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New blog launched, 13 October
I have launched a new blog on blogger.com at http://whichenglish.blogspot.com. From now on all posts will be made there.
The reason for this change is to allow whichenglish.com readers to make comments etc and let you add yourselves as friends through your own blogs. This should boost the impact of the blog as well as more interactive. I've also done it because the blogger site is more intuitive in the way that it works and the way that it keeps tabs on old entries. To do that on this website isn't as easy to implement using Dreamweaver (OK, so maybe it might be, but the time spent trying to figure that out is better spent writing more entries, interviewing and adding more content to this site.)
More while whilst, 19 September
It is interesting to review the keyword-analytics results for the number of people seeking for 'while whilst', and the variety of contexts that people use to 'google' it (lower case when used as a verb). Here is the current list:
while or whilst
whilst or while
while whilst
whilst while
grammar while whilst
when while whilst
while and whilst
while vs whilst
while whilst economist
while whilst economist style
while/whilst
whilst and while
whilst or while fowler
whilst versus while
I can't help be fascinated by how, of all the hundreds of usage queries featured on this site, this is the most sought after (to my site, of course). Not compared with/to, different to/than/from or even burnt/burned etc. It doesn't even relate to American/British English usgage, which is usually the cause of a lot of confusion. When you look through the examples, nine out of 14 of this week's keywords begin with while first. This would suggest that people instinctively feel in their gut that while is their first choice but that they aren't sure about whilst; whether it has certain grammatical usage like who/whom, which it doesn't.
Samuel Johnson and precentenary, 07 September
Monday the 07 September 2009 marks 300 years since the birth of Samuel Johnson, also known as Dr Johnson, who published his seminal book A Dictionary of the English Language on 15 April 1755. Some people say that he was actually born on 18 September.
The whole anniversary business seems to be growing out of control in the media. It used to be that 10 years, 25 years, 50 years and 100 years marked a special occasion. Today we even have the precentenary, marking ahead of time a year until the date of an event.
Recently heard: redbacks, 06 September
I recently came across an interesting new word in the business section of the Times. The headline used the word redbacks to refer to China's curency the Yuan, of which the 100 Yuan note is red. It might also be a political reference. The word redback is, of course, a reference to the greenback, the US dollar. The name greenback comes originally from the Demand Note dollars issued by Abraham Lincoln to finance the North in the American Civil War. These notes used a distinctive green ink on the back of the notes.
The use of redbacks might pick up as the Chinese economy grows ever more powerful. If the Yuan eventually becomes a reserve currency then you can expect it to become an everyday expression. Until that day, redbacks will in my mind remain an Australian species of spider best avoided.
Debate: more plurals, 02 September
In response to my suggestion in the Guardian about using the original grammar for plurals of words imported into English, Huw Roberts today gives us Eisteddfodau for eisteddfods and corgwn not corgis. This might get interesting.
Curious statistics about while whilst , 02 September
It is always interesting to watch the keyword statistics for this website. I am still surprised by the number of people coming to this site in search of the answer: while or whilst? So many, that the various combinations of keywords for this linguistic puzzle today account for no less than 26% of all the keywords bringing people to this site. At the time of writing there are 15 different keyword variations looking for the same answer, such as "when to use while whilst" and "grammar whilst while". For my two cents on the matter, read the article English Usage: whilst or while?
Debate: Latin spellings, 01 September
My own tongue-in-cheek contribution to the spelling debate got published in the Guardian yesterday.
Debate: Latin spellings, 27 August
The good-hearted debate in the Guardian's letters page continues. First it was Mike Shipman who wrote in, annoyed at the use of premia asking that surely it should be premiums. My dictionary has premia as archaic, but I haven't heard of "insurance premia" going up every year, only insurance premiums. The next day Marilyn Carroll writes in to say that plural -ums are 'just plain wrong'. The next day Michael Hayes writes in to say that he hates the use of media as a singular word (The media is instead or are).
Sean Comyn today wrote in to ask, tongue in cheek, if in that case it should really be musea and not museums. I think this debate will continue, so stay tuned.
