‘Safety’ Is the Worst Word in the English Language

The word “safety,” in the abstract, is no better or worse than any other. The dictionary tells us it means “the condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk, or injury.”

It derives from the Middle English saufte, from the Old French sauvete, from the medieval Latin salvitas, and from the Latin salvus.

The word’s first known use was in the early 14th century, long before anyone possibly could have conceived of the circumstances that would lead to its degradation in the early 21st century.

“Safety,” together with its close cousin...