Steve Rubel looks at 10 common phrases that could soon be made redundant due to changing technology.
Language
Oxford Word of the Year: Unfriend
Oxford University Press has named Facebook term “unfriend” as its 2009 Word of the Year. Other contenders included “hashtag”, “paywall”, “birther” and “zombie bank”.
Study: What kids nickname Lego pieces
Every household has its own set of words for describing particular Lego pieces, says Giles Turnbull: one kid’s “round flat one-er” is another kid’s “bronze jewel”. And so he set out to document the Lego dialects that are unique to different families.
Why is it called the Netherlands?
Radovan Karadzic is currently on trial at The Hague, not at Hague. Why do so many place names require a definite article? Just think of the Bahamas, The Bronx and The Gambia. Slate explains.
On the death of letter writing
Hand written letters may be dead, but that doesn’t mean the process of thinking, communicating and creating a sense of self has been abandoned, writes James Bradley. It’s just now tweets not post cards.
Chillax? Manscaping? Enough with the portmanteaus, already!
Simply taking two words and cramming them together isn’t clever; it’s insufferable. But portmanteaus have become such an epidemic in the media, we’re under a constant barrage of stupidity.
Nobel Prizes: the politics of language and literature
Who is Herta Müller, this year’s winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature? English-speaking audiences are baffled, because, surprise surprise, not of all the best literature is in English. Binoy Kampmark provides some answers.
Slacks, expresso and making love: words men should avoid
Esquire have released their list of the most overused and offensive words of 2009. The biggest culprits? Baby talk and sleazy speech. So no “tummy” and definitely no “panties”.
Miss, Ms., Mrs: the confusing mess of modern manners
While men deal with a simple ‘Mr’, women face the confusing titles of Miss, Mrs and Ms. Should women battle between using a title to define their marital status or is it okay not to care?
Speaka my language: a finalisation of the revitalisation of corporate communication
It’s no to next-generation scenarios and yes to plain English in business, especially since GFC blame is being laid on confusing corporate speak. Will Australia follow the US’s plans to introduce plain English rules?
Memo to the British Press: "husband" isn’t a dirty word
Gay boy band star Stephen Gately, who married in 2006, died this week. But why doesn’t the media refer to his husband as his husband? The language involving same-sex relationships is a political minefield.
Talking the Town: Don Watson’s Bendable Learnings launch
Management language has spread to the most unlikely places and has “seeded itself” — mainly through consultants, according to Don Watson. Margot Saville reports from his book launch.
OMG we’re totes not tweeting our literacy away
Rather than Twitter and text speak destroying our rich language, are we creating a literary revolution not seen since Ancient Greece? Jessica Au explores the different schools of thought.
“Goon Bag” added to the dictionary
Australia continues to make grand contributions to the English language, with news that “goon bag” has finally been added to the Collins English Dictionary. Other new additions include “Twitter”, “OMG” and “beer o’clock”.
Time to end the snark
“Snark” — a particularly biting form of sneering sarcasm favoured by bloggers — has infested the media, masquerading as witty commentary, says David Denby; but it’s not clever, it’s not funny, and it’s dumbing down the fourth estate.
Indigenous languages can’t be stuck in a jar to ‘preserve’
A language isn’t just a dialect, it is a whole way of looking at the world, the universe…writes editor of Bookseller+Publisher Matthia Dempsey.
The C Word: it insults, offends and should be said more often
There are few taboo words left in the English language, but the C word remains one of them. Why are vaginas nicknames so offensive and when will women get round to reclaiming them?
The apostrophe apocalypse
We might expect erroneous apostrophes to show up all over stores, cafes and noticeboards (25% off all clothe’s!), but lately, they’ve been popping up all too often in “professional” copy. It’s time to stamp out this menace, says CJR! Spread the word: apostrophes don’t mean “Here comes an ‘s’!”
FAIL: how one word went from verb to interjection… to viral
How did the word ‘fail’ go from humble verb to an epically popular interjection and internet phenomenon? A tale of syntax and social media.
The screwy semantics of Van Morrison’s swearing
Irish singer Van Morrison recently told a fan to “Fucking shut the fuck up”, raising the obvious question: was ‘the fuck’ being used as an pleonastic direct object of ‘shut’ or as a pre-head modifier of the preposition phrase headed by ‘up’? Thankfully, linguistics professor Geoff Pullum has answers.
Word aversion: why we hate the word “moist”
Why does the sound of certain words words send a shudder down our spines? A look at the phenomenon of “word aversion” — in particular, the widespread public hatred of the word “moist”. Ew. See?
The website that finds big, impressive words
VocabSushi.com scours the Web for big words in articles from daily newspapers (we’re sure a few Maureen Dowd columns are in there!) and helps users learn the words in contextual sentences, says Gillian Reagan.
The word “Indigenous” — even worse than “Aboriginal”
The term “indigenous” continues to strip, indeed further rob, Aboriginal people of their basic human rights as citizens of Australia, argues SJ Stanton.
New dirty words: war on terror
Nearly eight years on from the 9/11 attacks, the Federal Government is launching a review of the official language used to discuss terrorism, and terms like ‘jihadist’ are within their sights.
PODCAST: Did I tweet or twitter?
For the pedant, Twitter poses many issues, given the rapidly evolving nature of its language. The AP style book is here to help, with a ruling on the verb “tweet” v “twitter”.