Over here: more staycation, 27 August
There was a report in the paper yesterday that more people in the UK are choosing to spend their honeymoon in the UK. The PR material citing this news decided to label it staycationmoon. Today, Robert Hill of Leeds wrote in to suggest the staunchly British alternative, homeymoon. Where will this staycationing ever stop?
More web words: smishing, vishing and sexting, 23 August
It has been a long time since my last blog entry, so I have a bit of catching up to do. Looking at my last post I can see that the hysteria over Swine Flu has died down for the time being.
The first words that I want to make mention of are web releted, a sphere of modern life that is coining new words at an rapid pace. Yesterday's Money section of the Guardian took up the subject of phishing (those email scams that target vulnerable people) and added a few new variants to the lexicon. From phishing we now have smishing and vishing. Smishing apparently means phishing by text message or SMS, hence the sm- prefix. Wikipedia even has it spelt as SMiShing (heaven help us if we have to keep the capital letters up for that one). Vishing is, according to the article, phishing by voicemail. Wikipedia, however, also describes vishing as being conducted over VoIP, such as Skype. As of today Google reports 35,100 results for smishing and 141,000 results for vishing. Further Google results show that vishing is used as early as 2006, but I am sure that it is still new to most.
Yet another technology-related word that cropped up recently is sexting, the sending of explicit text messages, especially explicit self 'portraits' by picture message. This eye-catching word shows up 693,000 times in Google by this probably thanks the the intense debate over what teens the world over are using there mobile phones for. There don't seem to be any instances of this word earlier than January 2009. (PS. I haven't stolen this photo from istockphoto, it's mine.)
Over here: staycation and holistay, 23 August
First it was credit crunch (which, as I have pointed out earlier, began life in the UK as the credit squeeze) and now the latest recession-related US import seems to be the word staycation.
A lot of reporting of this word, which supposedly means to holiday at home (or vacation at home, for you Americans), started out being used within inverted commas but is now being written without them. One letter writer to the Times asked the question: why, if we insist on using the word, can't we just use holistay? (Or Holystay?) The point here being that vacation is not a word traditionally favoured in the UK; instead we use holiday. Holistay is an equally valid corruption and at least it is more recognisable in British English.
My own suggestion: if we need a word that is different from holiday, why don't we just take the unused (in BrE) word vacation and make it mean 'a holiday at home'? "Are you holidaying abroad this year or are you 'taking a vacation'?" sounds reasonable to me. It is better than staycation at least, which shows 1.5 million entries on Google. Holistay shows 1930 results. Holystay gets a total of 7, but now that I have written this blog entry, make that 9.
At the movies: time travel, 23 August
There was a brief article in the G2 last week about the spelling of the film, The Time Traveler's Wife. Like the author, I too have thought that the spelling of American movies should be altered to British English when they don't explicitly use American language. In case you are not sure what I am referring to, British English spells traveller with two double L.
The writer also pointed out examples of previous films that haven't had their titles changed in the UK, including The Color of Money and Pearl Harbor. I agree with her on the first one, but not the second. Pearl Harbor is the name of a place and should not be changed to Pearl Harbour. That would be just as wrong as writing World Trade Centre.
The charges levelled (two Ls again) against The Time Traveller's Wife are valid. The author, in her piece, apparently got the reply from the film-industry people here in the UK that there is no tradition of changing US English into British English for film titles.
Not politically correct: whiter than white and master, 23 August
There was an interesting piece in the Sunday Times today about words that are being stamped out from use in the British public sector because they are not PC. Here are some the examples reported on: whiter than white (now replaced by purer than pure and cleaner than clean); gentleman's agreement (now unwritten agreement); right-hand man (now second in command); and black day (now miserable day). Out, too, is ethnic minority because it implies being small and less important. Also no longer acceptable, is master; you no longer master something, you perfect your skills in it. And you cannot now call it a master bedroom. Yes master!
Recently heard: freemium and Frankenstar, 23 August
I meant to write about this word a few months ago when it was being bandied about heavily in the media. Wikipedia reads that the word freemium was coined on the 23 March 2006, to be exact. It apparently came as a suggestion by one Jarid Lukin in response to writer and VC Fred Wilson, who wanted a word to describe free online content that is ad suported and used as a draw to encourage people to pay for premium content afterwards.
