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Introduction to neologisms
1. Write about an occasion, when you were confused by language.
2. Every year new words and expressions are coined. Can you think of any new
words that have appeared in your language over the last 12 months and do you
know how to express their meaning in English?
3. The following neologisms have been included in Schott‟s Almanac 2008. Can you
guess what they mean?
a. Politics: Defeatocrats Obamanations Sarkonautes
b. Celebrity: HABs Stunt Eating
c.
Environment: Water neutral Eco-anxiety Grey fever Locavores
d. Finance: Subprime Ninja Loans Triple bottom line Vulture Funds Hedge
Hogs Flight to Safety
e.
Society: Swishing Superfoods Sandwich Generation Pre-toxing Pregaming Male Menopaunch Mancation Bromance NEET
f.
Technology: Network promiscuity Flog Infomania Cyber-vetting Globish
4. Read the article and check your ideas.
Shott‟s Almanac: the lexicon, from the Times
2007 was a vintage year for newly-minted words and phrases. In this exclusive extract
from his new book, Schott‟s Almanac 2008, Bestselling author Ben Schott picks out the
most diverting neologisms.
It was the year that Politics gave us: Defeatocrats, a Republican jibe for Democrats
advocating withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan. Obamanations, Barack Obama‟s
gaffes and slips of the tongue (e.g. announcing the deaths of 10,000 people in a
tornado, when the toll was 12). And Sarkonautes, supporters of French President
Nicolas Sarkozy.
While the world of Celebrity gave rise to expressions like: HABs, Husbands And
Boyfriends: male equivalent of Wives And Girlfriends (WAGs).
Stunt Eating, eating for media attention: [1] by celebrities, to disprove allegations of
anorexia; [2] by officials, to reassure consumers about the safety of a food (e.g. poultry,
post-avian flu); [3] by authors, to promote special diets.
The growing concern about our Environment had us all talking about: Water neutral,
ensuring that water use is sustainable and recyclable. Eco-anxiety, concern over
environmental doomsday scenarios, and the damage done by one‟s carbon footprint.
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Grey fever, urban „hay fever‟ caused by pollution. And Locavores, those who eat only
locally grown food.
The glittering world of Finance offered us some interesting new linguistic tools:
Subprime, credit offered to those with poor (or no) credit history, in return for higher
interest rates, fees, and penalties. Ninja Loans, unsafe loans made to those with „No
Income, No Job and No Assets‟. Triple bottom line, the aspiration that companies will
take into account People, Planet and Profit when judging the success of a project.
Vulture Funds, companies that buy cheaply the debt of poor countries, and then sue for
the full sum, plus interest. Hedge Hogs, wealthy hedge fund managers. Flight to Safety,
the transfer of money into „safe‟ deposits (eg, National Savings) in the wake of Northern
Rock.
Society at large brought to the table: Swishing, swapping clothes rather than shopping
for them. Superfoods, foods that (claim to) have a „health halo‟. Sandwich Generation,
those caring for young children and elderly parents at the same time. Pre-toxing,
preparing for a night of excess. Conversely Pre-gaming, drinking at home before going
out to get drunk. Also the Male Menopaunch, the dreaded beer-gut of middle age.
Mancation, an all-male holiday. And Bromance, platonic maleonly relationships. And
finally NEET, those (especially the young) Not in Education, Employment or Training.
And finally the ever more complex world of Technology demanded that we learn
expressions like: Network promiscuity, tendency for users of social networking sites
(Facebook, MySpace, Bebo stc.) – and websites more generally – to spread their
membership widely. Flog, a „fake blog‟ run by a company or marketing department
posing as a real-life consumer. Infomania, inability to concentrate on a single task
because of interruptions from e-mail, phones, IMs etc. Cybervetting, using the web to
assess the reputation of potential employees, employers or lovers. And Globish, a
simplified form of English that uses basic syntax and 1,500 words; codified by JeanPaul Nerrière, a retired IBM VP, to facilitate communication.
5. Which are your favourite neologisms from 2007?
6. Choose five neologisms that you would like to learn and write example sentences
for each one.
Idioms
1. Look at this extract from the article: „Barack Obama‟s gaffes and slips of the
tongue...‟ What does the expression slip of the tongue mean?
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2. There are other idioms using the word tongue. Discuss what you think these
mean.
a. tongue in cheek
b. to roll off the tongue
c.
tongue-tied
d. on the tip of my tongue
e.
to lose (one‟s) tongue
f.
to bite one‟s tongue
3. Now match them to these definitions:
□
to lose the capacity to speak, from shock etc.
□
not serious, ironic
□
to try hard not to say what one thinks
□
to be easy to say
□
on the verge of being recalled or expressed
□
too shy or embarrassed to speak
4. Discussion Do you have similar idioms in your language?
5. Rewrite these sentences using the idioms above:
a. “What‟s the name of that actor?” “I know it, but I just can‟t remember.”
b. When he started being rude to me it was difficult not to say anything
back.
c.
