The Linguistic play

This piece is inspired from certain materials I happened to read over the last few days and thought was worth sharing. 

So words are basically codes. They aren't things, but representations of things. This key difference between thing and representation allows for certain malleability.

Some words can have completely different meanings depending on the context in which they’re used. (A writer doesn’t use “story” the same way an architect does.) In other cases, the representation they’re attached to can shift. This usually occurs over a period of time. For example, the term “awful” apparently began in the 1300s as meaning something “inspiring wonder,” and now means the complete opposite. But now and then, the shift occurs almost immediately.

“CHARLIE HEBDO”
If you said this phrase before January 7, the person listening would have thought you were referring to the satirical French periodical, if they knew it at all. Say it today, and the phrase is shorthand for the terrorist attack that took place at the magazine’s headquarters.

This rapid shift is nothing new, particularly when it comes to tragic events. Like how Pearl Harbour meant the naval base located at the harbour in Honolulu; now it means the attack that took place. It makes sense that tragedies lead to sudden shifts in meaning. It is usually the speed in which the situation changes from relative calm to chaotic violence.

The act of a word or phrase associated with a concept coming to represent the entirety of said concept is termed metonymy. Generally, this means an extension of the original meaning. For example, “dish” started as the physical plate a meal is served on, before people started using it to represent the meal itself. In almost all cases, metonymic phrases focus on two questions: when and where?

So coming back to “Charlie Hebdo”, currently, it’s one of the top news stories, so the use of a shortcut is possible. Rather than typing out or saying the entire event (at the very least, the accurate description is “Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack”), people are removing the extensions. Metonymy, after all, is all about shortcuts.

“Charlie Hebdo,” has been around since 1970, and wasn't exactly a household name to begin with. So, the question is, will “Charlie Hebdo” ever be known for something bigger? Its latest cover, once again, depicts a cartoon of Prophet Mohammed, this time with the words “All is forgiven” written above. 

Perhaps this is the first bold move toward reasserting itself strongly enough to reclaim its name from the terror-inspired metonym. That might be the truest form of defiance.