‘Woke’ Is A Past Tense Verb, Not An Adjective – Please Use ‘Red Nazi!’
A very good article in Gatestone last week…
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14794/the-dangerous-stalinism-of-the-woke-hard-left
….about the nazi-style intolerance of the modern Left.
But although its author is an emeritus professor, and stated the case powerfully, he disappointed me by not only using but including in the title, the non-word ‘woke.’
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‘He woke the princess with a kiss.’ That means he ended her sleep, not that he turned her into a shrill young marxist bitch.
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It has a meaning, the simple past tense of the verb ‘to wake.’
We should not allow it to be perverted by nitwits into an adjective…
…the meaning of which is somewhere between ‘resurrected as a tantrum-prone, clueless zombie’ and ‘indoctrinated into intolerance.’
Will Carnworth 21:19 on September 6, 2019 Permalink |
Misusing the English language in this way is more than annoying.
As you say, ‘woke’ is a verb and always has been.
It’s only in the past year or two it’s been misused.
Who started its misuse? When? Why?
I have read that the French have an official authority to safeguard linguistic integrity and that they take their job seriously.
The problem with introducing such a body in the UK or USA is that so many academics in both countries are more interested in leftwing propagandising than in advancing academic excellence.
I expect it would end up vandalising English even more than it already has been.
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