On language: “austerity”

“Austerity” is on the Top Ten list of Merriam-Webster online in 2010.  I typed “austerity” in the search box of the Wall Street Journal online; 368 hits returned and that was just in the past 90 days; that is to say there were 368 news/articles, in which ‘austerity’ was mentioned.  No wonder people checked into Merriam-Webster online to look for this word.

“Austere” means forbiddingly severe, like an austere Puritan colonist; it is ascetic and morally strict, it involves self-discipline.  When many countries (Greece, Ireland, Portuguese, etc) in the European Union became fiscally irrersponsible and couldn’t balance the budgets, the stock markets (here or abroad) took a dive.  The market would recover a bit when these governments took austerity measures, triggering the large scale protests from the people who have been spoiled by the entitlements over the years.

It is safe to say when the government takes austerity measures; it tightens its belt (拉緊褲帶).  It is ascetic, severe, and self-discipline and that is why people do not like it.

This is the portrait of the austere, stern-looking farmer and wife.

Thanks to President Obama’s The Audacity of Hope, (one of my 2009 Christmas gifts) the ‘audacity’ might be the buzzword, if not making it to the Top Ten list, in 2009.  By the way, Obama’s “shellacking” during the midterm election also made it to the Top Ten list; I have made a post on it on Dec. 10.