Ish (Odd Socks #21)

Did dictionary wizards pick the wrong 2024 word-of-the-year?... and more...

Welcome to Odd Socks Issue #21

I write about stuff that interests me, puts a smile on my face, or could use some clarity amidst the noise. Enjoy!

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Ish

Photo by Nathaniel Shuman on Unsplash

Sure, Merriam-Webster, take the easy road and pick “Polarization” as an obvious choice for the 2024 word-of-the-year. It was used a ton everywhere and certainly paints an accurate picture of our culture. But me thinks… too specific, too… painful.

Other major word companies had their say as well:

• Dictionary dot com: Demure – popular on TikTok and an example on how social media can alter word meanings (don’t use TT, so clueless what that means in context, but hey, it showed up in a Google search).

• Oxford University Press: Brain rot – as if we need to remind us of our common malady caused in a large part by doomscrolling and other mental anti-fitness pursuits.

• The Cambridge Dictionary: Brat – an example of a word chose simple because it maxed out the search counters, no doubt. Weird one, IMHO.

Had I been in charged (or dare I say, even asked), I would have raised the banner to get “Ish” elected.

Why ish?

Because it enables mental survival in our evolved culture, one where it’s hard to stay in balance, hit deadlines, do the expected thing on time, etc. Oh sure, you’ll point out, that’s NOT A WORD. True, but we live in weird times so we could’ve pretended it’s a word-like-suffix-add-on-thingy and vote it in anyway.

I, for one, used this suffix a zillion times in 2024:

• “When are we going to the gym?” – two o’clock-ish.

• “How many pancakes do you want?” – three-ish

• “How long do you need to finish the project?” – three weeks-ish… maybe.

Why confine oneself to specificity when the freedom of ish releases all such anchors?

The beauty of ish-ness is akin to the beauty of Hawaiian time:

“When will we get to the luau?”
”We’re on Hawaiian time.”
”So when will that be?”
”When we get there.”

In a time when facts and truths have left the building (seeking Elvis no doubt), why be stuck on exactness and punctuality? Note that another word embracing vaguity—meh—like ish, is a mere three letters long. Succinct, simple... spooky coincidence? I think not.

Maybe it’s the “I’m retired” vibe that makes this word work so well to remove personal responsibility and dispose of punctuality. Or maybe it’s just a trigger word for “it’s not that important, so it’ll happen when it happens.”

*i kēlā me kēia manawa, baby.

(*Hawaiian for “whenever”)

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