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Word Nerd: 5 expressions for the December holiday season

5 Dec

December is here, and that means holiday season in many parts of the world. Sure, everyone is familiar with the more common holiday traditions, like Santa Claus and decorated trees. But if it’s your first December as an international student, you’re probably on a learning curve. Let us help you out!

1. Snow Day

This is North American English, but anyone who has lived through a few winters in the northern Europe or any other place that has snowy winters has enjoyed and/or suffered this phenomenon. Basically, it’s a day when it snows so heavily that commuting becomes impossible and schools, universities, and offices are forced to declare a holiday. Your options: stay at home and study, or bundle up, go outside, and have some fun!

2. Boxing Day

This has nothing to do with Mary Kom or Muhammad Ali. It has its roots in a centuries-old tradition in the UK of employers or customers giving a “Christmas box” to employees and tradespeople, containing gifts or money. Boxing Day is observed on the first weekday after Christmas – usually December 26 – and is a public holiday in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and parts of the US. The tradition of giving gifts to the needy and to those in service positions goes back maybe 1,000 years or more in many places.

3. Holiday Stress

Sometimes, students from cultures where Christmas is not a big celebration don’t get it – why should this season of joy be stressful? But the fact is that it can get stressful for several reasons. Campus student health centers, medical websites such as mayoclinic.org, and even the media, recognize that reality, and often offer expert tips to deal with it. These include suggestions such as planning ahead, sticking to a budget, and avoiding controversial topics at the dinner table.

4. Krampus

Everyone knows that St. Nicholas, or Santa Claus, brings presents for nice children, and that naughty kids get only a lump of coal. But how do you get kids to be nice? The Germans came up with Krampus, a fearsome creature with horns and fangs, who comes to your house, carrying a chain and clanging bells. Krampus beats naughty children with a stick, and hauls off the worst of them to another world. Makes a lump of coal seem like a pretty good deal, doesn’t he? In the above video, actor Christoph Waltz explains the Krampus tradition in his native Austria.

5. Ded Moroz

To an English speaker, those words sound like the opposites of ‘lively’ and ‘cheerful’. But in Russian, ded means ‘grandfather’, and moroz is frost. Grandfather Frost is the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus. He brings children presents on New Year’s Eve. He’s usually accompanied by his granddaughter Snegurochka, or the Snow Maiden, who wears a silver-blue dress and furry hat.

Got some holiday expressions to add to our list? Leave a comment below, or email us!

Read previous #WordNerd posts here!

 

Word Nerd: Quirky Phrases from British and American English

28 Nov

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I love Americans, but not when they try to talk French. What a blessing it is that they never try to talk English.”
Saki, The Chronicles of Clovis

In an earlier Word Nerd, we’ve discussed how accents divide us even when we speak a common language. Today, we want to talk about how idioms and phrases often do not travel across the pond. Here’s another anecdote that a British friend once told me. One of her acquaintances, an Englishman who taught Literature at university level, was visiting in-laws in a small American town. Every day he would spend some time in the local café. As a result, he got chatty with one of the waitresses. She asked him where he was from. He answered, “England.” “Well,” she complimented him, “you speak excellent English for a foreigner!”

In this spirit, we bring you distinctive phrases of British English and American English that would not be meaningful to anyone on the other side of the Atlantic. That’s no reason you shouldn’t discover, enjoy, and if you happen to travel, flaunt them!


5 phrases from British English

  • “It’s brass monkeys out” – It’s really cold outside
    How can we talk about British slang and leave out a weather reference! Apparently, the phrase means that the weather is cold enough for a brass monkey to freeze and shed its extremities.
  • “That’s pants” – That’s terrible
    Pants has different uses in the US and the UK. In the US, pants are trousers. In the UK, they are a lady’s underwear. In both countries, we think they are a good thing. But, for some reason the Brits decided to use it as a synonym for terrible.
  • “Sweet Fanny Adams” – Nothing
    It’s what you’ve been up to when you spend hours chuckling over grumpy cat memes instead of completing your Algebra assignment. We wonder if Fanny Adams was as lazy as they’d have us believe. Sexists!
  • “It’s all gone pear-shaped” – Things have gone wrong
    A fruity metaphor for lopsided, perhaps. Or, bottom heavy. And bottom, in this case, not being a very good place end up.
  • “He’s such an anorak” – He’s such a geek
    This is a common way to describe the fans of cult British show – Doctor Who. The fans show up, and who can blame their good sense, wearing anoraks (warm coats). Naturally, when you’re thinking about the next stop for the last Time Lord in the universe, you can’t be bothered with petty things like fashion.

