English R.I.P.

Reproducing an article that appeared in The Washington Post.

The English language, which arose from humble Anglo-Saxon roots to become the lingua franca of 600 million people worldwide and the dominant lexicon of international
discourse, is dead. It succumbed last month at the age of 1,617 after a long illness. It is survived by an ignominiously diminished form of itself. The end came quietly on Aug. 21 on the letters page of The Washington Post. A reader castigated the newspaper for having written that Sasha Obama was the "youngest" daughter of the president and first lady, rather than their "younger" daughter. In so doing, however, the letter writer called the first couple the "Obama's." This, too, was
published, constituting an illiterate proofreading of an illiterate criticism of an illiteracy. Moments later, already severely weakened, English died of shame.

The language's demise took few by surprise. Signs of its failing health had been evident for some time on the pages of America's daily newspapers, the flexible yet linguistically authoritative forums through which the day-to-day state of the
language has traditionally been measured. Beset by the need to cut costs, and influenced by decreased public attention to grammar, punctuation and syntax in an era of unedited blogs and abbreviated instant communication, newspaper publishers have been cutting back on the use of copy editing, sometimes eliminating it entirely.

In the past year alone, as the language lay imperiled, the ironically clueless misspelling "pronounciation" has been seen in the Boston Globe, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Deseret Morning News, Washington Jewish Week and the Contra Costa (Calif.) Times, where it appeared in a correction that apologized for a previous mispronunciation. On Aug. 6, the very first word of an article in the Winston-
Salem (N.C.) Journal was "Alot," which the newspaper employed to estimate the number of Winston-Salemites who would be vacationing that month.

The Lewiston (Maine) Sun-Journal has written of "spading and neutering." The Miami Herald reported on someone who "eeks out a living" -- alas, not by running an amusement-park haunted house. The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

described professional football as a "doggy dog world." The Vallejo (Calif.) Times-Herald and the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune were the two most recent papers, out of dozens, to report on the treatment of "prostrate cancer."

Observers say, however, that no development contributed more dramatically to the death of the language than the sudden and startling ubiquity of the vomitous verbal
construction "reach out to" as a synonym for "call on the phone," or "attempt to contact." A jargony phrase bloated with bogus compassion -- once the province only of 12-step programs and sensitivity training seminars -- "reach out to" is
now commonplace in newspapers. In the last half-year, the New York Times alone has used it more than 20 times in a number of contextually indefensible ways, including to report that the Blagojevich jury had asked the judge a question.

It was not immediately clear to what degree the English language will be mourned, or if it will be mourned at all. In the United States, English has become increasingly irrelevant, particularly among young adults. Once the most popular major at the nation's leading colleges and universities, it now often trails more pragmatic disciplines, such as economics, politics, government, and, ironically, "communications," which increasingly involves learning to write mobile-device-friendly ads for products like Cheez Doodles.

Many people interviewed for this obituary appeared unmoved by the news, including Anthony Incognito of Crystal City, a typical man in the street.
"Between you and I," he said, "I could care less."

Vuvuzela enters Oxford Dictionary of English

Vuvuzela, the much encountered term during FIFA World Cup this year, has entered the Oxford Dictionary of English. Here is the newsitem From Telegraph:

Along with other new words like tweetup, cheeseball and turducken, it is included in the third edition of the dictionary, published today (August 19, 2010).

The word vuvuzela has only been in common use since the summer when the long horn began to be heard at the World Cup matches in South Africa.

It is one of more than 2,000 new words and phrases included in the dictionary for the first time.

Other newcomers include: tweetup (a meeting arranged through Twitter); cheeseball (lacking taste or style); and a turducken (a roast dish consisting of a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey).

Two of the greatest influences on current language have been the internet and the financial crisis.

Paywall (which restricts website access only to subscribers), microblogging (posting short entries on a blog), netbook, viral and defriend have all arrived in our language because of the internet.

The financial world has also provided a host of new words including toxic debt, deleveraging (reducing debt by quickly selling assets), overleveraged, quantitative easing and staycation (a holiday spent in your home country).

Many of these were words that, in the past, were only used by economists and City experts, but which have now crept into normal parlance.

The world of national and global politics has contributed a number of new words and phrases including exit strategy, the fog of war, a surge (of troops), overthinking, catatrophizing (presenting a situation as considerably worse than it actually is) and soft skills (personal attributes that let you interact harmoniously with others).

Scientists have provided words connected with the climate. Carbon capture, carbon storage and geoengineering are all ways to help fight global warming.

Other new entries are :

* wardrobe malfunction : when someone exposes an intimate part of their body after clothing slips;

* chill pill: a notional pill to make someone calm;

* bromance : a close but non-sexual relationship between two men;

* LBD (little black dress). This refers to the simple evening or cocktail dress that, it is claimed, should be part of every womans wardrobe; and

* frenemy : a person that one is friendly with despite a fundamental dislike.

