A Logjam of Woes

My apologies for the late posts. The dog ate them. The real story is that my iBook had to visit the Apple doctor for a couple days. All is much better now.

Quote of the day:
“He is a Sunni, born in Jordan, but his wife is Shiite, so he likes to tell people that he is ‘Sushi.’”
--Raffi Khatchadourian, referring to Haitham Bundakji, in the January 22nd New Yorker.

Video of the day:
Caffeine Does Your Body Good, click here.

When was the last time you used any of the following words in daily conversation: “woes,” “logjam” or “kingpin”?

These are not common words in our daily lives, yet we see them every day online, on TV and radio news, and in newspapers.

“Woes” is an excellent example of a headline word. It doesn’t take up much space, so it is easy to fit into a headline. So we read about budget “woes” as opposed to overruns, shortfalls, disagreements, misunderstandings or problems.

The use of “logjam” is more mystifying. Is there a significant beaver component in the news audience? Seriously, there’s nothing wrong with the word (or any of these words), but must we use “logjam” every time we mean “impasse”?

My favorite is “kingpin,” which was likely originated by reporters covering bowling. It has a slightly sinister air, and is often used in connection with criminals. For example, “drug kingpin.”

This word suffers from too narrow a usage. When are we going to hear about the hamburger “kingpin” or the crabcake “kingpin,” or the chocolate-chip cookie “kingpin”? Who is the laundry “kingpin” at your house?