Notorious

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Sid from Indianapolis.

What’s on your mind?

I have a question about the word notorious.

All right, let’s hear it.

I’ve always thought that meant, meaning well-known. I always thought that meant bad, such as a notorious scoundrel. But I’ve heard it recently used in a sense of not necessarily bad, such as a notorious singer, that sort of thing.

And then I saw in Thursday’s New York Times article regarding a call from two comedians in France pretending to be Nicolas Sarkozy called Governor Palin. And they were described as they are notorious for prank calls to celebrities and heads of state.

So it seems like maybe it’s not necessarily bad, but perhaps mischievous. I don’t know. How should you use the word?

Well, that’s a good question. So a notorious singer is a good singer or somebody like Grant in me during the slang quiz from time to time? I don’t know. I don’t know how to take it, whether this is a bad singer or a singer that is just well-known.

Exactly. That’s how I feel about the word. Yes, I think that is exactly the problem with the word notorious.

I mean, the word began its life as simply a more neutral or even positive term. It comes from a Latin word that means noted or known, publicly known. But over time, it’s taken on that notorious flavor, that negative flavor.

But you will find dictionaries and usage manuals that say there are exceptions. You know, you can use notorious to mean something neutral. But, you know, I agree with you, Sid. I don’t think it’s a good idea.

If you look at large bodies of text, if you look at corpus information on this, you’ll find that notoriety is more neutral and tends to be used by people both equally positively and negatively, and that notorious is almost exclusively used negatively.

However, it doesn’t have to be. It’s just the way that we tend to use it. You’ll find that all dictionaries and the evidence will support positive uses of notorious. But as you both are pointing out, boy, you’re so likely to be misunderstood if you use it that way.

It’s like somebody scratching their fingernails on a blackboard when I hear notoriety used in a context that’s not necessarily bad. I would agree with you. I just think there’s so many other alternatives.

I’d like to see notorious. And it is mostly that way. It’s mostly trending that way. And so maybe in another, what, 100 years, it’ll always be negative. Something to look forward to.

So it could be used either way, but it really should be used not necessarily to describe somebody who’s doing something good. You’re right. You’re going to be misunderstood most times if you use it that way.

It’s best to choose a different word. That’s what I say. Sid, you have A Way with Words.

I appreciate it. All right. Thank you, Sid. Thanks. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

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