Are old English words worth fighting for?
In 2007, the editors of the Oxford Junior English Dictionary banished a bevy of terms describing the natural world.
John Nordell/海角大神
In 2007, the editors of the Oxford Junior English Dictionary, convinced that their reference work 鈥渘eeded to reflect the consensus experience of modern-day childhood,鈥� banished a bevy of terms describing the natural world. In their place they inserted newer and supposedly more useful words describing the tamer digital realms that young people inhabit today.
Thus goodbye 鈥渁corn,鈥� hello 鈥渁ttachment.鈥� Out with 鈥渂eech鈥� and 鈥渂luebell,鈥� in with 鈥渂log鈥� and 鈥渂roadband.鈥� And farewell 鈥渃atkin,鈥� 鈥渃owslip,鈥� and 鈥渃ygnet,鈥� because here come 鈥渃elebrity,鈥� 鈥渃hat room,鈥� and 鈥渃ut-and-paste.鈥澛�
It鈥檚 possible, of course, that those Oxford editors had a sound rationale for their lexical cleansing. Perhaps they had read the Cambridge University study revealing that most young children can identify Pok茅mon species such as Spearow and Sandshrew far more readily than they can name real-life sparrows and shrews.聽
But is this simply another skirmish in the language wars, an ongoing battle between prescriptivists and descriptivists? Whereas the 鈥減re-鈥� camp argues that a dictionary should model how language works best, the 鈥渄e-鈥� camp insists that it capture how language works now.聽
In Britain, citizens of all stripes felt justified in fighting back against the decision of the Oxford editors. A change.org petition protesting the thinning of the word herd almost immediately attracted more than 200,000 signatures.
Another retro refusenik is Susie Dent, author of 鈥淢odern Tribes: The Secret Languages of Britain.鈥� She鈥檚 doing everything in her power to guarantee that 鈥渢he old markers of time鈥� do not go the way of the pocket watch. Among her cherished favorites are the payday-friendly 鈥渇ortnight鈥� (fourteen nights, or two weeks) and the lovely-though-lapsed 鈥渟ennight鈥� (seven nights, or one week).聽
Meanwhile, the curators of a website called historyhustle.com are doing their bit with 鈥�20 Awesome Historical Words We Need to Bring Back.鈥� Thanks to them, I can now strut my knowledge that a 鈥渟nollygoster鈥� is 鈥渁 shrewd, unprincipled person, especially a politician,鈥� while its close cousin 鈥済rumbletonians鈥� refers to 鈥減eople who are angry or unhappy with their government.鈥澛�
Given the noble cause at issue here 鈥� saving perfectly serviceable English words from extinction through disuse 鈥� I鈥檓 even willing to be branded an 鈥渦ltracrepdarian.鈥� That鈥檚 鈥渟omebody who gives opinions on subjects they know nothing about.鈥�
Allan Fallow, the curator of #TodaysNeologism on Twitter, is filling in for Melissa Mohr, who is away on vacation until Oct. 17.聽