1 January 2010

What's It Going to Be?

Greetings,

I hope you enjoyed your Christmas break from routine and didn't over-indulge too much. Before we go any further, I want to thank you for your company this past year and wish you a very safe, healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.

And now, as we settle in for the next decade of the 21st century, there's one question that is uppermost in everybody's mind: What are we going to call it?

The coming year, I mean.

Cast your mind back to last century (that still sounds weird, doesn't it?) ... In 1984, we all wondered whether George Orwell's predictions for nineteen-eighty-four may have been just a tad off-target. In nineteen-ninety-nine, we feared the worst as the year, the decade, the century and the millennium came to a close. (Yes, I know there's still a lot of disagreement about whether the century etc ended in 1999 or not until 2000, but for the sake of a good story, we'll stick with my version for now!)

And then came the-year-two-thousand. And it was always "the-year-two-thousand" until we got accustomed to the whole idea and dropped the "year" bit.

Then, news reporters solemnly introduced each evening's report with a declaration of the date, "Today's news for Monday, the sixth of March, two thousand ..."

Children who were born in the-year-two-thousand grew up and were at school in two-thousand-and-six. And so it went throughout the decade: we had two-thousand-and-one and so on until we've just shut the door on two-thousand-and-nine, but what lies ahead, dear reader, what lies ahead?

Are we going to launch ourselves into two-thousand-and-ten or opt for twenty-ten, which I've been hearing more and more in the media lately?

It's an interesting little dilemma, and we're fortunate to be around to observe our language habits forming (or being formed).

I can't see why we shouldn't go for the faster, neater twenty-ten format, but I can see why there's hesitation in some circles. It's all to do with that habit many children have of creating their own numbering systems that feature such classics as "eleventy-five" and "eleventeen."

My theory is that there are some sections in the Movers and Shakers who worry about twenty-ten, because that's a mere twelve months away from twenty-eleven and that, in turn, is a hair's breadth from the tongue-tying disaster that could be "twenty-eleventy."

Keep your shell-pink ear to the ground and we'll see which version wins. I've put a little poll up, feel free to drop by and record the number of times each term is used. (Scroll down till you find the Write101 Community ... a bit further on and you'll find the Polls. Just click on Next Poll and you'll come to the one about what to call the coming year. You can also click once more and offer your own suggestions.)

One of our Merry Band, Ray Smith, wrote to me about an article in the Washington Post, in which staff writer, Michael S. Rosenwald ponders the problem of how we're going to refer to the past decade, "...Dictionary editors, linguists and even radio DJs say we have entered a semantic black hole in which the English language failed to produce a term for the outgoing decade in the same way it has failed to find a catchy moniker for your former in-laws. (Out-laws never stuck.) The language is stumped. The Zeroes? The Ohs? The Oh-Ohs? Help!"

Other suggestions have included, "... The Two Thousands? The Aughties? ... the Aughts, which was how some people last century referred to the years between 1900 and 1909: 'That would be the most likely one, because it is short. But it hasn't stuck around.' ( According to Jesse Sheidlower, editor at large of the Oxford English Dictionary) On the less formal version of the same name, the Aughties (Sheidlower comments): 'Unlikely because it sounds silly.' On the Twenty Hundreds: 'Too long. And it's not indicative of decades.' On the Naughties: 'Silly.'"

Hmmm ... yet another occasion when the language seems to have let us down. We've had a chat about this before, when we wondered what to call our Significant Others and our girl and boy cousins, and what to call our collective aunts and uncles  ...

Despite the occasional omission, we really do have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to English words, even though the majority of us fail to utilise them and rely on a mere 50 words for 60% of our speech.

This week's Little Something Extra has a feast for logophiles. It's a collection of lists of words ... such as the 100 most common words in English, the 2000 most common words in fiction, the 100 most common words from TV and movie scripts (and this list should shed some light on the origins of that term "chewing gum for the mind.") Then there's a list of all the words Shakespeare used in his Complete Works, the 2000 most common words in contemporary poetry ... and more.

For those who want something more compact, you can't go past Write101's natty little book of quizzes -- the modestly named A Word for Everything. See a sample here.

And before we move on, just a quick word about the list of Christmas greetings from last week. Rose Lund, another of our Merry Band, this time from South Africa, commented,

"Re the site for Christmas greetings in other languages, starting with Afrikaans, curiosity got the better of me. Afrikaans - Geseende (sorry, I cannot make double dot on my second e) Kersfees (literally Blessed Candle(Light) Festival) is correct. However, the following "language", Afrikander made me smile. Afrikander may have been used aeons ago as the definition of one who speaks Afrikaans, today the word used is Afrikaner (without a d). An Afrikander (WITH a d) is a breed of cattle; a tough strain bred by the original Dutch settlers to withstand SA conditions.

