I rise today in defense of "obsequious," a word that, by its very definition, lacks the assertiveness to speak up for itself.
It means overly submissive, eagerly compliant in the ingratiating manner of a servant or the office brown-noser.
At the recent news that it's on the list of words to be banned from the SAT test because they're "too rare to be found with any frequency in written text," obsequious would purr to the testmakers, "Oh, good choice! Perfectly understandable. No sense in using obscure ol' me as a gatekeeper to block a kid's way to college."
Zorn then goes on to describe the College Board's new strategy for assessing vocabulary, which Vocabulary.com director of curriculum Georgia Scurletis shed light on last week here. Taking issue not so much with the reform itself, but with where the lines are drawn, Zorn returns to obsequious, interviewing Vocabulary.com lexicographer Ben Zimmer for the word's "back story" and drawing conclusions about why word learning matters.
"Obsequious"… shows up in the writings of Wordsworth, Dickens, Joyce and (three times!) Shakespeare. It has a useful Latin root — sequi, to follow — that you'll find in such common words as sequel and consequence.
And it has a good back story.
"Historically, the word underwent pejoration, i.e., its connotations became increasingly negative," wrote Ben Zimmer, executive producer of the "Visual Thesaurus" and Vocabulary.com, in an email response to a query from me. "Originally it just meant `ready to serve,' but over time it became associated with the most objectionable kind of deferential people: the bootlickers, fawners, sycophants and toadies."
Great words, those! Deferential. Bootlicker. Fawner. Sycophant. Toady. Most of which you're likely to encounter when you look up "obsequious," and each of which has its own nuance and instructive etymology.
Knowing such words isn't just a parlor stunt akin to reciting pi to 500 digits, but a key to more insightful reading and more precise and varied expression.
Words help you think. The more you know, the better able you are to say exactly what you want to say.
"Students need to make sure that high-level words are in their vocabulary arsenal if they're going to take on challenging reading passages," said Zimmer, a Wall Street Journal language columnist whose Vocabulary.com website and app feature interactive word games that drill down into the subtleties of usage.
My apprehension here is that the quick gloss on this news story — SAT says fancy words no longer important — will discourage students and teachers from the relentless expansion of vocabulary that's integral to a good education.
Obsequious is a delightful and useful word. Tribune theater critic Chris Jones employed it this month, describing a character as "obsequious but clearly malevolent." When I was a kid, we used it to describe Rudi, our opportunistically ever-groveling family dog.
Just because students no longer have to know it doesn't mean they shouldn't want to learn it.