We’ve been hearing a lot about Romney’s tax return lately. I personally have been struck (stricken?) by the number of times I’ve read statements, even from left wingers, to the effect that Romney earned $21 million last year. Here’s one example, but it shouldn’t be hard to find more. This appeared to me to be a misuse of the word earn, so I went to a few dictionaries to see if I had a point, and I think I do. Here’s the definition from the Oxford Dictionary of English (not to be totally confused with its big brother, the OED):
Verb (with obj)
1. obtain (money) in return for labour or services: he earns his living as a lorry driver; (with two objs) earn yourself a few pounds;
(with two objs) (of an activity cause (someone) to obtain money; this latest win earned them $50,000 in prize money;
(of capital invested) gain (money) as interest or profit.
2. gain deservedly in return for one’s behaviour or acheivements: through the years she has earned affection and esteem.
The American Heritage Dictionary (5th Edition, recently dearly purchased):
tr.v. earned , earn?ing , earns
earned money by mowing lawns. To gain especially for the performance of service, labor, or work: To acquire or deserve as a result of effort or action: She earned a reputation as a hard worker. To yield as return or profit: a savings account that earns interest on deposited funds.
Now, one can make a rather strained argument that you can apply the term “earn” to the money Romney acquired last year, but it really is a bit of a stretch. The definitions above, when speaking of individuals, apply the term to reward obtained for contemporary effort. I earn my paycheck. When I retire (if I ever can afford to retire) I will live off of my 401k and my Social Security benefits (if guys like Romney have not destroyed the Social Security System). Assume the combined amount I get in a given year from these sources is $20 million dollars. Would anyone say that I “earned” $20 million in retirement benefits last year, though I surely earned the capital and paid the taxes from which that income is derived. When the term is applied to interest or investment income, it is the money that is earning the income (see the third American Heritage definition), not the person who owns the money.
This is no small thing. We on the left have let our language be hijacked by the right, and have all too often adopted right wing slanted terminology without a second thought (e.g. “pro-life” rather than “anti-abortion”, though the latter is a more accurate description of this war mongering, execution loving crowd), thus implicitly agreeing to play on their field. The word “earn” implies effort; Romney exerted no effort in order to get his $21 million dollars last year, and that’s precisely the reason why most people, who make their money by the sweat of their brows, feel it’s unfair for him to pay a tax rate lower than theirs on his income. It would be more accurate to call it unearned income; manna from heaven in amounts most of us will never see in our lifetime.
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