Rhopalic Verses

This is from wonderful blog of Anu Garg http://wordsmith.org/words

A rhopalic verse or sentence is one that balloons -- where each word is a letter or a syllable longer. The word is also used as a noun. Here's a terrific example of a rhopalic by Dmitri Borgmann:
"I do not know where family doctors acquired illegibly perplexing handwriting; nevertheless, extraordinary pharmaceutical intellectuality, counterbalancing indecipherability, transcendentalises intercommunications' incomprehensibleness."

Here is another example:
'I am the only dummy player, perhaps, planning maneuvers calculated brilliantly, nevertheless outstandingly pachydermatous, notwithstanding unconstitutional unprofessionalism.'"

Quirky English Language

This news item caught my fancy:

Deipnosophists, stridewallops and shot-clogs - wondering what these words mean? Well, these are some of the lost words in English language assembled by Adam Jacot de Boinod.

Shot clog is an Elizabethan word for a drinking companion who is only tolerated because he pays, while stridewallop is a Yorkshire term for a tall and awkward woman.

Deipnosophist is a Jacobean word for a skillful dinner conversationalist.

All these quirky words had been lost over a period of time, the Telegraph reports.

However, Boinod has included them in his new book 'The Wonder of Whiffling'.

He writes in the introduction of the book: "As a self-confessed bowerbird (one who collects an astonishing array of sometimes useless objects), I've greatly enjoyed putting together this collection.

"I sincerely hope that you enjoy reading it, and that it saves you both from mulligrubs, depression of spirits, and onomatomania, vexation in having difficulty finding the right word."

Some other extraordinary words include crambazzled, which is used to refer to someone who is prematurely aged through drink and a dissolute life.

Word from overseas like 'twack' have also been incorporated.

Words

This is by Ed Pilkington in The Guardian reproduced in The Hindu few days back.

The irresistible power of the digital revolution to transform everything in its path has been confirmed, lest anyone still doubts it, by one of the arbiters of the English language itself.

Merriam-Webster, the revered publishing house known for its texts on American English, released on Thursday a sample of more than 100 new words it has granted entry into its Collegiate dictionary this year. Fully a fifth of them relate to technological innovation.

“Vlog” makes its debut, defined as a blog containing video material, as does “webisode,” that is a TV show that can be viewed through a website.

Some old expressions have finally made it into Webster years after they were coined, courtesy of renewed digital interest. So “fan fiction” is traceable back to 1944 but the writing of stories by fans involving popular fictional characters has boomed through posts on the web.

Likewise, the use of “sock puppet” to describe a false identity used for deceptive purposes originated in 1959, but its proliferation on the internet has given it new life. “Flash mobs” (1987) — crowds that descend on a designated location to perform an event — have become so common, thanks to email and text messages, that the phrase has now earned its place in the dictionary.

The green revolution also makes a strong showing, with “locavore” for a person who eats only locally grown food, and “green-collar,” referring to jobs designed to help the environment.

Top 10 Misspelled Words

According to a new study, these are the top 10 most misspelled words in the English language.

1. Definitely (Definately)
2. Sacrilegious (Sacreligious)
3. Indict (Indite)
4. Manoeuvre (Maneouvre)
5. Bureaucracy (Beaurocracy)
6. Broccoli (Brocolli)
7. Phlegm (Phleghm)
8. Prejudice (Predjudice)
9. Consensus (Conscensus)
10.Unnecessary (Unecessary)

100 Most Beautiful Words in English !!!

I was directed to this site http://www.alphadictionary.com sometime back and was quite interested by its contents.
I have copy pasted it a post on 100 most beautiful words in English (very subjective, of course) Personally, I will pick chiaroscuro, cynosure, halcyon and elixir as my favorites from this list. What is yours ?


Here are the 100 most beautiful words in English. How do we know? Dr. Goodword (Dr. Robert Beard) has been defining words and writing poetry for 40 years. For five years he wrote the daily word sent our as the Word of the Day at yourDictionary and since 2004 he has been writing the Good Word at alphaDictionary.

Over the years he has collected these words, with the help of the word colloquium at the alphaDictionary Alpha Agora. Now, here the most beautiful words in sounds and meaning are for you to enjoy.

