I have always been moved by additions to this language we speak.  It is not a static language.  Rather it involves all kinds of new additions.  As Sven Lernevall my friend of many years says of the English language, it is “a rich language.”  And so this small essay is intended to recognize the richness that is coming into the English language.  Richness is not always better, but there it is.
First of all I would like to deal with the term “kerfuffle.”  As I understand it, it is chiefly a British terminology.  For those of us on this side of the Atlantic, it is a reasonably new word.  It means a disturbance or a fuss.  For example, it has been used to describe the situation involving the great uproar about the British Broadcasting System and its handling of a pedophile scandal of one of its own broadcasters.
An example of a kerfuffle in this country might have been the recent presidential election where both sides were predicting victory.  On one hand, the Republicans were cheered by their forecaster named Rasmussen, who claimed that it was all in the bag.  On the other hand, the Democrats would contend that it was never in doubt.  As it turns out, the Democrats were right.  This word may have been around, but I did not know about it until now.  Whether it holds up over a period of years remains to be seen.
There is a second phrase used repeatedly by commentators on television called “drilling down.”  This seems to mean a closer examination of the subject at hand.  Rather than them using that phrase, we are told that we are drilling down.  For example in the recent presidential election, “drilling down” means an examination of how each age group voted, how the ethnic vote went, and various closer examinations of the results.  Whether “drilling down” stands the test of time remains to be seen.  But I suspect that it will last longer than “kerfuffle.”
There is a third term that has come into use which is called “an outlier.”  Again, using the recent election, the Republicans believed that the Democrats’ prediction of victory was “an outlier.”  The same would hold true for the Democrats dealing with Republican predictions of victory.  The “outlier” phrase is probably an old one.  Nonetheless, it has now appeared and radio and television commentators frequently use it.  I am not particularly offended by its use.  I would say that “outlier” is an unnecessary term.  It could be said that predictions of victory in the election might be called “wide of the mark.”  But the phrase of the day is being called “an outlier.”  I predict that “outlier” will have a short shelf life except in statistical circles.
Next we come to a word that had wide usage as I was growing up.  The word is called “scram.”  It means to leave the scene suddenly.  For example if my siblings and I were engaged in dubious activity and my parents came into view, I would scram out of there.  In another case, let’s assume that young people were engaged in an activity that the authorities disliked.  If the cops showed up, they would scram out of there.
Finally we have the recent term called “having skin in the game.”  I do not know where the skin part came in, but it means merely “taking a risk.”  Having skin in the game may be a more colorful phrase, but as a traditionalist, I would stick with “taking a risk.”
I do not know what has happened to the word scram.  Beyond that, I do not know where the word scram came from.  But in any case, I would hold that “scram” was a more appropriate word than “kerfuffle” or “drilling down” or “skin in the game.”  But I am a traditionalist and you must take that thought into account about my thoughts on words like “scram.”
I am happy to see that new words are being used with respect to the English language.  This suggests that the English language is alive and well.  I hope that for the rest of my time here the English language, which is what I try to speak, will continue to have new additions.  They should always be encouraged, even if they include such crazy words as “kerfuffle” and “drilling down.”
 
E. E. CARR
November 20, 2012
Essay 719
~~~
Kevin’s commentary: I got so damn sick of “drilling down” during the election cycle. I know that all those newscasters were sleep deprived or whatever but that’s no excuse for forgetting that the language has plenty of other ways to indicate that you’re about to look at some details. Ugh. On the other hand, I have never been in a period of my life where I hear the word “kerfuffle” at least four times a day for months on end. I struggle to conceive of such a scenario but I think it would have to do with England experiencing some wide-scale but non-live-threatening problems. I’m feeling like a zombie apocalypse would be a bit too heavy, for instance. Maybe a nationwide tea shortage.