Commentary
Some words have interesting careers.
Think of all the different—sometimes contradictory—meanings that have accreted around some very common words.
“Democracy” is one, as is “liberal.”
Once you start thinking about it, you realize that many of the words we commonly use to name important things are very slippery indeed.
This would be more of a book than a column were I to delve deeply or broadly into this linguistic-semiotic phenomenon.
Relax.
I don’t propose to delve at all deeply or broadly into this subject.
Rather, I want to say just a few words about the career of another common word, “elitism” and its cognates….