Stay tuned: in a month or two you will be able to purchase the entire list, fully defined and explained by Dr. Goodword in his next book, The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English, published by Lexiteria and available at Amazon.com. Click the linked words for examples of rought drafts of the fully defined words.
1 adroit Dexterous, agile.
2 adumbrate To very gently suggest.
3 aestivate To summer, to spend the summer.
4 ailurophile A cat-lover.
5 beatific Befitting an angel or saint.
6 beleaguer To exhaust with attacks.
7 blandiloquent Beautiful and flattering.
8 caliginous Dark and misty.
9 champagne An effervescent wine.
10 chatoyant Like a cat's eye.
11 chiaroscuro The arrangement of dark and light elements in a picture.
12 cockle A heart-shaped bivalve or a garden flower.
13 colporteur A book peddlar.
14 conflate To blend together, to combine different things.
15 cynosure A focal point of admiration.
16 desuetude Disuse.
17 diaphanous Filmy.
18 diffuse Spread out, not focused or concentrated.
19 dulcet Sweet, sugary.
20 ebullient Bubbling with enthusiasm.
21 effervescent Bubbly.
22 efflorescence Flowering, the opening of buds or a bloom.
23 elixir A good potion.
24 emollient A softener.
25 encomium A spoken or written work in praise of someone.
26 ephemeral Short-lived.
27 epicure A person who enjoys fine living, especially food and drink.
28 epiphany A sudden revelation.
29 erstwhile At one time, for a time.
30 eschew To reject or avoid.
31 esculent Edible.
32 esoteric Understood only by a small group of specialists.
33 ethereal Gaseous, invisible but detectable.
34 etiolate White from no contact with light.
35 evanescent Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time.
36 exuberant Enthusiastic, excited.
37 felicitous Pleasing.
38 fescue A variety of grass favored for pastures.
39 foudroyant Dazzling.
40 fragile Very, very delicate.
41 fugacioius Running, escaping.
42 gambol To skip or leap about joyfully.
43 glamour Beauty.
44 gossamer The finest piece of thread, a spider's silk.
45 halcyon Happy, sunny, care-free.
46 hymeneal Having to do with a wedding.
47 imbricate To overlap to form a regular pattern.
48 imbroglio An altercation or complicated situation.
49 imbue To infuse, instill.
50 incipient Beginning, in an early stage.
51 ingenue A naïve young woman.
52 inglenook The place beside the fireplace.
53 inspissate To thicken.
54 inure To jade.
55 jejune Dull; childish.
56 lagniappe A gift given to a customer for their patronage.
57 lagoon A small gulf or inlet in the sea.
58 languor Listlessness, inactivity.
59 lassitude Weariness, listlessness.
60 laughter The response to something funny.
61 lilt To move musically or lively, to have a lively sound.
62 lithe Slender and flexible.
63 loquacious Talkative.
64 luxuriant Thick, lavish.
65 mellifluous Sweet-sounding.
66 missive A message or letter.
67 moiety One of two equal parts, a half.
68 mondegreen A misanalyzed phrase.
69 nebulous Foggy.
70 niveous Snowy, snow-like.
71 obsequious Fawning, subservience.
72 odalisque A concubine in a harem.
73 oeuvre A work.
74 offing That part of the sea between the horizon and the offshore.
75 onomatopoeia The creation of words by imitating sound.
76 paean A formal expression of praise.
77 palimpsest A manuscript written over one or more earlier ones.
78 panacea A complete solution for all problems.
79 panoply A complete set.
80 pastiche A mixture of art work (art or music) from various sources.
81 peccadillo A peculiarity.
82 pelagic Related to the sea or ocean.
83 penumbra A half-shadow, the edge of a shadow.
84 peregrination Wandering, travels.
85 petrichor The smell of earth after a rain.
86 plethora A great excess, overabundance.
87 porcelain A fine white clay pottery.
88 potamophilous Loving rivers.
89 propinquity A nearness, similarity, or kinship.
90 Pyrrhic Victorious despite heavy losses.
91 quintessential The ultimate, the essence of the essence.
92 redolent Sweet-smelling.
93 rhapsody A beautiful musical piece.
94 riparian Having to do with the bank of a river or other body of water.
95 ripple A small, circular wave emanating from a central point.
96 scintillate To sparkle with brilliant light.
97 sempiternal Forever and ever.
98 seraglio Housing for a harem.
99 serendipity Finding something while looking for something else.
100 surreptitious Sneaky.

BONUS WORDS
101 sussurous Producing a hushing sound, like flowing water.
102 symbiosis Interdependence of two different species.
103 syzygy The direct opposition of two heavenly bodies.
104 talisman A symbolic object believed to have magical powers.
105 terpsichorean Related to dance.
106 tintinnabulation Ringing.
107 umbrageous Shady.
108 vestige A small fragment.
109 whisper Speaking without vibrating the vocal folds.
110 zyzzyva A kind of beetle.

Neologisms

Myco-diesel, punditariat, returnment, iCrime

Don't go searching for these words in your dictionary. These are all new words coined very recently. English language is amazing in its elasticity and sponge-like character of absorbing new words quite often.

By the way, myco-diesel is diesel fuel manufactured from a fungus. Punditariat as it implies is the collection of pundits. Returnment is the act of returning back to work after having retired. icrime is theft of a personal media device, particular an iPod or iphone.