Yearly archives: 2012
From ‘gadzooks’ to ‘cowabunga’: some episodes in the life of the interjection
OMG, LOL! When the Oxford English Dictionary decided to include the interjections LOL and OMG as new words in 2011, it seemed as though the apocalypse had finally come. From the tone of so many newspaper commentaries and angry blogs reacting to the news, I might have expected to have seen a few senior editors [...]
Words on the radar: June 2012
Oxford Dictionaries adds dozens of new words each quarter but we have a much longer watchlist of words that we are monitoring for possible inclusion in the future. The following are some words which have recently come to our attention, but don’t yet have enough currency for us to include them in our dictionaries. Some [...]
Don’t get honey-fuggled, you doughnut! And other inventive uses of food in English
A few Fridays ago, it was National Doughnut Day. Did you celebrate or did it completely pass you by in the way that most of these days probably do? At least with this particular festivity, there would appear to be an appropriate way to celebrate. The same might not be said for, say, National Stapler [...]
Are you father-waur or father-better? The forgotten language of fathers
To judge by the typical Father’s Day gift, there isn’t much more to fatherhood than golf, grilling, and garish neckties. The history of the English language reveals some different and even surprising associations in some rare words and meanings alluding to the paternal parent. Some of these largely forgotten words may be worthy of a [...]
Pride and Prejudice interactive text analyser
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Pride and Prejudice is one of Jane Austen’s best-known love stories, and one of the nation’s favourite novels, achieving second place in the BBC’s Big Read Top 100. You may think you know this novel inside out; you may know how many times Mr. Collins was asked to [...]
Why do some words have two opposite meanings?
Single words that have two contradictory meanings are known as contronyms. The number of contronyms in English is small, but they are significant. Examples include: dust: 1 to remove dust. 2 to cover with dust. hysterical: 1 frightened and out of control. 2 funny. nervy: 1 showing nerve or courage. 2 excitable and volatile. moot: [...]
Keep calm, and say it plainly
Ever since I first read an ancient edition of Ernest Gowers’ book on plain English about fifteen years ago, I’ve tried to put his guidelines into practice whenever I write. I don’t always get it right – I’m sure you’ll catch me out in this piece of writing – but I always try. What is [...]
Props to the cats – the lifespan of slang
My students are mostly white, middle-class, and female, but their slang is heavily influenced by rap culture. They chillax with their bloods and homies, dissing the skanky hos, expressing props to the players and pimping up their whips. Comparison with hippy slang suggests that it’s only a matter of time before they’re not the only [...]
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