It happens a lot actually. The word "empower" has done so many circuits on this track that I don't know if it is good or bad this year. It was once (90's, but

It happens a lot actually. The word "empower" has done so many circuits on this track that I don't know if it is good or bad this year. It was once (90's, but probably still) good grant writing practice to know what the "in" words were at a department or agency. The word churn was a real item. "Socialize" was another word that went through some gyrations. Frankly, I looked at this aspect of word smithing as a sort of shibboleth to identify the accepted crowd. Meritocracy as a normal read of its definition should be a fine word, but Silicon Valley seems to be going through the same word smithing that DC goes through. New beliefs, new words, and must demonize the old words.