Tragedy spawns its own lingo

In the aftermath, words a way to cope

By Heather Kays

They are words that never should have existed. Invented in response to events that never should have taken place.

Homeland Security, Ground Zero, weapons of mass destruction, war on terror, anti-terrorism, counterterrorism, bioterrorism, 9/11 generation, and 9/11 itself.

Some are old words and phrases that took on new meaning. Others didn't exist until after Sept. 11, 2001. All were used to help a country cope with tragedy.

The attacks on the World Trade Center that felled the Twin Towers and on the Pentagon and a plane that crashed in a Pennsylvania field in 2001 left the country in shock.

Phrases such as Homeland Security and Transportation Security Administration were supposed to insulate us from concepts such as the axis of evil and weapons of mass destruction.

"It's not so much the impact the event has on language," said William Lutz, retired English professor at Rutgers University in Camden. "It's the impact the event has on us and the language we use to describe it."

Over time, we mourned the 2,974 deaths and did our best to support the survivors, the victims' families and one another. Six years later, we are left with the faded footprints of a disaster that can be found in the most ordinary of places: the English language.

Within days of Sept. 11, new words emerged. Within weeks, words rarely used before became a part of the everyday lexicon.

"Language is used by the people to deal with the world around them," said Lutz. "So as we grew more aware of acts of terrorism, the language began to reflect that."

Grant Barrett, editor of the online dictionary doubletongued.org, agreed: "Anything momentous that happens to us does leave an imprint on the language," he said. "How could 9/11 not have an impact on us?"

The extent of that impact can be seen in the escalation of word usage.

From Sept. 11, 2000, to Sept. 10, 2001, the term "homeland security" appeared in the New York Times only once. From Sept. 10, 2001, to Sept. 11, 2002, however, the term appeared 641 times. Articles containing the word Taliban increased from 259 to more than 3,000 over the same period. And war on terror went from being nonexistent to appearing in 955 articles.

The word usage caught on largely because of their use by the media, quoting politicians.

Any confusion and misuse of terms can be intentional, some linguists say. Terms such as homeland security were purposefully chosen, Lutz maintained, to sway the opinion of the American public.

"National security already existed," he said. "But they didn't want to use a term that already existed. They wanted to create a new word that would change everyone's reality. After all, everything changed after 9/11, you know."

Many words initially used after Sept. 11 have disappeared, but negative terms remain abundant. Phrases such as "weapons of mass destruction," "axis of evil" and "war on terror" have been used consistently post-Sept. 11.

"The derogatory terms made up by the left and right wings are still around," said Barrett. "The politicians are still bickering, and out of that come the insults. There's a ton of that stuff but the number of other words relating to 9/11 that are used on a regular basis can probably be counted on two hands."

"There was no reason to invent a lot of these terms," Lutz said. "A lot of this was done to convince people that everything is different now, to change their sense of reality. That's exactly what advertising does."

The term "Ground Zero," for example, has been altered from meaning "the point directly above, below, or at which a nuclear explosion occurs" to "the nickname quickly assigned to the World Trade Center cleanup site. "Both Barrett and Lutz said people develop a system of abbreviating when describing events such as Sept. 11.

"What we do is use language as shorthand," Lutz explained. "9/11 has become shorthand. It's always said 'Everything changed after 9/11.' But no one ever takes the time to really analyze what that means. 9/11 has been used as shorthand for a lot of things, especially by politicians."

Language experts and psychologists say the new vocabulary served as a way to work through post-Sept. 11 emotional turmoil.

Julie Howard, a licensed counselor in Lambertville who worked with survivors and volunteers directly after Sept. 11, said society needed those terms.

"People felt a need to draw together," Howard said. "We turned to each other in a time of fear, and I think our language change was a reflection of that ... We were trying to accept what had happened and we were trying to find a way to articulate our common experience."

It is common for groups to develop their own language and jargon, especially in a stressful situation.

"Soldiers sitting together on a battlefield are picking up words from wherever they are stationed and they are coming up with their own," Barrett said. "This happens with every war. Police officers and businesses do the same thing."

America's feeling of invincibility disappeared after Sept. 11, which ushered in a sense of uncertainty.

"There's a reason why that branch of government is called Homeland Security," Howard said. "People still need that kind of coping mechanism."

It is likely that much Sept. 11 vocabulary will eventually dissipate.

"Words are born and die," Lutz said. "The words will be around as long as the reality is around."

The reality of Sept. 11 undoubtedly will be long-lived: "The planet would have to explode before we would forget the term 9/11," said Barrett.

Each year, the American Dialect Society has a "Words of the Year" contest, voted on by a panel of professors, students, writers and lexicologists. The 2001 contest was packed with Sept. 11 terms: "9/11" took top honors.

Within the shorthand represented by Sept. 11 lingo, however, danger lurks.

"Using shorthand is both good and bad," Lutz said. "It's good because it is succinct. It's bad when it loses its moorings from reality."

"The intensity of 9/11 will fade. Things fade into time. Even the most horrendous things," Lutz said. "The pain fades and it takes with it all of the emotions and feelings and, a lot of the time, the words."

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(SIDEBAR)

9/11 LEXICON

Jihad —A holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty; a personal struggle in devotion to Islam especially involving spiritual discipline; a crusade for a principle or belief.

Axis of evil — any government that sponsors terror; best known for its use by President Bush in his Jan. 29, 2002, State of the Union Address, accusing Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

Homeland Security — The federal department that administers all matters relating to homeland security; synonym of Department of Homeland Security; a concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America's vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur.

Weapons of mass destruction — Weapons that can produce devastating results when delivered in a single strike including nuclear, chemical and biological weapons

RUMINT also rumint — rumored intelligence; similar to the way human intelligence is shortened to humint

Shuicide bomber — A terrorist with a bomb in shoes

Kamikaze tourist — People who go to places such as Baghdad on vacation because they think it will be exciting and adventurous.

Security theater — This term implies that the searches and other precautions taken by airport security now are an act; it's a sham and/or it's just window dressing that looks like security.

Researched and compiled by: Heather Kays

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Reach Heather Kays at 973-569-7157 or [email protected].

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