"And so to close on an "egte" (true) Afrikaans Christmas greeting, "Ons wens vir u 'n Geseende Kersfees en Voorspoedige Nuwe Jaar." We wish for you (formal plural) a Blessed Christmas and Prosperous New Year."

Sigh ... as I said to Rose, at least we now know how to wish all the cows a Merry Christmas!

One of the wonderful things about Write101's ever-expanding community is that we have friends all over the world who know the correct way to do and say things!

Here are some clever little definitions of "bundle words" from Jim Wegryn:

abundance — a bread boogie

adamant — the first insect

humdrum — odd musical instrument

parole — fatherhood

restoration — lecture that puts you to sleep

thinking — skinny monarch

This week's quiz:

Here are some terms from Emily Post. Match up the pretentious term below with the one Best Society would prefer:

tintinnabulary summons, bovine continuation,  perform ablutions, flattering ovation, pretty servitors, presume, partake of liquid refreshment, tendered, residing, attended 

1. wash

2. went

3. bridesmaids

4. bell

5. living

6. have a drink

7. speech

8. cow’s tail

9. gave

10. suppose

The following table explains some of those mysterious differences between men and women and how English can be used for good or evil:

OK, girls, on the count of three ... 1 ... 2.... Grrr!

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Last week's quiz:

advent, tinsel, mistletoe, Boxing Day, epiphany, myrrh, Ruprecht, St Nicholas, yule

1. the four week period preceding Christmas which serves as a time of reflection for Believers in preparation for the celebration of the Nativity  - ADVENT

2. Bishop in Asia Minor, now Turkey, in the 4th century, later to become Saint Nicholas of Myra; had the habit of helping people less fortunate than himself by leaving gifts or money for them, the precursor to the modern day tradition of Santa Claus - SAINT NICHOLAS

3. semi-parasitic plant that grows on certain types of trees, typified by the sticky substance surrounding the seed which helps it to attach to a potential host when excreted by birds; used as a Christmas decoration - MISTLETOE (Doesn't sound quite as attractive now, does it?)

4. long strands of glittery paper used as Christmas decorations - TINSEL (Who knows?)

5. the day after Christmas day when presents are given to extended family and friends; possibly dating from the Middle Ages when the householder would give presents to the servants and tradesmen; public holiday in some Commonwealth countries (We get a day off Down Under!) - BOXING DAY

6. ancient pagan festival celebrating the Winter Solstice and the coming spring around the 21st of December; merged with, and became synonymous with, the Christmas celebration - YULE

7. extract from the Commiphora tree, used in ancient times in anointing and embalming oils and more recently as an anti-microbial agent; in the Christian religion is one of the gifts brought to Jesus by the Wise Men - MYRRH

8. dark and sinister companion to St Nicholas who puts the naughty children into his sack - RUPRECHT (Pity how some traditions die out, isn't it?)

9. life changing event; the last of the 12 days of Christmas; celebrates the revelation of Christ to the gentiles, as represented by the visiting Wise Men - EPIPHANY

10. from the Middle English "Waes Haeil", meaning to be in good health, the custom of toasting to each other's health, a custom that has woven itself into Christmas traditions - WASSAIL

A Little Something Extra

Here are those lists about words here

The story behind one of our English words ... to make you go "Huh?"  

And what the Romans have to do with our custom of kissing our spouses when we get home from work.

Oxymoron of the week: Quiet family get-together

Word of the week: Lampadedromy (n) foot race with lighted torches, especially a relay race in which the torch is passed on.

Lampadephore, n. torchbearer.

Those of you who just celebrated the winter solstice won't have much use of this word ... but the rest of us will! Think of us, sitting around the pool and/or barbie ... a few torches or candles burning brightly and then the lampadedromy for another nice cold bottle of bubbly!

And a Latin phrase for the holiday season ...

Nonne dulce est familiam totam in unum locum cogere?

[NOH-nay DOOL-kay EST fah-MEE-lee-ahm TOH-tahm EEN OO-noom LOH-koom koh-GAY-ray]

(Isn't it great to have the whole family together?)

Did you know that you can have your very own Latin reminders? How about undies proclaiming, Bene est rex esse? (It's good to be king) Or a shopping bag that warns, Emptrix nata sum (Born to shop)? Click here for these and more: http://www.cafepress.com/write101 

Recommend this page to other writers by clicking the Recommend it! button below, then see what pages others are recommending here.

Kind regards,

Jennifer

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