Tsunamis: How An Eco-Phenomenon Has Invaded the American Lexicon and Psyche

Early this morning, whilst news came of gigantic Tsunami waves striking the northeastern coast of Japan from an 8.9-magnitude earthquake and making their way to the islands of Hawaii and the U.S. western coastline – I – sitting comfortably in my home on the U.S. eastern seaboard, now began shuddering at the images of this extreme and unpredictable eco-phenomenon. Automatically, my mood became tense and fearful despite the fact that I was far removed from the oncoming dangerous situation. Indeed, something deep within me triggered a “High-Alert” response. Was it the Tsunami Warnings themselves that were prompting my reaction? Or was it something else entirely?

The Japanese-derived word, “Tsunami” or “Harbor Wave” as defined on the web by ‘TheFreeDictionary’ is a “series of catastrophic ocean waves generated by submarine movements, which may be caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides beneath the ocean, or an asteroid striking the earth.” While there have not been many mega tsunamis recorded in modern times, geological evidence indicates that a tsunami was instrumental in the destruction of the Minoan civilization on Crete in the second millennium B.C. But what of the role tsunamis have had on the American experience – the American imagination?

On the surface, the word “Tsunamis” apply only to cataclysmic environmental phenomenon – but in today’s American vernacular – “Tsunamis” are used to describe a range of topics from ‘Tsunami Politics’ to ‘Tsunami Marketing’ – from “Emotional Tsunamis” to “Financial Tsunamis” to “Spiritual Tsunamis” – and from “Regulatory Tsunamis” to “Sociological Tsunamis”.

Hence, Americans have not only imbibed the whole science of Tsunami warning signs and its cosmic origins – but they have uniquely reinvented the word to include the intangible aftershocks on the psyche and areas of human endeavor – myself included.

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