It was getting a lot of mileage over the summer in conjunction with the release of the book Free, by Chris Anderson. It currently nets an muted 338,000 results in Google.
The word Frankenstar isn't that new, but I write about it now because I heard it on my ipod recently. It features as the title of a track by the same name on Public Enemy's album How you sell your soul to a soulless people who sold their soul. It is presumably coined by the great wordsmith Chuck D and I interpret it as a word to describe stars who are overcome by their own fame and who put more effort into nuturing that fame instead of their art. It is obviously a reworking of Frankenstein's monster. A great word, which only registers 11,500 hits on Google. Another one I like from Public Enemy is Dizzy Whirl, a reworking of Disney World.
Is the Swine Flu a "pandemic"? (sic), 28 April, 23.01
As of the time of writing, we are only days into what is looking like the panic over the dreaded Bird Flu that never was -- now in the form of the Swine Flu. Already two British newpapers (who will remain anonymous) have wrongly called the outbreak a pandemic (sic). A true pandemic covers a large geographic area and affects a large proportion of a population, which means it extend past the point of the possibility of it being contained. So far, we are no where near such large numbers of people.
Heard recently: scareware, 28 April, 22.48
First came software, then firmware, middleware, freeware and shareware. Then came crippleware, warez, careware, postcardware, donationware and otherware. Today I heard "scareware", which was used in connection with a story about the Cornficker computer virus. The news piece reported that unlike "normal" viruses that destroyed your computer, data or both, there is evidence that this virus is installing software that is then effectively used to blackmail victims into paying money. This is now apparently known as scareware.
Heard recently: Big Booze, 28 April, 22.23
A recent news story on ABC radio described how the alcohol industry wants to avoid following the same path as the tobacco industry in becoming a pariah. Professor Mike Daube of Curtin University is quoted as saying that, like Big Tobacco, the liquor trade wants to avoid becoming "Big Booze". That would make Big Tobacco, Big Pharma and Big Booze -- and possibly opening the way for Watergate-style Big that that and the other.
Heard recently: "legacy assets", 02 April, 17.06
I remember when the economic crisis first started, back in circa 2007. The problem of asset write downs caused by falling house prices in the US and the whole sub-prime mess at first seemed to be contained to the US. In reporting the obviously American term "credit crunch" (since the use of crunch in this way has not traditionally been used in the UK) the BBC tried its best to insist on calling it the "credit squeeze". The sheer weight of the economic problems in the US meant that by the time that the malaise had spread to Europe and beyond, the term credit crunch came with it, shifted by the sheer weight of the tectonic economic plates.
This attempt at rephrasing was one example of how language is (or isn't adopted) into everyday use. Last week the US Treasury recapitalised the US banks by injecting $100 billion into the Public Private Partnership Investment Program (really, it should be Public–Private Partnership Investment Program), which will be used to buy "legacy assets". Legacy is one of those words that has gain a lot of currency in the last decade. It usually means old, but in this example the US Treasury has attempted to rebrand what we have come to know as "toxic assets". Legacy anything certainly sounds more warm and fuzzy than toxic something. In its official statement, it also makes mention of legacy loans, legacy securities, legacy toxic assets and legacy asset-backed securities. Perhaps plain old "dodgy" might still be a better word. Given that the global economic problems are far from over, expect to hear a lot more about legacy this that and the other, and a lot less toxic this that and the other.
Dictionary of American Regional English nears completion, 26 March, 06.27
The effort by the University of Wisconsin-Madison to compile a Dictionary of American Regional English is said to be nearing completion. Work on the dictionary was started in 1965 by it originator Frederic Cassidy, who passed away in 2000. Federal funding has meant that a staff of 12 have been able to work on the final volume (S-Z), which means that the dictionary is now expected to be published by the end of 2010. The dictionary maps variations in choice of words across the nation as well as providing definitions that describe how regional words are used in a non-prescriptive manner.
The Guardian updates its style guide, 26 March, 06.12
In a rather surprising move the Guardian newspaper has decided to no longer use airplane for aeroplane. The reason that it is surprising is that aeroplane is the British spelling and airplane is the US spelling, so it's strange that they would have been using airplane in the first place. Moreover, in an article outlining the change reader's editor Siobhain Butterworth even acknowledges that the new choice of spelling is British English. The changes come as part of an overhaul of its style guide to be more consistent across the Guardian, Observer and guardian.co.uk. The style guide's editor David Marsh is quoted as saying that the original preference for airplane came out of a "moment of madness".
