Who are "they"?
There is a newly crowned word of the year. It is "they".
You might think, but "they" is a common word, much like "he,""she," or "it." It's not new at all. Why did it garner the distinction as word of the year?
Remember those strict grammarians? (I was about to say "grammar Nazis," but decided against it due to current political sensitivities.) One couldn't say "they" if one wanted to refer to a single entity. ("Can you ask the gigolo if they accept credit cards?") "They" was reserved for a plurality as in, "They were all fashionistas."
Well, according to the American Dialect Society, "they," when used in the singular sense and not the plural, is not just acceptable due to its widespread use, it is also the winner of 2016 word of the year. The news has it that they (the jurists) let "they" win because "it allows English speakers (to) avoid ascribing a binary gender to a person who may not wish to be referred to (as a) he or she."
Which makes sense, you know. We keep using "he" as a default when we don't know the gender, and using "it" can be construed as an insult, so why don't we just use "they"? That way, no gender issues, no accusations of having a patriarchical bias inherent in our language, and we're all good.
We turn to the Philippines, where the 2016 Filipino word of the year is apparently "fotobam". I rubbed my eyes, wondering who in hell uses fotobam and what it meant, when it suddenly dawned on my caffeine-starved brain that fotobam is actually the local translation of "photobomb."
Oh yes. As a country rich in photoshoots and selfies (which won Oxford word of the year in 2013), "photobomb" both as a word and as an actual event in our daily lives would end up a hands-down winner. If I weren't so scared of getting mauled, and considering how much fun I think it would be if I could only do it full time, I would have won photobomber of the year award as well.
Looking at the choices like "millennial" and "netizen", I was puzzled as to why the more potentially controversial, politically-coined terms that have come to dominate our lives in this sensational election year alone were not considered. Like "dutertard" or "yellowtard". Or "Du30", which has come to serve both as a rallying cry as much as a polarizing symbol.
"Dutertard", as we all know, is derived from "retard'' and attributed to a derogatory post of Carlos Celdran. The Inquirer defines this as referring to supporters of President Duterte, "who are viewed by the opposing camp as tolerating absolutely form of criticism of him." They (plural) "are accused of putting blind trust" in Dutere, and of treating him as "a virtual god who can do no wrong." Du30, of course, was the brilliant play on President Duterte's name and his Visayan roots, and allowed him to win landslide votes in the Visayan areas.
"Yellowtard", in turn, refers to a supporter of former president Aquino and by default, then secretary Mar Roxas. Viewed as "losers engaging in sour grapes, and who cannot move on from the defeat of their presidential candidate", yellowtards are "accused of fault-finding without appreciating the overall good" of Du30.
As with any labels, it seems that those stuck with it ended up appropriating it, and the supporters of Duterte have now embraced the term with nary a second glance. Even with gusto.
So why weren't these considered for word of the year? Given their widespread use, the ubiquity with which they are encountered, and the strong emotional resonance they carry, I would have thought those powerful words would have been frontrunners, at least, for word of the year.
Maybe next year? After all, their meanings haven't become fixed yet. Each day, they gather more meaning, and become more enriched, as our endless political drama and attendant economic consequences come assaulting us by. What would they stand for in the years to come, only time will tell.
Meanwhile, we become more and more divisive. It's us versus them. The world has become mad, and I get to wonder, when faced with all the vitriol and contempt so suddenly made manifest in the political arena, "who are they"?
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