In honor of Pearl Harbor Day, I thought I'd ponder this word a bit. As an American, the word 'infamy' automatically links to 'Day of Infamy', meaning Pearl Harbor Day. It was a Sunday, perhaps much like this one, when the Japanese led the surprise attack on the Hawaiian naval base that launched us into our participation in WWII. I've posted a comment about meeting some of the survivors of that day today here: Pearl Harbor Day Breakfast.
But what is infamy, exactly? How do I translate it in the above phrase? I guess in a very rough way, I take it to mean a day that will go down in history in a really, really bad way. Maybe that's close enough, but maybe it isn't. In the U.S., there are no other 'days of infamy', though I suppose 9/11 might end up being called something very like it. I'm curious, in any case, what this word really means, as opposed to my assumption.
Infamy is, according to the Free Dictionary, a state. It's a condition of dishonor, of shame, of being held in contempt. FDR's exact phrase is "a date which will live in infamy." Oddly, though, this conveys a sense of him being a reader, and a classics reader at that. Because when you look at the citations, it seems to be a word that, unless it is being pulled out of the attic to heap scorn on someone, has already largely passed out of the language. The sources cited are quotes from Anne Bronte, Henry Fielding and other pre 20th century British literary giants. This might just be the Free Dictionary's data base. But I don't think so. I think the reason we think of the Day or should I say Date of Infamy so easily is that there are not a whole lot of other examples that spring to mind of the word being used in our common social context. Yet surely there have been many other infamous days since then.
And our position hasn't always been that of the innocent one. Unfortunately.
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That's an interesting observation about infamy's having passed out of common usage. Perhaps our must utterances are memorable in part because their diction or syntax is similarly far enough from common usage to be memorable.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Well, I've begun on Figures of Speech as per your suggestion (though just barely), and it does seem from what I've read so far that it's a strong possibility.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to know if it had passed quite so much from common usage in Roosevelt's own time.
Another strange thing is that the meaning of infamy seems to have actually grown more, well, infamous with Roosevelt's utterance. Because to look at the examples used at the Free Dictionary, it would seem that infamy was almost always a personal failing into dishonor, not a national stain.
In the case of women, it often resulted from 'falling from virtue'. And Anne Bronte even speaks of the 'infamy' of being called 'an old maid'...Sheesh. Women couldn't win, could they?
You're on to something. Roosevelt was noted for his ability to use a mass medium to connect with Americans on a personal level. Perhpas his application to a national cataclysm of a word that normally connoted a personal fall brought that event home to Americans and made it more, well, personal.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder they're comparing Obama to FDR in his use of a new mass medium, then. Of course, I'm hard pressed to find a president they're not comparing him to right now.
ReplyDeleteI even read a headline this week that asked if the New Deal was too small.
ReplyDeleteI'll wait a but before I anoint Obama the next Lincoln, FDR or even JFK. But yes, FDR happened in a time when the world was more innocent about appeals to the personal.
V-word: warrosed. That's what happened to the Yorkists and the Lancastrians.
"Warrosed"--that's good. and yet another indication that we are living in a sim universe. I read that one of the indicators that we might be was if we should encounter some patch that was a little thinly drawn in. But the the word vericator offers clear evidence that there is a plethora of perfectly good words that we've never even heard of until the WV decides to reveal them to us--for what dastardly purpose we can only guess.
ReplyDeleteNo, I'm not building a shrine to Obama just yet either. But I'm glad this election has stirred up so much genuine interest in the presidency and its history.
Popular revisionism is a surefire money-maker. There is no surer way to get attention than to tout some previously scorned figure or tear down some revered one. But I just don't see the latest George Bush's reputation ever being salvaged. He's the object of scorn, rage and hatred now, and I don't see any positive acocomplishment for historians to rediscover once the anti-Bush passion dies down. Worst president in U.S. history? He's certainly apter to be mentioned with Buchanan than with FDR.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
One of my friends at work is outraged that with Obama and the new book American Lion, Andrew Jackson has been getting a revisionist touch-up lately. Unfortunately, she's the one who has to keep ordering more of this bestseller for stock.
ReplyDeleteNo, it's hard to imagine George W. Bush's reputation being salvaged. Hard to imagine, but not impossible. What I really hope is that we've seen the last of that lineage in the White House. Unless they make a complete repudiation of their forefathers.
You might get your wish on that one. I suspect that this latest Bush presidency has done nothing good for Jeb Bush's presidential prospects.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
It's not Jeb I'm worried about. It's the twins.
ReplyDeleteDidn't some Bush -- one of the twins, maybe -- say something nice about Obama?
ReplyDeleteV-word is the process by which a dominatrix reasons: flogic
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Uh, no, Peter. 'Flogic' is actually shorthand for 'flawed logic'. But nice try.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure someone in the Bush White House let out some admiration for at least one of the Obamas at one point. But I'll bet they're paying for it big time now...Maybe your original interpretation has some proximity to the truth after all.
Let's compromise: flogic is a wiseass parlor game. Er, what was my original interpretation?
ReplyDeleteI got a classy v-word over on Adrian's blog just now: haute
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
I'll give you your definition of 'flogic'. But I think I'd better reiterate my Bush dynasty concerns. Twins. Do you understand that they will become eligible for the presidency at just that point where Americans have forgotten how bad the Bush days really were? And, doubtless peeved over some very small Democratic failing (okay, given Illinois today, maybe large), they are ready once again for 'change'. If the Bush twins win, this equals 16 more years of Bush control. And, since the public will undoubtedly mix them up, they might each be able to slip in a third term.
ReplyDeleteOur only hope is that they have no real interest in politics at all. As,luckily, seems likely.
Yeah, American voters are like a beggar looking for a cup of coffee. They always want change.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of presidential what Americans like to call "dynasties," if my math is correct, Chelsea Clinton would have become eligible to run for president in time to follow Hillary Clinton's second term.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
This is an incredibly sexist thing I'm going to say, and since it's against my own sex, it makes my crime even worse. But when you mentioned Chelsea Clinton and I thought of the twins being eligible at the same time the first thing I thought was "Cat Fight!"
ReplyDeleteChelsea and/or the Bush girls may still have a chance. But I think that since they've all had inside White House experiences, chances are strong that they want nothing to do with the office of chief executive.
Chelsea may decide to run for the White House as a refreshing change of pace from what will no doubt be a seven-figure job if the U.S. financial industry still exists in eight years.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
everytime I see this word, I'm reminded of Frankie Howard as Caesar in one of the Carry On films....... infamy, infamy - they've all got it in for me!
ReplyDeleteColman
Hey, thanks for checking this out, Colman! I loved those Carry On flicks, though it's been too long since I've seen any. That's a nice 'variant' on the word.
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