Did I say she was called Mary? I‟m sorry, I meant to say Maria.
d. He didn‟t mean what he said. He was being ironic.
e.
When the queen came to compliment his performance he couldn‟t speak.
f.
It‟s a great name and so easy to say.
Changing English in a changing world
1. Modern English began around 300 years ago, but if you were to read what was
written at the beginning of the Modern English period, you would not call it
modern. What factors have produced language change over this period?
2. What do you think is producing changes in language use in the 21 st century? Do
you think these changes are a positive or a negative force?
3. Read these statements and mark them  if you agree or  if you disagree and ?
if you are not sure. Compare your answers in pairs.
□
I am more likely to use English to speak to native speakers (eg. British
and American people) than I am to speak to other non-native speakers.
□
All learners of English should try to pronounce the language as closely as
possible to the way native speakers do.
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□
It is important for learners of English to have a good command of British
and American idioms.
□
People can‟t understand you when you speak a foreign language unless
you use the grammar correctly.
□
English doesn‟t just belong to British or American people. It belongs to
everyone in the world, who uses it.
□
When I speak English, I don‟t want to imitate a British or American
person. I want to keep my own identity.
4. Listen to Dr. Jenifer Jenkins talking about English as an International Language.
Which statements above does she agree/disagree with? Why?
5. Dr. Jenkins mentions the following language areas as examples. Have you had
any problems with them?
• The pronunciation of „th‟.
• British and American idioms.
• Uncountable nouns, like „information‟.
• The third person „s‟ in the present simple.
a. What does Jenifer Jenkins think may happen to these things as English as
an International Language develops? How does she think dictionaries in
the future will be different?
6. Looking at these photographs, which language areas that Jenifer Jenkins
mentions are noticeable?
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7. Do you agree with Dr. Jenkins? Has she made you change your mind about any
of your answers to exercise 3 above?
What did Middle English used look like?
1. Use an encyclopaedia, such as Wikipedia to find out about the Canterbury Tales:
where and when are they set? Where and when were they written?
2. During the Middle Ages, there were many competing dialects of English;
however, coming from the centre of power and prestige that was London,
Chaucer used the dialect, which would become the foundation for Modern
English. Listening to Terry Jones in the Routes of English, CD2 Track 3, consider
why the Canterbury Tales are culturally significant.
3. Compare the lines from the Canterbury Tales, written in Middle English with
their modern translation:
A marchant was ther with a forked berd,
In mottelee, and hye on horse he sat;
Upon his heed a Flaundryssh bever hat,
275
His bootes clasped faire and fetisly.
His resons he spak ful solempnely,
Sownynge alway th'encrees of his wynnyng.
He wolde the see were kept for any thyng
Bitwixe Middelburgh and Orewelle.
280
Wel koude he in eschaunge sheeldes selle.
This worthy man ful wel his wit bisette;
Ther wiste no wight that he was in dette,
So estatly was he of his governaunce
With his bargaynes and with his chevyssaunce.
285
For sothe, he was a worthy man with-alle,
But, sooth to seyn, I noot how men hym calle.
There was a merchant with forked beard
In motley gown, and high on horse he sat,
Upon his head a Flemish beaver hat;
275
His boots were fastened neatly and elegantly.
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He spoke out his opinions very solemnly,
Stressing the times when he had won, not lost.
He wanted the sea-lanes kept open at any cost
Between Middleburgh and the town of Orwel.
280
He knew how to deal foreign currencies, buy and sell.
This worthy man kept all his wits well set;
There was no person that knew he was in debt,
So well he managed all his trade affairs
With bargains and with borrowings and with shares.
285
Indeed, he was a worthy man withall,
But, to tell the truth, his name I can't recall.
4. Which words can you recognise? Which words would be the same as Modern
English, if they were spelt differently? Which words do not exist at all in Modern
English?
5. Find the Middle English for the following words:
a. Beard
b. High
c.
Head
d. Boots
e.
Proclaiming
f.
Wanted
g. Knew
h. Money dealings
i.
Truth
j.
Do not know
6. Chaucer was frequently ironic in his descriptions of the pilgrims, some of whom
were deceitful, boasting and hypocritical. The merchant was not really a worthy
man, but a trader, who in modern colloquial English would be called a wheelerdealer - someone, who makes questionable profits from his business.
a. What did you learn about the Merchant, which makes you think that he is
not a totally upright, honest trader?
b. What do his clothes tell you about him?
c.
What secret did he keep from other people?
d. Why do you think Chaucer says that he doesn‟t know his name?
e.
What sort of companion do you think the Merchant would have made on
the pilgrimage?
