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.
Back in August I posted about words that have no English equivalent. Now there are 14 more to share!
This time my favourites are:
1. Shemomedjamo (Georgian)
You know when you’re really full, but your meal is just so delicious, you can’t stop eating it? The Georgians feel your pain. This word means, “I accidentally ate the whole thing.”
I can really relate to that one!
2. Pelinti (Buli, Ghana)
Your friend bites into a piece of piping hot pizza, then opens his mouth and sort of tilts his head around while making an “aaaarrrahh” noise. The Ghanaians have a word for that. More specifically, it means “to move hot food around in your mouth.”
Again, this happens to me all the time! Why don’t we have equivalent words in English??
The next one is not something that has happened to me, but is nevertheless lovely. And we should definitely have a word for it!
9. Koi No Yokan (Japanese)
The sense upon first meeting a person that the two of you are going to fall into love.
Awww. Just like last time, you can see the full list here.
How seriously do you take Scrabble games? Think of them as a fun pastime that also may improve your vocabulary?
Well, however seriously you treat your home Scrabble games, competitors at the World Scrabble Championships are much more serious than you. A Thai player this week demanded his opponent be strip searched to try and find a tile that went missing during the game.
Luckily for his English counterpart, the referee did not grant this request. But the mystery remains – what happened to the ‘G’?
The world’s newest nation, South Sudan, has adopted English as its official language.
South Sudan was created after a referendum earlier this year, splitting off from the mainly Arabic speaking Sudan. Leaders hope that choosing English will make South Sudan a modern country and see it as a “tool for development”.
“With English,” the news director of South Sudan Radio, Rehan Abdelnebi, told me haltingly, “we can become one nation. We can iron out our tribal differences and communicate with the rest of the world.” (Source: BBC News)
There are issues, however. Around 150 different languages are spoken in the country, with most people having grown up speaking a form of Arabic. Few people speak English, and a large proportion of the population are illiterate.
Let’s hope that South Sudan can become a successful and peaceful country, with or without English.
A Japanese company claims to have invented the first robots that can chat with people.
Specifically designed for English language learners, the “chatbots” are accessed online. The online characters use high-speed speech recognition technology which allows them to interact in real time with students. Students can also participate in the chatbots’ virtual world.
Interestingly, the level of conversation can be adjusted depending on the student’s needs, and dialogue also appears on screen in English.
According to the Telegraph:
The “chatbots” are currently targeting Japanese students learning English however the company is planning to expand internationally.
The concept was inspired by the lack of opportunity for many Japanese students unable to afford costly lessons to practice speaking native English, according to SpeakGlobal.
“The percentage of Japanese who can actually speak English freely is in the low single digits,” added the company.
“This is due to the lack of opportunities to practice speaking with native English speakers. While many English conversation schools and online schools exist, some simply cannot afford this luxury.” (Source: Telegraph)
I’m not sure how I’d feel about interacting with a “chatbot”, but I suppose it is less scary than practicing your language skills with a live person – robots can’t judge you after all (yet!).
I hope everyone is enjoying a great Bank Holiday weekend (we’ll ignore the weather). I found a blog post of 15 words with no English equivalent that I thought I’d share.
Here are my favourites from the list:
1. Zhaghzhagh (Persian)
The chattering of teeth from the cold or from rage.
4. Luftmensch (Yiddish)
The Yiddish have scores of words to describe social misfits. This one is for an impractical dreamer with no business sense. Literally, air person.
I love travelling. I’ve even been known to throw in some travel lingo when out with non-traveller friends to try and impress them. But I’m pretty sure I’d never use any of the ridiculous travel terms that MSN has compiled. Here’s the list:
The annual list of popular baby names was released this week by the Office of National Statistics. Which names were top? Olivia and Oliver (for the second year running).
Others in the top 5 were Jack, Alfie, Harry and Charlie for boys and Sophie, Emily, Lily and Amelia for girls.
Ollie was the fastest rising name in the boys’ top 100 while Olly was 113th.
When looking at the figures just for Wales, Oliver and Ruby were the most popular boys’ and girls’ names.
In eight of the English regions, Oliver was the most popular name, however Jack came top in the North East.
Among baby girls, Olivia was the top name in seven English regions, Sophie was the most popular in the East and Lily in the South West. (Source: BBC News)
Names go through trends – when I was born ‘Michelle’ must have been very popular as 3 other girls in my high school form group were also called Michelle! I’m not sure why it’s become less popular, as the Hebrew meaning of the name is apparently “who is like God?” (not sure why there’s a question mark there either).
A few years ago a company did a survey on ‘traditional’ British names and found they were dying out. Perhaps instead of Olivia and Oliver, parents could consider Ethel or Gertrude and Percy or Clifford?
Fresh from South Korea is the news that the latest kids craze is Taeglish – an educational combination of English and Taekwondo.
Kim Sung-hoon, creator of Taeglish, explains:
Taeglish is a combination of the words Taekwondo and English. Normal English education is boring with no fun and they do not understand why they have to learn it. After English is combined with Taekwondo practice, children can learn English with fun and in high spirits. (Source: Macmillan Dictionary Blog)
Taekwondo is a popular martial art and in this video, it looks like a lot of fun!
Recently I started Zumba classes and some of the songs are in Spanish (Daddy Yankee’s Gasolina for example). I often find myself trying to work out what the words are. Perhaps I could start my own Zumanish class?
