Tariffs on Imported Words—the Next Trade War?
What a price we may pay
In the paper this other morning I read that the Oxford English Dictionary has added 42 new words to English from other languages—
Overwhelmed by Cuteness? There's a Word for That
Of course, this made me wonder immediately if President Trump would be imposing tariffs on these imported words — and then if affected countries would be imposing retaliatory tariffs on words imported from English into their languages.
With words coming in from across the globe, this trade war could be even more catastrophic than the one we have seen so far involving automobiles, washing machines, booze, lumber, steel, aluminum, copper, and agricultural products, among other products. Everyone speaks a language, everyone uses words in one form or another— it could be a linguistic apocalypse.
Back and forth, back and forth, into an escalating tit-for-tat rewriting long-standing international reciprocities, wiping out industries, decimating communities, destroying livelihoods — the dismal and unnecessary consequences, I am afraid, of any trade war. No one wins, really.
Even the rich, who can best afford such volatility and instability, are bound to feel some resentment when they need to pay to use a word as irresistible as “gigil” — a Tagalog word that describes the intense feeling we experience when we see someone or something so cute that we have the urge to clench our hands, grit our teeth, and pinch or squeeze who- or whatever we find so adorable. Could this be the end of free frivolity? No-cost nonsense?
“Gigil” is just one of many words coming our way from the Philippines. Others include “salakot,” “lumpia,” and “videoke” — the last word here just what it suggests, a video version of karaoke. I can see this being so popular here, but no, a tariff would kill that joy.
From Malaysia and Singapore, we’re getting “alamak” — a word used to convey shock, surprise, dismay, or outrage. Good one, that word, and even makes me think that I might sacrifice to use it, but the frequency with which I would need to use it would bankrupt me, I am sure. So it’s best I forgo.
“Yoh!” That’s from South African English, a cry or exclamation used to express emotions or reactions such as surprise, wonder, admiration, shock, or distress. Another good one, I think, but, again, I will need to eschew, as fun as it might be to go around saying, “Yoh!” just for the sheer sound of it.
I am also seriously tempted by another South African term, “moggy,” which means a person who is extremely irrational or out of touch with reality. I can see that having wide application at the moment.
Same for “the hell-in” — a phrase used to talk about someone who is fed up or furious — or “gatvol,” a South African slang term describing a person who is extremely annoyed, unhappy, or bored, especially with a state of affairs that has persisted for a long time. I think we have a lot in common with South Africa regarding states of mind and our feelings thereon.
Coming in from Ireland, we have “act the maggot” — behave foolishly — and “morto” — an adjective meaning extremely embarrassed. I can see some beautiful synergy between acting the maggot and feeling morto. If you behave foolishly, you should expect to feel very embarrassed. If you don’t, you could be moggy and find yourself in tjoekie, a colloquial term in South Africa meaning jail or prison.
What are we going to do? I, for one, can’t afford to participate in this trade war with so many enticing terms. And it is not practical to stop speaking, writing, or signing.
But here’s an idea. Maybe for every word we import, we can offset it with a word that we have exported. Even though we seem to be in a critical, spiraling retreat from the world at the moment, we have nevertheless flooded its languages with words of our own, as shown by the lists in the images below.
Compared to the words from other languages, ours seem so pedestrian. “Okay,” for example, is — it’s just okay, you know? And “party,” even if you say, “Party!” it has nothing of the flair of saying, “Yoh!” And none of them sing like “karaoke.” But I think this bartering may be all we’ve got if we want a shot at avoiding yet another tariff take-down.
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Yoh! You are welcome.