 

5 phrases from American English

  • Plead the fifth” — Refuse to give self-incriminating information
    The fifth amendment allows witnesses to refuse to answer questions that will put them in a tough spot. We guess there are more legalities to it. But in the meanwhile you have a way to reply to most “Where’ve you been?” questions. So you can sound as smart as annoying.
  • “All hat and no cattle” – All talk and no action
    This phrase was made for politicians, and people who make New Year resolutions. That’s most of us.
  • “I don’t care” – I don’t have a preference
    Pizza with pineapple or jalapeno? If an American responds, “I don’t care”, it doesn’t mean he or she is being rude. It means they can go with whatever you want. Phew! (Because, hot fruit, seriously!)
  • “Shoot the breeze” – Have a casual conversation
    You don’t shoot the breeze if you’re talking about your SoP, or college majors, or scholarships. Apparently the breeze is only wounded by idle talk. Now you know.
  • “Ride shotgun” — Riding in the front passenger seat/ Watching over someone
    Possibly a phrase which originated from the Old West. It’s the best way to ride, we think. Maybe the drivers don’t agree.


Any interesting expressions you’re familiar with and would like to share with us?
Email us or leave a comment below!

Check out previous Word Nerd posts here!

 

Word Nerd: Do All Words Attract Opposites?

21 Nov

word-nerd

Maybe you’ve been chided for being disheveled, but have you ever been complimented for being ‘shevelled’ or ‘hevelled’? And there must’ve been times when you were dismayed, but were you ever just ‘mayed’? Chances are, you’ve answered no to both questions.

It’s because English, like life, is not made of binaries. Not every word has an opposite. Not all opposites are easy to guess, regardless of how familiar we are with the language.  And that tends to trip most of us.

Normally, the addition of prefixes forms opposites, like dis-, il-, im-, in-, irr- and un-. Think of words like agree, comfort, legal, legible, mobile, perfect, accurate, decent, rational, regular, able, and usual.

But then, there are words which English borrowed from other languages – like disheveled and dismayed. Both came from Old French. So there never was a ‘sheveled’ and ‘mayed’. Similarly, inept, which comes from Latin (ineptus – unsuited or clumsy), never has had the opposite ‘ept’ to suggest and efficiency, skill or suitability. Latin also gave English inane (silly). But, it’s unlikely that you will ever receive a compliment for your ‘ane’ questions or answers. That’s because that word doesn’t exist. Another example is inert. If you’re feeling energetic, declaring that you’re “particularly ert today,” will just confuse everyone.

An interesting exception to these Latin origin words is indefatigable. It does have an opposite, which is not ‘defatigable’, but fatigable. Not a word in common use. Other confusing uses of the in- prefix are with the words flammable and valuable. Adding the prefix does not change the meaning.

Another class of opposites is created by adding a suffix, like -ful or -less. Remorseful and remorseless, careful and careless, shameful and shameless… it’s a long list. But, again, there are exceptions to this rule – ageless, bashful, countless, awful, skillful, gormless.

So, the answer is that not all words attract opposites. But then there is disgruntled which, thanks to Wodehouse, has a funny backformation – ‘gruntled’. The origin of this use is in “Code of the Woosters”, “I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.”

Are there any words which leave you disgruntled when you think of their opposites? Or are there any backformations you use and would like to share with us?

Email us or leave a comment below! Check out previous Word Nerd posts here!

 

 

 

 

 

Word Nerd: ‘Black money’ and other currency-related Indianisms

14 Nov

indian-currency

Since the Indian government scrapped Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes – amounting to some 86% of the country’s cash – on November 8, at just four hours’ notice, everyone in the country seems to have money on the brain. Here are some money-related words that any English-speaking Indian will understand without any trouble. But if you were to use them in other countries, you might need to explain them.

Black money

This expression is not unique to Indian English, of course. It’s a proper English term for income that remains undeclared to avoid taxes. However, in India, it’s a household term: if you search for it on Google.in or Google.com, the first few pages of results are almost entirely from or about India. One doesn’t hear the expression ‘black money’ in ordinary conversation in many other countries as much one does in India. If you use this expression in somewhere else, be prepared to explain why it’s a household term in India.

