Is it OK to Celebrate a Genocide?

I received an email this weekend from a writer who has a large manuscript about the Armenian Genocide, which happened at the hands of the Ottoman Turks 100 years ago. In the email, the person wrote that the Genocide “is celebrated on its centennial, specially (sic) April 24.”

First, the right word is especially, but that’s not as important as celebrating the Genocide. A Genocide is a most unhappy event, so why would anyone want to celebrate it? Wouldn’t it be better to commemorate it? Commemorate, after all, means “to mark by some ceremony or observance.”

I checked the dictionary. Celebrate means “to perform (as a sacrament or solemn ceremony) publicly and with appropriate rites,” “to honor by solemn ceremonies or by refraining from ordinary business” and “to observe a holiday, perform a religious ceremony, or take part in a festival.”

Other than the part of the third definition relating to a festival, it is acceptable to celebrate such a heinous event.

However …

Commemorate and celebrate list the word keep as a synonym. Keep has 34 definitions, the relevant one here being “to take notice of by appropriate conduct.”

There also is a usage note (italics added) that reads, “Keep stresses the idea of not neglecting or violating.” “Celebrate suggests acknowledging am occasion by festivity.” A genocide is about as far from festive as can be.

The better word is, in fact, commemorate because, as the usage reads, it “suggests that an occasion is marked by observances the remind one of the origin and significance of the day.”

Until next time! Use the right words!

leebarnathan.com