 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group A Little Polemic Major Keary |
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On Protagonists
"When I use a word", Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -
neither more nor less." [Lewis Carrol: Through the Looking-Glass]
I recently noticed in PC Update and some e-mail tags a resurgence in the use of protagonist, a
word that, by dint of misuse (often by people who should know better), is employed to mean 'champion',
'advocate', or 'defender' as an opposite of 'antagonist'. Common misuse is no excuse, but can be
explained.
The word comes from the Greek, which means the actor who takes the chief part in a play. In this case the pro
at the beginning of the word is not the prefix that means `for', `on behalf of', or `supporting' (a
particular cause).
In fact the prefix is 'proto', which comes from the Greek for 'first'. In this case the final vowel (o) is
dropped because the next letter (a) is also a vowel. Proto is the prefix found in words such as
`prototype'.
The second part. agonist may sound like 'antagonist' and is the root of the second part of that word
(ant(i) being a prefix). 'Agonist' is also the root of 'agonise', something that the protagonist in
Greek plays does for much of his or her time on stage. Agonise also means 'contest' or 'struggle', and an
agonist was a combatant (in classical Greek times principally in wrestling or some other competition). Hence
the modern meaning of 'to struggle with oneself', or agonise. An antagonist, on the other hand, is one who
struggles against. or opposes, something external.
The use of protagonist should be confined to matters of drama, along with deuteragonist and
tritagonist (the second and third actors of importance, a piece of intelligence that might be useful in
Trivial Pursuit or Scrabble). In spite of plays - especially of Shakespeare's day - that dealt with
remarkable adventures of identical twins, there can be just one protagonist in any one drama - at least for
the purists who find the plural form, protagonists, intolerable. The ultimate insult, of course, is to
verbalise it: she/he protagonised.
Plain words are better. If one wants to refer to those who advocate a particular point of view or line of
argument, then call them advocates.
One may well ask, what has that got to do with the price of digital eggs? The word processor is the most-used
application by most computer users for creative work. That is, when not engaging in passively wandering about
the Web. Word processors, unfortunately, give users a false sense of security. Spell checkers, grammar
monitors, and so on are far from reliable tools for good writing. Computers have enabled, and encouraged, us
to produce more words than ever before; but that is not a licence to take them (the words) for granted. It is
important to develop a critical eye for style, the right use of words, and grammatical rules. By allowing
meanings to be eroded or contaminated we make it all the more difficult to be precise. That may not seem to
be of any importance, but remember that much of the High Court's (expensive) time is taken up with the
meaning of words.
Reprinted from the September 2000 issue of PC Update, the
magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
