January 11, 2019 – The word “woke”.

        Yesterday I received my second issue of The Washington Examiner magazine which is an alternative to the defunct magazine, The Weekly Standard.  The Washington Examiner was kind enough to pick up the balance of my Weekly Standard unused subscription.  Nice guys – I must say – I had anticipated the worst scenario – losing 80% of a yearly paid subscription.  It was a sweet surprise.  Because they have absorbed my subscription I intend to be loyal for at least a few years – as long as I like the content.

        Within a matter of minutes, I ran up on two articles that had the word “woke” used in a new way for me. I am learning new things already was my first thought.  When I got to second time it was used in a matter of 10 pages, I decided I better research this new word usage.

        The first was in the Editorial by Hugo Gurdon:

        “Who taught social-justice warriors that free speech was a problem rather than the foundation of liberal democracy, and that people without “woke” opinions should be denied the chance of being heard.”

        Letter from the Editor – Hugo Gurdon, Washington Examiner, page 4, Volume 25, Number 2

        The second was from the article entitled The Royal millennial –

        “The Duchess is at times a parody of woke Californians, reportedly banning her husband not just from alcohol but also from tea and coffee.  Her preferred substitute?  Mineral water.”

        page 10, ibid

       

Merriam-Webster - woke – adjective – chiefly US slang

“Aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)”

Wikipedia – woke – direct quotes taken with footnotes notes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woke

        “Woke is a political term of African American origin that refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice.^[1]  It is derived from the African American Vernacular English expression “stay woke, whose grammatical aspect refers to a continuing awareness of these issues.  Its widespread use since 2014 is a result of the Black Lives Matter movement.^[1][2]”

“Oxford Dictionaries records^[3] early political conscious usage in 1962 . . .”

        “The New York Times Magazine, Amanda Hess. raised concerns that the word had been culturally appropriated, writing, ‘The conundrum is built in. When white people aspire to gets points for consciousness, they walk right into the cross hairs between allyship and appropriation’ ”^[12]

            My conclusion from the above research:  I won’t be adopting it into my vocabulary, as I don’t want to be accused of racial appropriation. I am hoping it will fade from usage completely as it seems to me to be a divisive word and I don’t believe we need any more of those at this time.

        As the word “woke” with the above definition has now found its way into magazines I read, I will be paying a bit more attention to it to see if it morphs into some other meaning.