Word Spy - belligerati

(buh.LIJ.uh.rat.eye) n. Writers and other members of the intelligentsia who advocate war or imperialism.

Example Citation:

How the war fevers raged in those days after Sept. 11. The nation's syndicated belligerati were beside themselves. Columnist Michael Kelly flayed the unconscionable pacifists as pro-terrorist and evil. Charles Krauthammer argued for bombing an enemy city, anywhere.
—Michael Powell, "An Eminence With No Shades of Gray," The Washington Post, May 5, 2002

Earliest Citation:

Both men have retained their reputations as enfants terribles, probably perpetuated by their cruel-lipped, scowly poses in publicity photos.
—Joy Press, "The Belligerati," The Village Voice, November 6, 2001

Over the past few months, however, the word's meaning shifted to the "warmongers/imperialists" sense thanks to a controversial article by the historian and novelist Tariq Ali that appeared in March:

[F]ormer critics of imperialism found themselves trapped by the debris of September 11. Many have now become its most vociferous loyalists. I am not, in this instance, referring to the belligerati — Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis and friends — ever-present in the liberal press on both sides of the Atlantic.
—Tariq Ali, "The new empire loyalists: Former leftists turned US military cheerleaders are helping snuff out its traditions of dissent," The Guardian, March 16, 2002

Notes:

This word began it linguistic life referring to writers who use an angry, confrontational style (belligerent + literati). Its first media appearance came in a review of the books The War Against Cliché, by Martin Amis, and Letters to a Young Contrarian, by Christopher Hitchens (see the review title).

Note that this sense of this term made an even earlier appearance on Usenet (April 10, 2001).

Categories:

Books and Magazines
Media and Journalism
Military

Posted on May 31, 2002

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