 Mediclaim

For years, insurance in India was sold by only government-owned companies. All of them sold (and still sell) a health insurance product called Mediclaim. It’s a brand name, but because it was the only such product, it became synonymous with health insurance itself. When insurance was opened up to private companies, others started to sell health insurance products. But some people, used to calling health plans “Mediclaim”, continue to say things like “I bought my Mediclaim from ICICI.”

 Lakh, crore, peti and khoka

The word lakh, meaning 100,000, has its roots in Sanskrit. So does crore, which means 100 lakhs (10 million). Lakh and crore are commonly used to describe large sums of money, population size, and so on. Fans of Bollywood films will be familiar with the Bombay slang peti (Rs 1 lakh) and khoka (Rs 1 crore), frequently bandied about by ransom-demanding gangsters. The words come from Marathi – peti means suitcase or trunk, and khoka means box. Of course, a peti today is strictly for small fry.

Challan

This Hindi word, meaning an official document such as an invoice or receipt, is now in the Oxford dictionary. People often use it as a verb in English – for example, a cop might challan you for speeding. In fact, in India, ‘challan’ is often used synonymously with driving-related fines – what Americans would call speeding or parking tickets.

If you’re in India, you’re probably clean out of cash by now, but if you have any money-related Hinglish to share, leave a comment below or email us!

Older posts in our weekly #WordNerd series are here.

Word Nerd: Should Your Valedictions be Sincere or Faithful?

7 Nov

In this Word Nerd, we are talking valedictions, which sounds fancy; cucumber-sandwiches-and-Earl-Grey-with-the-Queen-and-Archbishop-fancy. But it’s just Latin for farewell. As Robertson Davies once said, “When John Ryder, for instance, writes I utter valediction to the author of my being, he means simply that he said goodbye to his mother.” And farewells are as important in the virtual world as they are in the real one.

But we aren’t talking Latinate farewells, like that poem by John Donne. Or talking about valedictorian speeches – for which there will be a season. This is about email sign offs which, humble as they might seem, confuse many. Is it “faithfully or sincerely”? How “warm” can regards get? Or, is all of this too old-fashioned and maybe a unicorn GIF would work better?

Unicorn GIF. Not a great choice for formal emails.

Unicorn GIF. Not a great choice for formal emails.

 

Context is obviously king. A cover letter, an email to a Professor at a prospective university, or a visa application, is not the same as leaving a comment with your favourite blogger, or a Facebook message. As a young individual, habituated to txtspk, you might find this business confusing.

If you’re writing to someone formally, someone you don’t know by name, concealed by the veil of authority – you can start with a “Dear Sir/Ma’am,” and end with “Yours faithfully.” (We like to speculate that this is because both parties will act on faith, unaware of each other’s individual character). On the other hand, if you know your addressee by name, even if not personally (perhaps the Principal, or your Project-in-Charge), you can start with a “Dear Dr. Jamieson”, or “Dear Ms. Sandberg”, and sign off “Yours Sincerely.” This is a good rule of usage. To remember it, here’s a mnemonic – “Sir is never sincere.”

And with regards, the more personal your equation, the warmer you can get. According to Susan Adams, a Forbes writer, “Yours Truly” and its variations are a little too penpal-y for formal communications. But, we think there’s nothing terribly wrong with them.

Of course, you might find most of these rules subjective. But they’re safe. As would you be, using them.

Now that we’ve covered what works, let’s get an overview of what doesn’t. Again, in a formal context.

  • XOXO – Maybe not everyone will get that you didn’t ask them to a game of tic-tac-toe. It’s worse if they know what this means. Kisses and hugs to a Professor of Physical Sciences, we ask you!1708f23
  • High Five from Low Down (and similar enthusiasms)– Not sure it will impress any embassy official. Or anyone except your childhood mate.  (The meme above applies to this one as well).
  • Quotes – For example, “I like to tell people I have the heart of a small boy. Then I say it’s in a jar on my desk” – Stephen King. We’re not denying that it’s funny, but it might give people the wrong idea about your interests in taxidermy or homicide. Spare the quotes.quotes
  • Big logos and GIFS – Formal emails are often meant to convey only vital information. So, KISS.designation
  • And lastly, avoid obscure abbreviation.That’s it from us.

