No one expected what happened when Joe Biden withdrew from the election contest and threw his support behind Kamala Harris. Like a fountain suddenly erupting from underground, there was an outburst not just of excitement, which was understandable, but of an emotion that time after time in various articles has been described as “joy.” Language is an amazing phenomenon. Every word or syntactical construction reaches down into depths beneath consciousness, and bears shadings and connotations that we do not quite know we know. Everyone has reached without thinking for the word “joy,” and it is the right word.