n. pl. atÂ·roÂ·phies. 1  1. A wasting or decrease in size of a body organ, tissue, or part owing to disease, injury, or lack of use: muscular atrophy of a person affected with paralysis. 2  2. A wasting away, deterioration, or diminution: intellectual atrophy.
August 2004: The Statue of Liberty reopens for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001. The Statue of Liberty reopens with monitors that show emergency exits. At the bottom of every monitor is a scrolling message: âIf you see something, say something.â.
Three decades on, the word is so commonplace that its shock value seems quite lost. Kenneth Tynan saying it for the first time on television in 1965 caused considerable scandal, albeit without mention anywhere of what he said.