    Is there any way you would never choose to sign off? Or is there an embarrassing sign off you’ve used earlier that you’d like to share? Email us or leave a comment below!

 

Check out previous Word Nerd posts here!

 

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By Skendha Singh

Word Nerd: 5 expressions from the US presidential election

31 Oct

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One of the most historically significant elections of our lifetime is coming up on November 8 in the US. Unfortunately, each presidential election seems longer and more absurd than the last, resulting in trivialized campaigns riddled with half-truths and lies, and a bitterly divided electorate. Developing new shorthand for all kinds of absurdities seems to be the only way to survive. We bring you five of the many expressions that this campaign has thrown up (pun totally intended).

1. Dumpster fire. Often used to refer to the campaign of Republican Party nominee Donald Trump. In American English, it refers not only to actual garbage on fire, but also to a chaotic situation. An expert at the University of Pennsylvania reckons that sports broadcasters may have helped popularize the term ‘dumpster fire’. The word ‘dumpster’ was invented when Dempster Brothers, Knoxville, Tennessee, patented their Dempster-Dumpster garbage disposal system. But over time, ‘dumpster’ became a generic term for any giant garbage container.

2. Bigly. At several points during the campaign, media reported Trump as using the word ‘bigly’ (“We are suffering bigly”, “We’re going to win bigly”, “I’m going to cut taxes bigly”). People got a laugh out of what they took to be Trump’s made-up word. Then someone decided to look it up and found that ‘bigly’ was indeed a word, but an obsolete one that meant forcefully or boastfully. Then linguistics experts did audio analyses and suggested that Trump was really saying “big league”, not “bigly”. A few days ago, Trump confirmed they were right.

3. Locker-room talk. Recently, an old video surfaced in which Donald Trump could be heard bragging about sexually assaulting women. When confronted, he dismissed it as “locker-room banter”, implying that sportsmen in locker rooms often boast about molesting women. Many athletes spoke out in disgust, saying they had never heard such talk in locker rooms. Others highlighted the difference between actual banter and descriptions of assault. Still others pointed out that Trump has engaged in “locker-room talk” in his workplace, which is no locker room. Bragging about sexual assault is not defensible in any context.

4. Bernie bros. Oddly, when you google this term, the first hit is Lawrence Sanders, the actual ‘bro’ of Senator Bernie Sanders. The 74-year-old Bernie is surprisingly popular with younger voters, and was Hillary Clinton’s strongest rival for the Democratic Party nomination. Some of Sanders’ young male supporters were accused of aggressively and unfairly targeting Clinton at rallies and on social media. In American English, ‘bro’ often refers to not-so-cerebral young men who hang out with other not-so-cerebral young men. So ‘Bernie bros’ are Sanders’ supporters who are seen as rabidly anti-Clinton. Sanders’ campaign has acknowledged and addressed the issue.

5. False equivalence. This term is, like some others above, not unique to the election. Generally, it refers to the error of treating two very different things as if they were similar. In this context, it refers to the fact that the media have treated Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as equals, which they are not. Trump has no political experience, while Clinton stands head and shoulders above even conventional male politicians – she was the first lady of Arkansas and then of the US, then a senator, and then Secretary of State. An Ivy League law graduate, she spent much of her life working for children’s and women’s rights. Trump, meanwhile, is a businessman with an inheritance and questionable success, and a brash reality TV star, who deliberately appeals to bigots and openly incites violence. Even his own party recognizes that he is not Hillary’s equivalent – while Democrats stand behind their nominee, many top Republicans have publicly distanced themselves from Trump, and even declared they will vote for Clinton.

What are your favorite buzzwords from the US election? Email us or leave a comment below! Check out previous Word Nerd posts here!

By: Uma Asher

(Cartoon by DonkeyHotey, used under CC license)

Word Nerd: 8 English Words Inspired by Literary Characters

24 Oct

New words are constantly entering a language. Especially if that language is English (The Oxford English Dictionary adds approximately 1000 words each year). Words can be added by way of catastrophic wars, technological inventions, or simple and persistent mispronunciation.

