From The California Report, on KQED
What Does It Really Mean When Reporters Say ‘Wage Hike’?
By Sam Harnett
You’ve probably come across the term “wage hike” a lot lately, especially since California and 18 other states just increased the minimum wage.
“Wage hike” appears in headlines and articles everywhere... But then I thought, why “hike”? What does that word actually mean? Why do journalists use it? Why not just write “increase”?
Geoff Nunberg, a linguist at the UC Berkeley School of Information, said, “When things hike, there is always the sense that things are being pulled up against their nature.” Using “hike,” he said, implies some outside force is yanking up the trousers or skirts or wages.
Nunberg said hikes are imposed, they aren’t asked for or welcomed.
“You don’t go into your boss’s office and say, ‘You know, I’ve been working here eight years, I feel I need a salary hike,'”Nunberg said. “That implies there’s something unnatural about it.” ...