Published October 13, 2025

Another example of how upset some people can get about how another person uses language appeared before me last week. Someone objected to the word “optics” being used in a political discussion.

They wanted participants in the conversation to know that, based on Merriam-Webster’s first definition of the word, “optics” means “a science that deals with the genesis and propagation of light, the changes that it undergoes and produces, and other phenomena closely associated with it.”

This person apparently rejects the dictionary’s second definition for optics: “the aspects of an action, policy, or decision (as in politics or business) that relate to public perceptions.”

My job would be a lot easier if we chose a date in history — let’s say October 13, 1985 — and declare that words will forever mean what they meant on that day. But language doesn’t work that way. That’s why Merriam-Webster adds words to its dictionary every so often.

And it’s not just the physical copy. Its online dictionary gets updates from time to time.

People locked in on industry-specific definitions in math and science and other disciplines have been known to grumble, and the grouchiness about optics is hardly new. But try as they might, they’re never going to be able to kill a living language.

The Dark Side

I chose the featured image displaying the iconic imagery of the Pink Floyd album cover not to invite a debate about how it might be scientifically inaccurate, but because it turned up in my search for photos, and I’ll take any excuse to use it. Bad optics on my part?

If so, I can live with that.

It’s gonna be okay.

There’s us and them — in the most general terms, descriptivist editors and prescriptivist editors — those with a lighter touch, and those with heavy hands. I have evolved into the former, mostly, and don’t see myself ever going back to the latter.

There are too many important things to catch to save writers from themselves for me to worry about editing quibbles almost no reader will ever notice.

Sending love. Protect your peace.

♥

Thank you

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Featured image by spatuletail via Shutterstock.