Quite often, the new words which are added are “authorisms” – which Paul Dickson defines as a word coined by an author or journalist. Many literary greats have added to the treasure trove of English words with their coinage. Leading the ranks is John Milton (love-lorn, padlock, liturgical, debauchery), followed by the likes of Ben Jonson, John Donne, and of course, the Bard.

To state the obvious, not only do writers and poets coin words for objects, experiences and feelings, they also do so for their characters. Sometimes, the names of these characters linger in the mass consciousness. They become adjectives or titles which we use to describe or define people.

For today’s Word Nerd, we have a list of 8 English words which came from literary characters. Read and enjoy.

1)    Bluebeard: violent womanizer; a man who murders his wives.
In 1697, a Frenchman named Charles Perrault wrote a collection of fairytales in which Duke Bluebeard first appeared. The Duke would murder and marry and murder and marry. So, his name became synonymous with criminal misogyny.

2)    Brainiac: genius; exceptionally intelligent.
Brainiac is a true-to-his-name enemy of Superman obsessed with knowledge. He first appeared as a character in 1958, and was created by authors Al Plastino and Otto Binder. We would like to clarify that to be a brainiac, you no longer have to qualify as the enemy of a Spandex-clad superhero. Having extra brain cells is enough.

3)    Gargantuan: huge; enormous.
Francois Rabelais was a French monk who, in 1534, wrote “The Very Horrific Life of Great Gargantua.” The lead is, you guessed it, a character named Gargantua, who is affable, gluttonous and bawdy.  But, first and foremost, he is a giant. Hence the adjectival derivations of his name.
Example: You know what Donald Trump’s hands are not? Gargantuan.

goody_two-shoes

Ms. Goody-Two-Shoes

4)    Goody-Two-Shoes: a person who puts on a show of goodness to make an impression.
A poor orphan girl in a children’s novel, published by John Newberry in 1765, who goes from wearing one shoes to two. And then lets everyone hear about it. She later becomes a teacher and marries a rich widower. We bet no one heard the end of that either.

5)    Grinch: spoilsport; killjoy.
One of Dr. Seuss’s creations, who first appeared in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” The Grinch is a reclusive resident of Whoville, who wants to first spoil and then understand the spirit of Christmas. He is frequently ranked one of the top cartoon characters of all time. We wonder if that makes him less Grinch-y.

6)    Lothario: a man who is selfish in his relationships with women.
In ‘The Cruel Brother’ (1630), a play by William Davenant, Lothario is a “frantic gallant.” We can only shudder at what that means. A Lothario appears in a similar capacity in Nicholas Rowe’s ‘The Fair Penitent’ in 1703.
Inconstancy has been a constant through the ages.

7)    Malapropism: using one word in place of a similar sounding one by mistake.
Mrs. Malaprop is a character in Richard Sheridan’s play – ‘The Rivals’. The lady is given to twisting phrases by propping them up with the wrong word – using oracular instead of vernacular, and pineapple instead of pinnacle (“pineapple of politeness”). These delicious phrases are malapropisms. Are you guilty of any?

8)    Mentor: a trusted advisor, generally older and/or senior.
This word is of Greek origin because the character is Greek. Mentor mentors Odysseus in Odyssey (Need to read that again? We’ll wait). While the character might have first appeared in the 8th century BC, the word began to be commonly used in English only around the 1700s.

Any other literary characters whose names you use to describe and define people on a daily basis?
Email us or leave a comment below! Check out previous Word Nerd posts here!

By Skendha Singh

Word Nerd: How to Swear at Someone Like a Pro

17 Oct

Swearing is mostly impolite, sometimes necessary and rarely fun. But it is an indispensable part of human existence. Stubbed your toe against the chair at night? Got a ridiculously unreasonable colleague? Stuck in traffic while on the way to an exam? Favourite character dies in the cliffhanger? Letting your favourite rude words rip is a common response.

But, swearing has different meanings. There are swearing-in ceremonies for important officials, and swearing on a holy book in a court of law, and all the swearing you were forced to, as a child (“I didn’t know I had to be back by 7 PM from playing,” or, “I didn’t take the last slice of chocolate cake” and so on). This is swearing in the sense of taking an oath (however, insincere).

In this Word Nerd, we are especially interested in how swearing can be creative and show a real flair for language. The regular profanities are now mostly beeped out and boring. So, we’re looking at comical cursing, subtle sarcasm and over-the-top insults, which will probably leave the listener confused and amused by turns. Enough for you to get away with saying whatever you want to as they figure it out!

