Shock wave after shock wave hit the citizens of America after two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center nearly six months ago. By now, the event is firmly lodged in American history; and the reverberations — formerly cultural and political — have become literary and physical.

Words have materialized out of the ironic novelty of the attacks, a lot of which can be attributed to the way journalists write and talk about the event.

Although Associated Press style dictates journalists should write “Sept. 11,” the phrase “9/11” was deemed the phrase “most likely to last” from the past year by the American Dialect Society. Likewise, editors of the Fourth Edition of the American Heritage College Dictionary went back on their recent editorial deadline and added an entry for 9/11. Due out in April, the edition will also include words new to American vernacular like burka, weaponize and hawala. Although it usually does not include political groups, American Heritage Dictionary’s staff said “Taliban” is now worthy of an entry.

Alphabetized by the spelling of the first character, 9/11 is being placed between nine days’ wonder and nine pin. But 911 is not being added as a variant of the definition due to confusion with the emergency number and its rarity in print. No new meaning is included under the current entry for ground zero, though the American Dialect Society thinks the word has lasting power, Steve Kleinedler, one of the dictionary’s senior editors, told the New York Times.

But “in the wake” of scholars’ efforts to forge an enduring place in history for some of the terms that have infiltrated American dialect within the past six months, the country has taken even bigger steps to ensure the seemingly inescapable memory of Sept. 11 lasts.

Next Monday, two high-powered beams of light will pierce the New York City sky as a commemorative recreation of the Trade Center towers. The “Tribute in Light,” to be formed by 88 searchlights, has been in the works since mid September. Four-dozen people’s planning and physical labor — as well as $500,000 in donations — has gone into the two ethereal towers.

New York City museum exhibits already commemorate the victims and heroes of the attacks, but some say the Battery Park City beams fill a necessary void.

“They would be simple, beautiful and fill the void that seems so unnatural,” a letter to New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani from the city’s Municipal Art Society.

Certainly, the glowing towers, which will be only temporary due to concern for interference with airline flights and bird migration, seek to serve as an aid to healing America’s collective memory.

“It is a presence,” one of the creators, Paul Myota, said. “But it is ethereal, rather than concrete.”

Whether commemorating the events of Sept. 11 needs to be physical, mental or just literary, the cultural implications of the day’s events will last longer than any witness’ lifetime — and the American government and public are taking every effort to ensure that. Whether capitalizing on the ironic novelty of the tragic moment or forming airline — and bird — attracting beacons of light, etching in memory is both conscious and unconscious.

Maybe, just maybe, the word “weaponize” will fade from use. But dictionary writers don’t think so.

“It’s so funny,” said Kleinedler, a senior editor for the dictionary. “No one asks about chad anymore.”

-Christine Lagorio is a junior majoring in journalism, history and English. She is News Editor of the Badger Herald.