Languages are ever-evolving, and English is no exception. That’s why the makers of the Collins English Dictionary have added over 260 new phrases to the 30th anniversary edition, due out on Thursday.
Some of the 267 new phrases added include mankini, Twitter, soz and beer o’clock, with many spawned from the rise in digital culture. Interestingly, a lot of new phrases are coming from sounds and interjections people make as they talk, which are being written down as said; ‘hee’ for example, expressing amusement.
Linguistics expert David Crystal said he was not surprised that the world wide web had played a big part in providing new words for inclusion.
He said: “In the early years, the internet was pretty isolated. If I was blogging, I was doing it on my own and I would have very little idea if anyone was reading my work or not.
“Any new words I tried to introduce may not have been picked up. Even with instant messaging, that was originally just two people and the odds of generating new popular words were possible but unlikely.
“However the surge in social networking sites results in an increased likelihood of new words being used by a wider audience.” (Source: BBC News)
Whilst I think it’s admirable for dictionary makers to keep up with the changes in the English language, I can’t help but feel that words such as frugalista have no place in a dictionary. In a slang or online dictionary, sure, but the longevity of the word frugalista surely won’t be worth its place in a physical dictionary. Perhaps I’m being a snob? I suppose, however, it will be of benefit to future generations who will be able to look back and know that in the two years prior to the dictionary being published, some English speakers were using that word.
Stephen Fry’s a British actor/comedian/etc. with (I think) a wonderfully pleasant-to-listen-to voice.
So, luckily for me, he’s presented a radio show on the English language, which you can listen to through the internet if you’re sadly unable to pick up BBC radio waves.
Called Stephen Fry’s English Delight, the series “explores the highways and byways of the English language”.
The second show of the second series
…examines how ‘wrong’ English can become right English. For example, nowadays, more people use the word ‘wireless’ in a computer context than in a radio one. With help from a lexicographer, an educationalist, a Times sub-editor and a judge, Stephen examines the way in which usage changes language.
Definitely worth a listen if you’re interested in this aspect of language, or just want to hear the dulcet tones of Mr Fry.
The 150th anniversary of Dr Ludwig Lazar Zamenhof’s – the author of Esperanto – birth is just around the corner, to be marked by an Esperanto congress held in his birthplace of Bialystok, Poland.
I’ve briefly mentioned this conlag in previous posts, and I found an interesting BBC article about Esperanto being spoken in Israel.
Esperanto was designed to “foster harmony and coexistence” and is currently spoken by around one million people worldwide. The language appears to attract people who are both enthusiastic about the language and willing to meet and befriend others who speak it, fostering a community not unlike Zamenhof envisioned, if on a somewhat smaller scale – something that cannot be said for all languages. As an interviewee says:
“Let’s say you go to a little village in the south of France,” says Israeli Yehuda Miklaf. “You ask: Does anyone here speak English? And they say: Henri does. So you go and say to Henri: Hi, I speak English. And Henri says: That’s nice. “Then you ask: Who here speaks Esperanto? They say: Pierre does. So you come up to Pierre and say: Hi, I speak Esperanto. Pierre says: Have you had lunch? It really is like this.”
Read the full article here.
Kia ora! If you happen to be in New Zealand this week (or even just know some Kiwis), why not take part in Māori Language Week?
Running from the 27th July – 2nd August, this years theme is “Te Reo i te Hapori – Māori Language in the Community.”
Te reo Māori is one of two official languages of New Zealand, along New Zealand Sign Language (English is a de facto official language). The language of New Zealand’s indigenous population, it’s experiencing something of a resurgence, with Māori language schools and it being taught at primary school. The national newspaper, the New Zealand Herald is getting involved, with some classic Kiwi phrases translated into Māori. If you’re already a fluent speaker, here’s an editorial celebrating the week in Te Reo (there’s an English translation too!).
I took a few classes in Te Reo when I lived in New Zealand, and it was a great way to connect with Māori culture. Here are some ideas for participating in the week, why not get involved?