  • Shakespeare Insult Generators

    Curse like the most famous writer in English. There are a few of these around the web. You can try this or this or make your own from MIT’s Shakespeare Insult Kit (“Thou gorbellied, fat-kidneyed hedge-pig” and “Thou mammering, ill-breeding, horn-beast” said no Shakespearean character ever but so what). But, the Bard has plenty of characters who had a gripe, a grouch or a judgement to deliver. So you will be spoilt for choice.
    shakespeare-insult-generators
  • Lutheran Insulter Martin Luther, for those who don’t know, was a professor, monk, priest and the one responsible for the Protestant Reformation. All in all, a very serious man, who felt passionately about many issues – salvation by faith, translating the Bible into vernacular, and ignorance. He wrote strongly worded missives and volumes which, we are sure, made Luther’s many opponents feel quite puny. Sample these: “Are you ignorant of what it means to be ignorant?” (from The Bondage of Will). Or, “Why would anyone tolerate such things from someone like you, a rotten paunch, crude ass and fart-ass?” (from Against the Roman Papacy, an Institution of the Devil). If you want to leave someone in no doubt of exactly how you feel – try the Lutheran Insulter. Don’t bother about any band-aids later (they won’t do much good).
    lutheran-insulter
  • P.G. Wodehouse Wodehouse wrote in a literary style that is both unique and impeccable. And so are his insults. If you want to know how you can sound incredibly posh and incredibly cutting at the same time – pick one of these Wodehouse phrases.Our favourite? “Sheep-faced shambling refugee from hell.”p-g-wodehouse

As a bonus, we’re sharing this list of curses by one of our favourite characters of all time – Captain Haddock (of Tintin fame). Who can forget the temperamental sailor given to alliterative outbursts which were not too crude for children and adolescents! We don’t know how these insults would work in daily life, since we find it hard not to laugh while mouthing them.

captain-haddock

Which are your favourite literary insults/ insult generators? Leave a comment below or email us! Read previous Word Nerd posts here.

Word Nerd: 5 made-up words that are now part of the English language

3 Oct

If I were to ask you to say some made-up English words, what would be the first one you’d think of? The first that came to my mind was ‘Google’. But it’s more adapted than made-up. Google’s co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin took an existing word, googol, and changed the spelling. Today, when we use google as a verb, its meaning is unrelated to the original word. But what about the original word – where did that come from?

1. Googol

As you know, it refers to a mindbogglingly huge number – 10 raised to the power of 100. In other words, 1 followed by 100 zeroes, a.k.a 10 duotrigintillion (more mindboggling numbers here – knock yourself out). The word googol was coined in 1920 by 9-year-old Milton Sirotta, nephew of Edward Kasner, US mathematician and author of Mathematics and the Imagination (published 1940). Little Milton also helpfully invented the word ‘googleplex’, which is 10 raised to the power of googol. I can understand a trillion, or even quadrillion. Beyond that, I feel like the rabbits in Watership Down, who referred to all numbers greater than four as 1,000, because rabbits are not very good at counting.


2. Nylon

It’s probably the first thing you use every morning, when you brush your teeth. It refers to a synthetic material that can be produced as fibers, bristles, molded shapes, or film. It was developed in the 1930s by scientists at DuPont, the company that also gave us Lycra and Kevlar. The inventors of nylon also invented the word ‘nylon’.

Above: The Dupont Experimental Station in Wilmington (in the US state of Delaware), is not only the birthplace of nylon, but also home to some of the most important discoveries of the modern chemical industry

Above: The Dupont Experimental Station in Wilmington (in the US state of Delaware), is not only the birthplace of nylon, but also home to some of the most important discoveries of the modern chemical industry

3. Cybernetics

This word was invented in 1948 by the US mathematician and MIT professor Norbert Wiener, to refer to the “entire field of control and communication theory, whether in the machine or in the animal”. It is derived from the Greek kybernetike, meaning governance. Of course, the word has spawned other words that now pervade our culture. For example, cyberpunk (cybernetic punk) is a subgenre of science fiction sometimes described as the high-tech low life, and it may feature cyborgs (cybernetic organisms) such as Spiderman’s foe, Dr. Octopus.

