Morphing, Changing, and Dying Words: Barbara Shepherd and Dave Shepherd look at words that shift and change over time–or sometimes die out altogether.
Thanks to Carlos in Spain, who recently helped us discovered a technical problem with our site and podcast. The Word Nerds now have a page on Facebook. (Dave briefly confuses Facebook with MySpace.) (2:15)
Morphing words: words whose meanings change over time. We looked at the journal Nature to learn something about change in meaning. George McNamee had an interesting blog post at the Encyclopedia Britannica blog recently on words that go away. (3:27)
Music bumper from “Court of Greedy Kings” by Val Davis (15:48)
Lost words: words that have fallen out of common use. To find a fantastic list of words nobody ever uses anymore, go to the Phrontistery website by Stephen Chrisomalis. (17:11)
Song: “Change” by Azure McCall (26:28)
Rude Word of the Week: “scurvy” (30:31)
Music bumper from “Under the Stairs” by Sonic Deviant. (33:43)
Rare words: words that are still current, but not commonly used. The Grandiloquent Dictionary has some great examples. (34:26)
Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network and the Ioda Promonet
Theme music by Kick the Cat
Closing theme from “Grapes” by Evan Stone
time: 39:03
size: 35.8 Mb
rating: PG (Our Rude Word segment quotes a rather scathing and rude insult from a Shakespeare play.)
Azure McCall
“Change” (mp3)
from “The Gift”
(Musefx Records)
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I am 20% younger than 40 and i do know what stenography is though i never really saw someone use it. and i dont mistake it for steganography
schöne Grüße from germany
Another great show… but I had to share that when I saw the title appear, I was expecting something totally different.
What I thought of was words that have changed their meanings because of continual misuse. For example, the word “notoriety” is often used when “fame” is meant. So often, that I suspect it won’t be many years before it’s acceptable usage. Similarly with the word “irregardless,” which of course is not a word, but is used so often it will likely soon become one.
I wonder how long it will take before such phrases as, “Me and her is going to the library” (wrong on SO many levels) become acceptable usage as well, since I hear them on a daily basis.
I am 25, and fully aware of stenography.. but I’ve always been a bit ‘unlike’ others of my age. In fact, I remember a Saturday morning cartoon called “Science Court” with a character named “Stenographer Fred”. Who says kids don’t learn from TV?
I’m 36yo and, like others, I did know about stenography. In fact, the topic came up on a few occasions in searches for diverse text entry methods on electronic devices. Personally, I get the impression that a stenography-based input system could be a convenient alternative to on-screen keyboards (e.g. iPhone) and Graffiti (on PalmOS devices).
Interesting to notice that it’s the second time Barbara mentions something made by an anthropologist. Anthro FTW!
As for semantic shift based on “misuse,” it would probably cover too much ground. Language Log had some interesting things about this kind of semantic shift, just a couple of months ago.
Hallo Dave and Barbara!
This was (once again) a very interesting and enjoyable episode. I especially like the guessing game, that is very funny idea for a nerd-game.
Although I’m under 40, I knew stenography. I friend of mine even had to learn it when she trained for her job in the early 90s!
Have a nice holiday season!
Volker
I remember the mimeograph machine! I am 34 years old and I remember helping my teachers “crank out” copy after copy. In fact, although we don’t mimeograph papers anymore we can still “crank out” copies, a work project, or reports. I am teacher now myself and I miss those purple copies!
Ah, Beth, but if one is REALLY old, one will remember the distinction between a mimeograph machine (which pushed black ink through thin places in a waxy stencil to make the image) and a spirit master (which used some kind of volatile liquid-to-gas mixture to make purple copies from a positive master).
The ones that had that smell, the purple ones, were spirit masters (sometimes called “Ditto” machines). The inky ones were mimeographs. The spirit master machines were popular because they were not messy. Mimeographs were always quite messy. Also, spirit master machines were much easier to use well. No ink distribution involved.
As a matter of fact, in my school district, we use a modern-day mimegraph-type machine, called a Risograph, to make large runs when the xerographic photocopier is out of whack or in use. The Riso makes that thin stencil automatically, and then pushes black ink through it onto the paper.
Well I am not quite old enough for the mimeograph but the beginning of my teaching career was filled with the smell of the spirit mastered papers – just a little damp too if you made them at the last minute.
I was thinking of morphing words in the context of high school. One day there was a list of high school slang terms in our local newspaper. I gave the quiz to 2-3 periods worth of students. The words and definitions came from a high school in Kentucky and I am in the Great Plains. Most of the words had the same or similar meanings at my high school but one none of my kids had heard of and a couple others they used but had a different definition for than the correct one on the quiz. I found it interesting that in this day of instant communication there are still regional differences in the slang the high school crowd uses.
My students are very kind to me and will give me a definition of a slang word if I ask – I think they feel a little sorry for my unhipness. I do have to say that since one of the subjects I teach is Anatomy I am sometimes subjected to more slang than I would like!
@Kathy
It’d be interesting to hear more about your quiz results. Maybe you could write this up into an academic paper?
In sociolinguistics, a lot has been said about teenage speech among North American English-speakers.
Gosh Alexandre that sounds like a project! It is fun to go check out urbandictionary.com to get the latest slang. There you will find words my kids have not heard about yet – we are not cutting edge out here on the prairie.
The problem is that so much slang is so intertwined with current national or even local events that some of it is difficult for even native speakers to keep up with. I find, however, that our exchange students sure know and can use a lot of slang by the time they leave us in the spring. One of our German Exchange students came back for a visit after being back home for a year and unless you listened carefully you would never think that he was not a native midwestern speaker of English – slang, coloquialisms and all.
@Kathy See? You have interesting data!
I don’t mean it as a burden but this is the kind of data people are interested in.
In this week’s Wall Street Journal:
If you’re looking for a new career, consider becoming a court reporter. Job opportunities are plentiful but first you need to learn how to quickly take shorthand using a machine called a stenograph.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123058800978940533.html?mod=djemPJ
You mentioned “skedaddle” in episode 111. It’s a wonderful word, and in fact used in a book that’s a favourite of mine “Hairy Maclary and Zachary Quack”, by Lynley Dodd. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve read this to my children. Beautifully written with a fantastic rhythm, as all her books are. Thanks for the podcast. It is nice to see that there are still people around who care about language! Regards, Paul.
Paul, I think this is an example of a word which has become less common in speech but has clearly NOT died out. It’s a word I (50+) use to sound quaint or ironic, but my father (80+) uses it all the time. I’m guessing that if popular (children’s) literature picks it up, it could experience a revival. Plus, it’s just so fun to say! One of those delicious-in-your-mouth-and-ears sounds, like kangaroo or flabbergast.
I do find myself a little resistant to using new words, especially when there is a word that already exists which could instead be used. Example: When using “friend” as a verb, why not instead use the already existent “befriend”?