The second notable change to their style guide is the use of possessives. No longer will they write Dickens' house but rather Dickens's house, Jesus's disciples etc. Third, the bizarre choice of using em dashes (—) online has now been changed to using the more sober endash (–). About time too. Changes to capitalisation include freudian slip → Freudian slip, but I'm confused why the editor writes: 'People still think that a Freudian slip is very much associated with Sigmund Freud'. A Google search reveals that Freudian slip is named after Sigmund Freud, who originally used the term Fehlleistung (or "faulty action"). It may indeed be that the reversals of house style show the original decisions were the real Freudian slips.
Recently heard: econocide, 13 March, 08.05
I read on the BBC website this week that US psychologists have coined the term econocide to describe the alleged spate of suicides taking place during this current 'great recession' (another term I heard this week). I personaly find the word rather pointless, because the tragedy of suicide will usually result from misfortune of some sort, regardless of the circumstances leading up to it.
The article writes that financiers jumping from skyscrapers was 'the most iconic image of the 1929 Wall Street crash'. In his book the The great crash of 1929, author and economist JK Galbraith proved using statistics that there was no surge in suicide figures during the crash or ensuing depression. Financiers, traders and speculators were not jumping from buildings -- this is perhaps the greatest myth of 1929 - and the BBC report 'Econocide' to surge as recession bites does not help anyone.
English spelling reform, 13 March 2009, 07.52
In a letter to the Times this week, Nigel T Reilly calls for Time to rethink British spelling. in advocating English spelling reform he cites examples of successful reforms of a host of languages. He overlooks, however, the successful reforms made by Noah Webster, many of which have since been adopted by British English.
The difficulty of adopting spelling reforms in British English is that, in many cases, it would mean admitting that the Americans got it right. They have managed a large degree of reforms that have made their spelling more consistent and, frankly, easier to learn than British English.
There are always howls of protest when 'fall', 'color' or 'transportation' appear in the British media yet there are few rumblings towards US spellings such as 'dialing', 'controling', 'fulfill' or 'advisor' arise. This is perhaps a sign of an equally ignorant knowledge of 'British' spelling.
By focusing (which used to be spelt with two "esses", but we've now adopted the reformed US version) on inconsistencies caused by the wholesale adoptions of French or Latin words into English, our efforts fail to acknowledge the fact that the Americans already lead the way in tackling the 'problem' of English spelling. In the US there is no doubt over how to spell dreamed/dreamt, burned/burnt, organization/organization or practice/practise etc. They have chosen one and stuck to it, unlike British English.
These are the reforms that are more needed than arguing over words like bureau, doubt or knight. Without taking a position once and for all on -ll-/-l-, -ed/-t and -z/-s, we risk adopting US spellings by stealth through our imported technologies anyway.
HL Mencken was right when he wrote that Britain will continue to refuse to look to American English for guidance until the day they are forced to admit that it makes good common sense. If we are to reject US spelling we need to establish once and for all what is and isn't British spelling.
Recently heard: bankster
I read this week that the word bankster (banker + gangster) is beginning to make a comeback. A google search today picks up 142,000 instances. This is apparently used to insult those blamed for the credit crunch and subsequent recession. Before people resist using it and complain that it's yet another "made-up word", the word dates from the 1930s and is attributed to a certain Ron Chernow, who used it in his book Death of the Banker. Although applied to a different era, it proves the old addage that history has a way of always repeating itself.
What is interesting though, is that on hearing the word I can't help thinking of the amazing artist Banksy, of Bristol fame. You can imagine him applauding the existence of such a word, given his known political views, yet he might now start to be irrated by friends yelling from across the room, "Yo, Bankster!".
Recently heard: moobs
Men are becoming increasingly self-conscious about their excess chest fat, according to a piece of PR-puff news published this weekend. They are no longer called "man boobs", but are now officially called moobs. Lets hope that Facebook doesn't start banning images of these male mammories like they did with breast-feeding mothers. It makes me think that George Costanza's father's idea for the "man bra", or Bro, was quite ahead of its time.
