Gonzalo Barr

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is the most authoritative dictionary of the English language.  It is also, by far, the biggest.  Yet even with all those words, neologisms make their way in only after the editors are convinced that the word is being used.  So what happens with those neologisms that are not included?

They are stored in a vault owned by the Oxford University Press, publisher of the OED.

Fiona McPherson, senior editor of the OED’s new words group, […] said they have every chance of being printed in the future.  […]  “They are not yet considered suitable for the dictionary because there’s not enough evidence that people are using them.  […]  We read newspapers or novels and have readers who read through them looking for new examples of existing words or completely new ones.  […]  The thing with the OED is anything that goes in never comes out.”

Some of the words stored in the vault –

Dringle – the watermark left on wood caused by a glass of liquid.

Headset jockey – a telephone call center worker

Museum head – feeling mentally exhausted and no longer able to take in information; Usually following a trip to a museum

Nonversation – a worthless conversation

Peppier – a waiter whose sole job is to offer diners ground pepper, usually from a large pepper mill

Sprog – to go faster then a jog but slower then a sprint

Stealth-geek – someone who hides their nerdy interests while maintaining a normal outward appearance

Wurfing – the act of surfing the Internet while at work

Wikism – a piece of information that claims to be true but is wildly inaccurate

The entire article is here.
Photo: WinonaSavingsBankVault (2009) by Jonathunder in the Wikipedia article, “Bank vault” (accessed Aug. 10, 2010); Source: “Secret vault of words rejected by the Oxford English Dictionary uncovered,” The Telegraph (Aug. 4, 2010)(accessed Aug. 15 2010)

Jeremy Butterfield, in his book, Damp Squid, has compiled what he believes are the ten most annoying phrases in English.  Well, in the English they speak over there in England, anyway.  The phrases are –

1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It’s a nightmare
8 - Shouldn’t of
9 - 24/7
10 - It’s not rocket science

We can each come up with our own favorite annoying words and phrases. Many of them are Frankenstein-like neologisms concocted to cover up lazy thinking or no thinking at all. “Synergy” is one, as Butterfield points out. How many times have you heard someone in a business meeting use that word? “The merger of the two departments should produce the kind of synergy that…” “Seamless” is another. And don’t forget “value-added,” or “thinking outside the box.” Don’t get me going or we’ll be here till sundown.

Every vocation has it’s own lingo, to be sure. Sometimes that lingo spills out into the mainstream, like accountants’ “bottom line,” lawyers’ “relevance,” and statisticians’ “correlation.” Most people have no clue what these technical terms really mean in their original context, yet they still use them in situations where they make absolutely no sense.  “Johnny, I hear what you are saying, but I don’t see the correlation between you’re having to stay after school and not doing your homework.” Absolute ignorance never stopped anyone.

If there were a prize given for bastardizing the English language, it would have to go to the “information technology” people, a trade whose very name betrays the fact that words for them are unclaimed property, to be used any way they wish. This means that the IT people have triumphed over the seemingly unconquerable airline people (who are always apologizing because “your equipment has been delayed”) and over the tenacious police people (for whom cars are “vehicles” that move “at a high rate of speed”), two champions of the twentieth century Verbiage Wars.  (Have you heard the tape one airline plays before take off?  It includes this rococo phrase — “follow the instructional signs and crew member instructions.”  I mean, these people are champions of the art!)  But now the IT people have beat them.

Take as an example how IT people use the word, “synchronize.” If you think they mean to make sure two time pieces tell the same time, you would be so wrong. For them, to “synchronize” means to make sure two hard drives have the same files. Go figure.

Politicians are the masters of obfuscation and always have been. Imagine the chaos if they started to speak in clear and simple English. Ever since Clinton, people talk about “growing the economy,” as if the chief executive of this federalist republic with an independent federal reserve bank and a global economy that is measured in the trillions of dollars annually can really do squat about the price of tea in China. (I mean China Township in Michigan, of course, but you knew that.)  Now, it’s too late. The cat is out of the bag. Everybody talks about “growing their businesses,” as if it were good English.

Thankfully, time has a way of sifting neologisms and stupid phrases like these out of the language. Bottom line, it’s survival of the fittest for words. Time takes no prisoners.  It is where the rubber meets the road. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that.

Source: Charlotte Bailey, “Oxford compiles list of top ten irritating phrases,” The Telegraph (Nov. 7, 2008)

Have you noticed how many newspaper book reviews use similar if not the same modifiers?  The New York Times blog, in a stunning tell-all, comes clean with a list of seven favorite buzz words. They are “poignant,” “compelling,” “intriguing,” “eschew,” “craft,” “muse,” “lyrical.”

Hmmm.  Seven words, that’s all?  I think the blogger forgot to mention, “taut,” which is applied to anything remotely approaching suspense or mystery or crime, and the indispensable words, “hilarious,” “rollicking,” uproarious,” “funny,” and their ilk, that are applied to everything else, including novels that are essentially tragedies.

I’m also going to go out on a limb here and suggest that book reviewers are not the only ones guilty of reaching for the low-hanging fruit of a buzz word instead of thinking through a sentence.

Source:  Bob Harris, “The Seven Deadly Words of Book Reviewing, The New York Times blog (Mar. 25, 2008)