It’s the time of the year when cloistered, lexicographical twits foist their Words of the Year upon us. Often, they are DEI contrivances that seek to normalize peculiar or fringe behaviors.  For example, in recent years the American Dialectic Society has chosen “tender-age shelter” (2018); “(My) Pronouns” (2019), to reflect the increased personal expression of gender identity; and the suffix “ussy” (I’m reluctant to dig deep, but apparently it is some kind of LGBT slang) in 2022.

At least this year the Cambridge Dictionary linguists and lexicographers may have stumbled on a word that is partially deserving of WOTY status, albeit for the wrong reasons.

Right, because they chose “manifest” to be the 2024 WOTY.

Wrong, because they didn’t justify it with the most obvious representations of manifest.

Apparently, a new connotation for the old word (used by Chaucer and Shakespeare in various forms) is contained in the verb “manifesting.”  Essentially, this just seems like a nebulous new way of visualizing success, but has gained traction among influencers, and those influenced.  I’m sure it’s just an example of hindsight bias, but many celebrities swear by it.

If an athlete who won an event, an actor who scored a role, or a singer who won a Grammy (or any “average” Joe/Jane accomplishment, for that matter) wants to retroactively attest to their “manifestations,” then good for them.  However, I believe this was once attributable to the power of positive thinking -- along with talent and mostly hard work, of course.

After noting the 130,000 times, give or take, that “manifest” was looked up on the Cambridge Dictionary website, they continue their WOTY justification by stating:

 “When famous performers, star athletes, and influential entrepreneurs claim they have achieved something because they manifested it, they are using this verb in a more recent sense: to use specific practices to focus your mind on something you want, to try to make it become a reality. The use of this sense of manifest has gained in popularity with the increasing number of ‘manifesting influencers’.”

Ahem, have they heard about the Trump Dance sweeping the nation? Nay, the world? Cambridge Dictionary might have happened on a deserving choice for WOTY, but not just because of performers and athletes. Indeed, many of them have been influenced by something greater -- MAGA is most manifest.

Joy is also manifest as we dance with Trump.  Indeed, the President-elect, as the Manifester-in-Chief, has “turned the page” from Biden’s dark night into Morning Again in America.

So there it is:  Cambridge Dictionary is onto something, but by happenstance, not by manifestation. “Manifest” could be a decent WOTY choice, but not because of the glitterati the Cambridge twits invoke (though Trump does glitter the brightest). It is acceptable because Trump and his supporters are manifesting optimism in America’s future. Excepting the DIE-hard Dem resistance, of course, who rather than manifesting facts are masking them. 

Cambridge Dictionary: If you’re on the MAGA manifest (as in passenger list), then get onboard -- update your WOTY webpage.  Then manifest some dance moves because Trump’s influence over the influencers is palpable.

Image: Cambridge University Press