The first big spelling contest in the UK has been decided. A talented trio from St Martin’s School in Middlesex beat teams from all over the country to take the title of The Times Spelling Bee Champions 2009 at the Grand Final in London on June 23rd.
So what kind of word challenges did the winners face? Well, in the quick fire round (the team had to spell as many words in 2 minutes as they could), they spelled contemporaneous and rehearsal in seconds, no pause for thought. From the highlights I’ve seen, that’s what made the St Martin’s team winners – not only could they spell the words correctly, they could spell them quickly.
Other competitors were tripped up by words such as troglodyte and pterodactyl.
Compared to the Scripps Spelling Bee (the major American competition) however, it seems the British have a ways to go. Perusing the sample word list for The Times competition, I can’t say there are any words I haven’t seen before, compared with the final of the Scripps, which threw up zingers like schizaffin. Any kid who can spell that, let alone know the definition definitely deserves a prize. Let’s hope The Times Spelling Bee continues on to become as successful (and difficult!) as the Scripps.
I’ve posted before about dictionaries and the huge amount of work that goes into them. Now, you can get involved yourself in a new type of dictionary making – in online video form.
Wordia.com is “the world’s first democratically compiled, multimedia online dictionary” and is made up of videos uploaded by everyone from your average Joe on the street to the illustrator Quentin Blake. The danger is obvious – how do you know the definition offered is true and accurate? Wordia solves this by having the definition of the word from the Collins dictionary in text below the video.
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Probably my favourite of the videos I’ve viewed so far is the vaguely hysterical one from Nikki Grahame, a former Big Brother UK contestant (above). Although won’t help you too much if you want to know the proper definition of the word invention, it is amusingly overwrought.
Currently the site is asking for videos on words related to Refugee Week 2009, which runs from 15 -21 June. Entries include musings from The Archbishop of Canterbury on refuge and Baaba Maal (community). Upload your own video giving a definition of one of the selected words for the week, and you could win a Simple Acts journal.
Whilst it’s just getting off the ground at the moment, wordia.com could really develop into an interesting tool for language learning, especially if it goes global and definitions from different languages are added. Watch this space.
Recently in Los Angeles County, the county supervisor decided to proclaim a No Cussing Week.
This follows on from the success of McKay Hatch, a 14 year old who started a “No Cussing Club” at his middle school a couple of years ago – he’s even appeared on “Dr. Phil”. As someone who swears reasonably frequently and with some pleasure, I was amazed at this, along with a quick search that revealed there’s an organisation called the “Cuss Control Academy“, whose two stated purposes are:
1. To increase awareness of the negative impact bad language has on society and on individuals who swear too frequently or inappropriately.
2. To help individuals and groups eliminate or reduce their use of profanity, vulgarity and offensive slang.
The organisation has even printed a book to out those who wish to rid themselves of their foul mouth. Personally, I disagree with their purposes. I think most adults have enough control to know that cussing has a time and a place, and the idea that it’s somehow responsible for the destruction of the moral fabric of society is perhaps a little farfetched.
Luckily for those in LA County though, the supervisor’s spokesman says No Cussing Week “[Is] not enforceable. It’s like Breast Cancer Awareness Week. We want to remind people about their choice of words. Use different language — be kind; be civil.”
And that I think we can all agree with.
If you’re lucky enough to be in or near Melbourne, Australia at the moment, the State Library of Victoria has a great exhibition called Mirror of the World: Books & Ideas.
The introduction to the exhibition states that
books are mirrors of many worlds: worlds here and distant, past and present, real and imagined. Through text and image, they act as keepers of ideas, of knowledge and of stories.
With many of the rare and historically significant books in the Library’s collections on display, it includes a cuneiform tablet from approximately 2500 BC. Cuneiform is one of the precursors to the modern twenty six letter alphabet we use today.
On display are books from approximately the Middle Ages through to the present day, and explore different themes including the early history of books and printing, which includes a leaf from a Gutenberg Bible.
More recent books include a collection of Penguin paperbacks and a display on Peter Carey, one of Victoria’s most prominent authors (he wrote the True History of the Kelly Gang which won the 2001 Man Booker Prize).
Definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re a book geek like me.
