t require quite as much typing as usual.(Watch the trolls on the newspaper website ding me over the fact that I don’t use dictation most of the time. However, we don’t have anyone to transcribe dictation, and dictation into digital assistants is spotty at best and always needs a lot of cleanup. Siri sometimes forgets voices she’s been taught, and she often has a dirty mind.)

This week, we’re talking about Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year, “polarization,” which, the dictionary noted, “happens to be one idea that both sides of the political spectrum agree on. Search volume on Merriam-Webster.com throughout the year reflected the desire of Americans to better understand the complex state of affairs in our country and around the world.

“We define ‘polarization’ as ‘division into two sharply distinct opposites; especially, a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes.’

“The word was widely used across the media landscape. Fox News reported that [JD] ‘Vance’s debate answer on immigration crisis shows voter polarization,’ while MSNBC observed that, ‘The 2024 presidential election has left our country more polarized than ever.’ The word was also used to describe divides beyond the U.S. election, as when Forbes warned that in workplaces, ‘cultural polarization is becoming a pressing challenge.’”

Polarization and its verb (polarize) date to the early 1800s, according to the dictionary, when they referred to light waves. “That physical meaning of polarize—‘to cause to vibrate in a definite pattern’—led to the political and cultural meaning that helps define the world today. The ‘polar’ in ‘polarization’ is from Latin ‘polaris,’ which describes the Earth’s poles. Polaris is also a name for the North Star.”

I am more than ready for politics to abandon my word-nerdy fun (c’mon, politics, quit spoiling everything!!!), but I see no let-up in that for the next several years, dang it. A few of the runners-up this year had political connotations to them, chiefly “democracy,” but also “weird,” “pander” and “cognitive.”

“Democracy” has long caused consternation among the hyperpartisan right, since it’s from that word that the Democratic Party gets its name; apparentlty that makes heads explode, which is why they insist the U.S. is a republic (I guess thinking that Democrats are similarly afflicted when hearing a word related to a political rival’s party; I know of no Democrats who are bothered by “republic,” sooo …). It is, true, but the U.S. is also a representative democracy. Would heads explode if I noted that it’s perfectly acceptable to call our nation a “democratic republic”? And if so, do I need a ticket to watch?

As for “weird,” we can thank Minnesota Gov./vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz and his July comment referring to “weird people on the other side” for that. He had a point about some of them, but ya know, many of us think being a little weird is good and healthy. Those people took it as an egregious insult (They’re not the fun kind of weird we are, but apparently the creepy and mean sort that bullies like to tar us with. How odd.)

And “pander”? Well, politicians of all stripes do that all the time, as do corporations and countless others. Pandering (saying, doing or providing what someone wants or demands even though it is not proper, good, or reasonable) will never go away, as long as the panderer can get something out of it.

On “cognitive,” I find it odd that one side was focused so much on that (even to the point of suggesting the younger, more vital candidate is a cognitive mess, a common tactic of that side) when its candidate has regularly served up heaping bowls of word salad for years every time he’s been set loose to speak, that supposed “genius weave” be damned. Heck, we all have cognitive issues from time to time, not just older people or those of us who’ve had strokes. I can hope that empathy will eventually kick back in on this and other issues, but I’m not counting on it.

“Allision,” which experienced a surge after the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge after it was struck by a container ship, was also a runner-up. Merriam-Webster wrote: “News sources referred to the event as a collision, but maritime publications mostly used allision instead. The difference is this: Allision occurs when a ship runs into a stationary object, while collision, according to some traditional definitions, refers only to contact between two moving objects.” The dictionary noted, though, that “collision” was appropriate and correct in the context.

“Totality” (hat tip to the April eclipse, which put much of Arkansas in the path of totality), “demure” (thanks to TikTok influencer Jools Lebron and the “very demure, very mindful” trend), “fortnight” (14 days, British usage pulled to the forefront by Taylor Swift’s song of the same name) and “resonate” (“to affect or appeal to someone in a personal or emotional way”; owed its surge in lookups to ChatGPT and news stories referring to political positions resonating with voters) rounded out the runners-up.

Here’s hoping next year’s Word of the Year (and its runners-up) is bereft of the sort of political connotations that make me sigh, roll my eyes and bemoan that politics is ruining my happy place.

Work with me here, word people!

❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

Thank you to everyone who has expressed concern and offered help after I broke my left arm; it’s been heartening to realize how many good people are out there. I’m still limited in what I can do; the cast came off and stitches and staples came out Monday, and I’ve been upgraded to a hinged brace (which unfortunately not only doesn’t come with “Bionic Woman” superpowers, it doesn’t have sound effects either, dammit). However, my wrist will be immobile for three more months, at which time the plate over my hand will be removed; that means no driving till then.

This will thus be a much-needed lesson in patience for me, as I tend to be very impatient and prefer not to have to depend on others. Lessons can come at any age, and the wiser among us aren’t averse to learning. May I choose to be wise.