Peter

[This phrase derives from the suggestion, heavily advertised in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that stoves using natural gas as a fuel cook more effectively than wood-burning or electric stoves.]  The problem with new ideas about feminism is that there has been so little public discussion of the subject. Well, that’s changing, big time — if not in fashion at least in the art world.  In fact, after it seemed as though the subject of feminism had been put on simmer, the art world is cooking with gas again, not just for a new generation of feminist artists but in retrospect too. (Ingrid Sischy, “Body Politic,” The New York Times, 02/25/2007.)

This word, when used in the above sense, can also be a synonym for functioning, operating, working or performing.…

I call [lexicography, as in defining words for a dictionary] a “craft” and not an “art”….  “Art conjures an image of the lexicographer as medium or conduit—a live wire that simply transmits something unkenned, alien. But “craft” implies care, repetitive work, apprenticeship and practice. (Kory Stamper, Word by Word, Pantheon [2017], p. 256.)

This word, when used in the above sense, can also be a synonym for strange, unfamiliar and unidentified.…

For generations, Hollywood and classic literature sold a storyline as familiar as it was reductive: Unhappy families come in many varieties, we were told, but happy families look mostly alike. (Emma Goldberg, Meet the Kids With 30 Half Siblings, The New York Times, April 17, 2020)…

The distinguishing nature of Taiwan’s season of scandal, however, is that the vast majority of the titillating [sex tape] episodes focus on women, not men. Chu Mei-feng has suffered far more odium from the public than her married partner, Tseng Chung-ming. (Mark Landler. “In Taiwan, A Scandal a Day Keeps the Blues Away,” The New York Times. 3/13/2002.)

The above word can also be a synonym for loathing, disgust, revulsion, dislike, animosity and hostility.…

[This word comes from George Orwell’s novel, 1984.  It can also be used as a verb—i.e. to render a person invisible–as in the second example.]  [The previous mayor of New York] had declared Mr. Sharpton an unperson. So the new mayor’s decision to go the other way — to acknowledge that Al Sharpton, like him or not, is an important force in this town … commanded headlines before anything had even happened. (Clyde Haberman, “Sharpton Loses the Ring But Never the Spotlight,” The New York Times, 01/23/202.)

The media and proxies are on a desperate and often frantic campaign to unperson Peterson by trying to discredit and destroy him. (John Gormley, “Peterson Impresses,” Star-Phoenix, 08/17/2018.)

This word can also be a synonym for nonentity.…