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How does language change?
Trees and Waves
1. How can „language‟ be defined? How many different languages can you think of,
which have contributed words to the English language, which is spoken and
written today?
2. See how many examples of words borrowed from other languages you can jot
down in five minutes.
3. List as many examples as you can of different forms of English, such as
„Chlinglish‟ (Chinese English). What other „lishes‟ do you know of?
Chinese
English
Information box:
We have learnt that the history of language development is a history of waves, leading
to convergence among dissimilar languages.
However, the history of language development is also a history of family-trees. In this
metaphor, the family members are languages, the family is a language family and the
birth kinships of people are relationships between languages. A language can therefore
be a parent or mother language or a daughter language; languages can have lines of
descent, can be cognate and can be “related.”
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East
Old East Low
Franconian
Limburgish
Lower
Franconian
Flemish
West
Old Dutch
Dutch
Africaans
Ripuarian
Luxembourgish
Central
Old High
Standard
German
Yiddish
German
Thuringian
Standard
Austro-
German
Bavarian
Alemannic
Cimbrian
North Frisian
Swiss German
Upper
West Germanic
Saterland
Old Frisian
Frisian
West Frisian
Anglo-Frisian
English
Old Saxon
Old English
Yola
Low German
Scots
4. Using an encyclopaedia such as Wikipedia, find out about Proto-Indo-European;
what is it and how can it help us to understand the history of language? If
English is a second cousin once removed of German, what is its relationship to
your language?
5. Define:
a. Native English speakers
b. Non-native speakers
c.
Speakers of English as a second language
d. Speakers of dialect continua
6. Use an encyclopaedia to check.
7. How can English be defined as the most commonly spoken language in the world,
when it is only the third largest language?
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8. Find out the eight countries with the highest populations of native English
speakers and draw a pie chart to display this information.
Where does English come from?
Information box:
An important feature of the Middle English period was the influence of Norman (and
later, central) French, following the Norman Conquest of 1066. French dominance and
prestige in such contexts as the royal court of Plantagenet, law, the church and
education encouraged extensive borrowing of vocabulary. Norman scribes also influenced
the way English was written, respelling words using conventions from French; thus Old
English îs became ice, while cwçn became queen.
However, by the 14th and 15th centuries, French influence in Britain had begun to
lessen; as pandemics killed 20% of the population, the English speaking lower class
became more influential. Modern English can be regarded as starting with the
introduction of printing, which encouraged standardisation.
1. Using the information available in these worksheets, complete this timeline, in
order to show the development of English.
Old
Middle
English
English
Early
Modern
Modern
English
English
2. Again, using the information available in these worksheets, complete these maps
in order to show how different language communities have migrated to and
settled in England; start before the Anglo-Saxon and Viking invasions, and
include the Norman Conquest and subsequent Plantagenet dynasty.
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3. What conclusions about language change is it possible to make by comparing the
timeline with the maps?
4. Although the Normans didn‟t really affect the structure of the language, in the
same way as the Norse settlers did, they did have a big influence on vocabulary;
use an online dictionary to find out how the French convergence with Old
English can be seen in much of our everyday vocabulary, by studying the French
for words for farmed animals.
5. Now, listening to J. C. Smith (The Routes of English, CD1 Track 13), who
discusses the impact of the Norman Conquest, compare these French words to
the German words for farmed animals; what is the relationship between the
English words for farmed animals and for processed meats?
6. In The Routes of English, CD1 Track 13, J. C. Smith discusses the impact of
French in particular semantic fields (contexts, such as food and fashion). Using
the information in this worksheet, why do you think the impact of French is
often limited to such fields?
7. Referring to your final map, in which you should have shown the impact of
Norman Conquest, consider Frank McGlynn‟s comments in The Routes of English,
CD1 Track 13, as he discusses the need to adapt to the French language and
culture.
“People would have had to speak French to be part of the [royal] court [of
Plantagenet]; otherwise they just wouldn‟t have been understood. It was a practical
consideration; it was also a social consideration. If you spoke Old English, quite apart
from not being understood, you didn‟t come across as having much prestige or much
power, so it was very much the combination of those two factors, I think, that led to a
lot of the Old English speaking upper class learning Norman French very, very quickly.
And then, of course, it would have filtered down to lower strata of Old English speaking
society by a similar process. If you were hob-nobbing with people at court, then that
gave you a certain prestige and you wanted to show off about it, so you adopted some
of their words, which would have been Norman French words – words like vin or
mouton or appareil.”
From The Routes of English, CD1 Track 13
8. It is necessary to speak English to be part of our community; what parallels can
be made between the Old English speaking upper class in 1066 and you?
9. If prestige is an important factor, influencing both the impact of French on
English and the subsequent demise of French in England, what other factors can
you think of that may influence the impact of English on your language?
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