Above: Alfred Molina as Dr. Octopus in the 2004 film Spider-Man 2

Above: Alfred Molina as Dr. Octopus in the 2004 film Spider-Man 2

4. Halitosis

If marketing success is defined as persuading people to buy something they didn’t know they needed, then ‘halitosis’ has got to be one of the most successful campaigns ever. The word means stinky breath, which has certainly existed for centuries. But in the 1880s, the Lambert Pharmaceutical Company, which marketed Listerine, invented this medical-sounding word that defined bad breath as a problem that could ruin your career prospects or marriage. Like ‘inhale’ and ‘exhale’, the word ‘halitosis’ is derived from the Latin word for breathing (halare is to breathe, and halitus is breath). Listerine, originally marketed as a general antiseptic, began to be sold as the solution to the frightening problem of halitosis. Sales shot up from around $100,000 in 1920 to $4 million in 1927. The success of ‘halitosis’ led to a marketing frenzy peppered with medical-sounding words such as bromodosis (the smell of sweaty feet) and homotosis (lack of nice home furnishings).

5. Crunk

It means exciting or fun – a crunk party. Nobody knows the origin of the word. One theory is that it’s a combination of ‘crazy’ and ‘drunk’, while another is that it’s the past participle of ‘crank’ (grammatically speaking, it’s not). ‘Crunk’ can also refer to a person who is energized or excited. And of course it refers to a type of dance.

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Got any words to add to the list? Leave a comment below or email us!

 

By: Uma Asher

Word Nerd: Is Your Autumn Mellow or Macabre?

26 Sep

Hit the average litterateur with the word autumn, and instead of stars, John Keats’ lines will swim before his or her eyes. And certainly, autumn is a “season of mists”, of “mellow fruitfulness”, of the “maturing sun” and other warm and romantic fantasies.

But it is also a season of cooler air, longer nights and . . . not to be too dramatic – death.

Across the world, countries like Mexico, Scotland, England and the US honour the deceased with unique festivities. And, around these festivities is an interesting cluster of words which are like capsules – of culture, history and philosophy.

For instance, the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Celebrated on Nov 1st and 2nd, in countries like Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil and Mexican-American communities of the US, the festival is typically a two-day celebration. The first day is for the deceased young – Dia de los Angelitos (Day of the Little Angels) or Dia de los Inocentes (Day of the Innocents). The second day gives the festival its name.

The festival can be traced back to an Aztec celebration of the goddess of the underworld. Today she is la Catrina (lady of the Dead) and her dolls are popular in shops and exhibitions. A Catrina doll is a fancily dressed female skeleton with an elaborate hat. On Dia de los Muertos, these dolls are found on many a dedicated altar. Mexicans often keep a doll or two in their household throughout the year as a reminder of the vanity of earthly possessions. After all, a skull in a fancy hat is still just that – a skull.

catrinas

Anyone celebrating the Day of the Dead, is likely to be familiar not only with Catrina dolls, but also Calaveras. This word can mean skulls – decorative or edible, and seen everywhere during the festival. Another, and more interesting, meaning of the word is a sarcastic epitaph commonly written for those still living. Often the ones being criticized are those in power – politicians and the like. The literary Calaveras go back hundreds of years and were part of the Dance of Death, a type of play performed in the late medieval ages. Again a reminder that no matter where you get to in life, you will end up in the same place as everyone else

calaveras_decoradas

Across the ocean, most of the Western Christian countries celebrate Allhallowtide, also known as Hallowtide, Allsaintstide, or the Hallowmas season. The root of the word is in Old English – hallow comes from ‘halig’ (saint), and tide means time or season. The festival is a triduum – a three-day observance, common in the Roman Catholic Church. Allhallowtide includes All Hallows’ Eve (or Halloween), All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.

The US has conflated all these festivities to the grand pop ritual that is Halloween. This celebration is marked by crazy costumes and trick-or-treating. Interestingly, the origins of the latter tradition are in a medieval English custom called souling – the baking and giving of soul cakes to children who came asking for them. These children were also called soulers, who prayed for the deceased – family, friends and even pets. The practice is still current in countries like Portuguese and Italy. Trick-or-treater is the popular term but we think souler is more interesting.

Are there any words which, for you, define your favourite festivities? Email us or let us know in the comments below.

By: Skendha Singh