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.

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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.

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

schöne Grüße from germany