Hope your holidays were great and you’ve made some achievable new year resolutions (language learning-related of course!).
Let’s kick off with some English words you definitely shouldn’t be using this year, with Lake Superior State University’s List of Banished Words:
1. Amazing
2. Baby bump
3. Shared sacrifice
4. Occupy
5. Blowback
6. Man cave
7. The new normal
8. Pet parent
9. Win the future
10. Trickeration
11. Ginormous
12. Thank you in advance
These are pretty America-centric, particularly “trickeration” (it’s a term used by American football analysts apparently). I definitely have to agree with “baby bump” though – it’s so cutesy I can’t stand it!
The writer of one of my favourite travel blogs recently visited the Isle of Man, and listed eight things you may not know about it (the first being that it exists).
It’s been establishedpreviously on this blog that the Isle of Man does in fact exist, and the language of the island is Manx. Unfortunately the last native speaker of the language, Ned Maddrell, died in 1974. The video below has audio of Ned speaking the language.
Revival of the language on the Isle of Man has been reasonably successful in recent years, with an immersion school and radio broadcasts, as well as being taught as a second language at all schools. It’s also recognised under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
The Scots Language Centre has posted audio and a transcription of the Twelve Days of Christmas – in a Scots accent.
You can listen to The Twalve Days o Yuletide on their website – it’s sung by a group of Scottish Music students from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
Here’s the first few verses:.
On the first day o Yuletide my true love sent tae me:
A capercailzie.
On the second day o Yuletide my true love sent tae me:
Twa bubblyjocks
And a capercailzie.
On the third day o Yuletide my true love sent tae me:
Three clockin hens
Twa bubblyjocks
And a capercailzie.
On the fourth day o Yuletide my true love sent tae me:
Fower roastit dyeuks
Three clockin hens
Twa bubblyjocks
And a capercailzie.
Love Dickens? Then the BBC is running a season of shows just for you!
To celebrate the bicentenary of the author’s birth, ‘Dickens on the BBC’ is a series of documentary, drama, and discussion programmes on TV and radio. The season started with a reading from Claire Tomalin’s new biography Charles Dickens: A life on Radio 4 (you can hear it using the Listen again service).
An adaptation of Great Expectations, starring Ray Winstone and Gillian Anderson will be shown over Christmas. Commissioning Arts Editor Mark Bell said:
Dickens on the BBC examines the many aspects of the author as performer, social commentator, observational journalist, husband, story-teller, Christmas cheerleader and contradictory family man, and the new adaptations of his novels show his work to be as vital as it ever was.” (Source: BBC)
Oh yes, it’s that time of the year again… Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is (drum roll) squeezed middle!
Yes, I know that’s two words. This is explained by Oxford University Press:
From a dictionary-maker’s point of view, a two-word expression is called a ‘compound’ and is treated as one word [a 'headword'] in the dictionary. This is not the first time that a two-word expression has been selected as our WOTY. In 2010, the UK Word of the Year was big society. (Source: Oxford University Press)
There has been much debate about this explanation. Nevertheless, squeezed middle is the Word of the Year, and it’s defined as “British Labour Party leader Ed Miliband’s term for those seen as bearing the brunt of government tax burdens while having the least with which to relieve it”. So squeezed in the middle of the rich (who can afford to relief from tax burdens) and the poor, who are eligible for benefits and other government assistance.
Britney famously sang “oops, I did it again” and now Rick Perry, a US Republican presidential candidate, has brought the word back into the popular consciousness.
Perry’s “oops” came as he couldn’t remember the name of a third national agency he would close if he was made president. It’s unlikely he has an idea of the origins of the word, which started to appear around the 1930s. Whilst the exact origins are unknown, it’s thought it may come from the phrase “up-a-daisy”, which has been used since the 18th Century.
And oops isn’t just confined to the English language:
An Italian found in error might say, “ops!” while a Frenchman who’s made a faux pas might say, “oups!” In Spanish, one can say opa, but just as common are huy and ¡ay! A Russian who’s made a goof might exclaim, “ой” (pronounced oj), while a German blunderer might blurt out, “hoppla!” (Source: Slate.com)
An interesting article in China Daily provides a snapshot of English language teaching and learning in China today.
The authors state there is no progression for students learning English as it is not linked from school to college. Whilst many Chinese people study English, and it is compulsory at university, the language is rarely used in social situations.
Another issue is the test-based curriculum, with one teacher saying:
“The (CET-4) test puts the students in a state of war and makes them nervous,” Xu said. “After passing the competitive gaokao, they expect lively and interesting English classes in college. But I’m afraid CET-4 may disappoint them.” (English is a core subject in gaokao, the national college entrance examination.) (Source: China Daily)
What a sad situation – language learning should be a fun activity (at least sometimes!) and not a chore to be undertaken. As the former chairwoman of the English club at Qigihar University says,
“People’s interest in the language itself is our most cherished asset”.
So next time you’re fed up and feeling unmotivated, just think of the Chinese students and their anxiety about the CET-4 test!
With the release of a new movie questioning whether William Shakespeare is the true author of the works attributed to him, the Bard is back in the spotlight.
So what better time to learn how to insult like him? All you have to do is combine words from each of the three columns, and you will come up with an original insult – “you spongy clapper-clawed varlot”, for example.
In case you have no time to pull out a piece of paper and put together your own insult, there’s also an app!
Linguist David Crystal set himself a difficult challenge – covering the history of English in just 100 words. He met the challenge and the proof is in his latest book – The Story of English in 100 Words.
In an interesting article in the Telegraph, Crystal explains what his 100 words tell us about the origins and evolution of English:
At any one time language is a kaleidoscope of styles, genres and dialects. The story of English has to show these differences too. In particular, the words we use when we speak are not the same as those we use when we write. It’s the colloquial words which tend to be neglected, and so in my list along with dialect and debt we find doobry and dilly-dally. And I include words that represent a history of debate over usage, such as ain’t and disinterested, as well as words that tell the story of regional dialects, such as brock, egg and wee. Far more people speak a non-standard variety of English than speak standard English, and their story must also be told. (Source: Telegraph)
Some of the words on his list include the earliest example of a written English word – roe from the 5th Century; matrix, from the 16th Century, and ain’t, which dates back to the 18th Century. It looks like a fascinating read.