Recently heard: smirting
The smoking ban came to England in July 2007, forcing smokers to huddle together outside to feed their habit. Out of these forced social gatherings grew many new friendships and relationships. A new generation of singles have adopted the concept of smirting, which combines 'smoking' with 'flirting' as a way of finding a mate.
Recently heard: usecase
As a regular listener of the Indesign Secrets podcasts, by the hilariously funny David Blatner and Anne-Marie Concepcion, they mentioned a word used by developers at Adobe: usecase. It sounds like an offshoot of 'business case'. If someone thinks up a new idea for a new tool or piece of software, the question that they will usually be asked is "What's your usecase?". In other words, what are the merits of your idea, how is it likely to be used and why should we invest in making it?
Gobsmacked by The Times
The Times yesterday ran a piece about the word gobsmacked and included an info panel on its origin and meaning. It points out that the word first 'graced' its pages in 1989.
The thing I'd like to point out is that the Times is hardly a barometer of the Times when it comes to adopting the cutting edge of common English usage. It took until 2008 to adopt Mumbai, a city that changed its name in 1996. It was the last national newspaper in Britain to commit to -s- spellings despite widespread use. So what is the earliest recorded use of gobsmacked? By all accounts it seems to be 1985, a full four years before it first graced the pages of the not-so-hip Times.
'First British cancer-free baby born'
The Guardian online today featured this unfortunate headline. By all accounts, every child born in Britain throughout the ages until now had cancer already from birth.
I know it's pedantic to pick on headlines, but it remained unchanged all afternoon. It's a bad headline for sure, but word order plays a bigger part in this example than any split infinity ever hads - yet the likes of these get through the net.
"an horrific life"
I was watching the fantastic spy series Spooks last night, and one of the characters used the dreaded 'an' before 'horrific'. He seemed to have difficulty saying it, and even had to take a brief pause between the two words. The reason that I even mention such a trivial thing is that I was quite pleased that the subtitling people had chosen to override him, writing 'a horrific' instead.
Obituary: 'greatest living playwright'
Oh dear, the Guardian today features an tribute to the playwright Harold Pinter who died this week. The article, written over a spread, features the headline 'Theatrical world applauds life and art of our greatest living playwright'. Obviously, he is no living playwright.
In all fairness, having experience of writing headlines for national dailies myself, I know that the task of the production editor to make a headline fill a space can be a last-minute headache when deadlines loom. Given that the headline had to fill the entire width of the spread meant that it had to be of quite considerable length in the first place. The second problem is making sure that it's still a sharp headline, preferably an active one to boot. Thus, we get an 11-word headline that doesn't quite make it to the other side of the page, overlooking the fact that someone can only be a living legend, or playwright, when you are alive. If the article had been about a tribute night held by the theatrical world in honour of invited guest Harold Pinter, the headline would have been done the job.
I can't help thinking that the 'greatest living' came from the idea of the overworked greatest living legend and applied to playwright. Anyhow, since going to press the online version spotted the problem and changed it to 'Theatrical world applauds life and art of our greatest modern playwright', my italics. One of the advantages of web over print is the ability to correct things post-deadline – which alters the idea of a deadline.
The word 'fealty'
The Economist this week features a word in it's leader that made me stop reading because I thought it was a misprint. The word is fealty. After scrutinising the sentence, the context did seem to make sense. Not having a dictionary at hand to look up its meaning, as I was reading it over a 'large' caffe latte, the next thing I did was wonder whether the word rhymed with 'felt' or 'field'. Once I got home I checked it's meaning in the dictionary. Featly is described as a historical (I almost wrote an) noun meaning sworn loyalty to a lord, derived from Latin fidelitas (fidelity).
The interesting thing about this word is that it did for me what good writing should not do. It made me stop reading and put me off me train of thought. Instead of reading on, I stopped reading to think about the word. I still haven't read the article's conclusion, let alone the rest of the double issue. And for those of you still wondering: it rhymes with field.
First blog entry
This is the first blog entry on this site. Obviously, there is more to come. Stay tuned for my blog entries on examples of English that catch my eye and I feel worth mentioning or discussing.