Greetings,

A culture is defined by its language - you need only look at the vocab, to learn about what is valued by any given society. I remember seeing a documentary about a group of people whose lives revolved around their cattle - they had over 70 words to describe the different tones of brown in their cattle!

Put your little grey cells into auto-search and note what words pop up to the surface ... I guarantee that many of them would relate to technology, mechanics, science and communications. The majority of those words would not have existed 100 years ago! Just think of the number of new words that have had to be coined in order to cope with changes in technology this century - particularly in the last decade. If someone was "online" thirty years ago, we'd have all been telling them to watch out for the train, and yet today, it's a widely used term.

These new words gradually work their way up from the level of jargon, to that of general usage. A word knows that it's arrived, when it's accepted as an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary.

This seems like a good excuse to take a quick look at some of the more unusual origins of our words.

Numerous English words have had really strange origins.

TAWDRY - describes cheap, gaudy clothes and is derived from St Audrey's fair, held in the Isle of Ely and noted for the cheap, colourful scarves which were sold at it.

GERRYMANDER - in 1812, when Elbridge Gerry was Governor of Massachusetts, the Democrats redrew the map for the Senate elections, thus creating an unusual shaped electorate. A visitor to the office of a local newspaper, saw the map and added a head, wing and claws to it - he then described his creation as 'salamander'. The Editor corrected his visitor and referred to it as a 'Gerrymander' and the name has stuck. So now we use the term to describe the process of redrawing electoral boundaries for political gain.

SANDWICH - most people have heard the story of John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, who refused to leave a card game and had his butler prepare him two slices of bread with a meat filling so that he could continue his game and eat at the same time. (How could you ever work out that 'sandwich' refers to a couple of bits of bread? Some things you just have to know.)

We've borrowed many words directly from foreign languages (sometimes with only minor changes) - the fascinating aspect of this borrowing, is the way we've chosen to associate a particular language with a specific field of activity:

 

• Latin has given us much of our academic and formal language: educate, pacify

 

• Greek has provided many scientific and communication terms: astronomy, biology, telegraph, geometry

 

• Italian gave us musical terms: allegro, soprano

 

• French provides words associated with cooking: flambe, saute

I also read that many of our mathematical words have come from Arabic - but since I'm not a mathematician, I can't think of any. If you have any examples of maths terms which are Arabic in origin, please let me know.

The reason for these borrowings lie in the early wanderings of the English, they were forever taking off for parts unknown and returning with new ideas, and words to describe them. Other examples of words that have been brought back as long-lasting souvenirs of overseas jaunts are: tobacco, moccasin, silk, shampoo, corroboree.

It's interesting, isn't it? I love to find out about the origins of words. (I know ... my daughter keeps telling me I need to get out more!)

Here are the answers to last week's quiz:

We often compare people we know with animals (!!), what animals are referred to in each of these terms?

aquiline - like an eagle (describes a person's nose, which is hooked - like an eagle's beak)

piscine - like a fish (the mind boggles at how you would use this one! ... cold? ... glassy-eyed?)

ovine - like a sheep (a follower, lacking in a sense of adventure ... woolly??)

feline - like a cat (graceful, crafty ... sometimes also treacherous, cruel or sly)

equine - like a horse (strong)

canine - like a dog (loyal or savage ... depending on the dogs you've known)

bovine - like a cow or ox (slow, patient, dull ... I've known some lovely, gentle cows - this is definitely slanderous!)

porcine - like a pig ( greedy, noisy)

lupine - like a wolf (cunning, ravenous, fierce)

corvine - like a crow (noisy, rude)

Now try these exercises:

Match up the simple word with its corresponding long word:

And a Latin phrase we all use sometimes:

Noli me vocare, ego te vocabo. (Don't call me, I'll call you.)

Note the change of address below - I finally found time to organise my own domain ... now if I can just work out how to make FrontPage 2000 do all the wonderful things it can do ...

Just to finish off - remember that words are fun. If you doubt me, just take a few minutes to read the following parody to yourself (aloud). You will probably want to read it a couple of times - it's just one of those poems ... really.

It's a parody (send-up) of Longfellow's famous poem about Hiawatha (which had a very memorable and unusual metre).

Follow the punctuation carefully when reading.

Big Sea Water,

Illinois

March 4, 1881

To the Railroad Superintendent

Sir,

Recently I bought a ticket

Took the money to the office

Gave it to the balding paleface

Sitting at the ticket office.

In his skinny hand he clutched it

While the oil lamp flared around him

Like the moon on Gitche Gumee

And he gave to me a ticket,

It was valid for Chicago.

Yes, Chicago said the ticket

It would take me to Chicago.

Not to Denver, Colarado,

It would take me to Chicago.

I paid dollars for the ticket,

Dollars that had got a face on

Like the face of some great chieftain

Wise and smiling in his wisdom,

So my dollars for the ticket.

When the moon had lit the pine trees,

Lit the pine trees with her fragrance

Not the oak trees with her fragrance

But the pine trees lit she brightly,

Came the east bound locomotive,

Stopped exactly at the depot

Stopped precisely where it ought to.

And I got into the coaches

Coaches labelled for Chicago

These the coaches I got into

Like some bright and shining wigwams

On the shores of Big Sea Water.

Soon I fell into a slumber

Fell into a mighty slumber

Snored into the air like thunder

Three hours snored my mighty bellows

Then awoke with sudden shivering

And a mouth like bison droppings.

When I asked, "Is this Chicago?"

I was greeted with loud laughter

And they said the locomotive

Had a coupling rod that fractured,

As they tried to leave the depot

So the coupling rod it fractured.

And I waited till the morning

But we never left the depot

Where the coupling rod was fractured.

So I'm writing you this letter

Asking you to pay the money

For the ticket to Chicago

Not to Denver, Colorado

But the ticket to Chicago.

Fourteen dollars and a nickel

This I paid to reach Chicago

And I never left the depot.

Send the money by Wells Fargo.

Yours faithfully,

A. Hiawatha (Chief)

(Michael Green Don't Swing from the Balcony, Romeo.)

Isn't that fun? No, really ... it is!

Regards,

Jennifer

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