A NATIONAL BULLETIN
ISSUES IN AUSTRALIAN STYLE AND THE USE OF ENGLISH IN AUSTRALIA
Volume 11 No 1
JUNE 2003
Words between languages and
cultures
Dr Verna Rieschild is a lecturer in linguistics at Macquarie University, and an expert in Arabic linguistics.
A
rabic is perhaps the seventh
greatest contributor to the
English lexicon. Comparison
of the types of words borrowed
from Arabic into English at various
points over the past two millennia
reflects the differing reasons for
introducing new ideas into a culture,
and changing relationships between
nations. The borrowing of Arabic
loan words in ancient, medieval and
contemporary times, and meaning
changes in those words, also reflect
shifts in cultural attitudes to the
Middle East.
Ancient and medieval contact
between Arabic speakers and Europe
had a strong scholarly, cultural and
economic base. Indeed ninth century
Baghdad, with its “House of
Wisdom” was considered by the
West to be the intellectual hub of the
world. Arabic culture was admired
as refined and sophisticated, resulting
in extensive borrowing of Arabic
technical and scientific words into
Greek, Latin, French and Spanish.
Until the eighteenth century the
majority of Arabic words in English
had come through other European
languages. Some examples are
algebra, algorism (via French), antimony,
cipher, nadir, zenith (via Latin), and zero
(via Italian).
Commercial and military endeavours also led to early borrowings
of words for traded products and
cultural artefacts. Social contact during the Crusades is also apparent in
words like mattress (borrowed into
English before 1300 from Old
French materas, from Old Italian
materasso and from Medieval Latin
matracium, ultimately Arabic maTraH
“place, cushion”).
From the eighteenth century on,
colonial, military and archaeological
activities took the British into Arabic
countries, and the Age of
Romanticism drew British travelers
to the Middle East. This direct
contact prompted new direct Arabic
loans through spoken English, as
well as colonial and military reports,
historical writings, travel journals and
articles. Army slang produced, for
example, feloos “money”, bint “girl”
(later derogated to “prostitute”), and
shufti “a look” (from shuf “to see”).
Increased migration in the past
century has brought direct contact
between Arabic and English speakers,
with loan words like tabbouleh, couscous,
hummus and babaghanush for food
stuffs.
Meaning change
A number of Arabic loans have
undergone changes after borrowing.
The word hazard demonstrates
change across several different
languages. From Arabic az -zahr “the
die”, it developed the meaning of
“unlucky throw of the dice” as Old
I N THIS
I N THIS
ISSUE
ISSUE
On dinghy, a loanword
from Hindi
3
Putting a newspaper online 4
SCOSE Notes
5
From the Editor
6
Letters to the Editor
7
Book Notes
8
From local to global English
Convict words: language in
early colonial Australia
Feedback 21
10
Feedback Report
11
Rubicon
12
DECEMBER
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2001
2003
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Continued from page 1
** A useful source for word
etymologies is available on the
internet at:
http://www.etymonline.com/
Spanish azar, and this transferred to
Old French. In English from about
1300, hazard was at first a specialist
term in dice throwing, golf and
billiards, but by 1618 had developed
an additional generalized meaning of
“risk”. Magazine (1583) from French
magasin, (from Arabic al-maxzen
“storeroom”) now has three related
English meanings: a storehouse for
arms; ( from 1744) part of a gun that
stores cartridges, and (from 1639) a
print periodical (storehouse for
information).
Metaphorical change can be seen
with tabby which meant “silk cloth
with striped pattern” when
borrowed in 1638 from French.
Tabis “rich watered silk” came from
Late Latin attabi from Arabic at-taabi
“watered silk from Attab ( a place in
Baghdad)”. By 1695 the phrase tabby
cat was in use, and tabby as a noun
meaning “striped cat” developed by
1774.
Proper borrowed nouns from
the history or mythology of any
country (like Vandals, Tartars, Young
Turks and Adonis) can develop new
common noun meanings according
to cultural assumptions of the
borrowing group. Genie (as in
Aladdin’s Lamp) entered English as a
beguiling spirit, very different from
the demonic meaning of Arabic jinn.
A common trend in change is for
words for lower social groups to
derogate and broaden. Assassin
“someone who murders suddenly
(usually to an organizational end)”
(1531) comes from the Arabic AlHashshaashiin “The Assassins”,
members of a Palestinian sect during
the Crusades who carried out secret
murders under the influence of
hashish. Similarly, Arabic filisTin
“Palestine” (from Assyrian Pilistu)
was borrowed into Greek, then
Italian, French and German. Philistine
(1831) now means an uncultured
person. Arab, first recorded in
English in 1398, developed another
sense by 1848: “homeless child,
wandering the streets”.
Rapid, widespread borrowing and
meaning shift are now promoted by
electronic reporting on international
affairs. Much of the English-speaking
world has experienced Arabic
society through the crafted media
lens, which tends to focus on Islamic
conflict – and is as limited as
perceiving Australians only according
to their participation in wars in
Vietnam and Iraq. It is also tied in
with religious and political
ideologies. Jihad (1869) started in
English with the Arabic meaning of
“struggle, contest, effort in any
field” and the specific Islamicreferenced “Muslim Holy War”. By
1880 it also meant “any doctrinal
struggle”. Jihad is positive in Arabic,
but its English sense of “Holy war
against the Infidels” has developed
negative
connotations
more
equivalent to “Un-holy war”. In
English, mujahidiin is now used to
refer to an Islamic warrior, as in
“foreign mujahidiin crossing the
borders to help Iraqis fight off the
Coalition”. However, in some
varieties of Arabic, mujaahid most
properly refers to someone fighting
an invader (as in Afghanistan)
whereas someone involved in a
government-sanctioned struggle of
resistance is a muqaawama. Fedayeen is
currently used in English to mean “a
commando or guerrilla”, or “Iraqi
special forces”, whereas in Arabic it
is “one who offers up his life for
another, or devotees of several
religious and political groups”.
Lastly, the Arabic word Talibaan
means “students, searchers for
truth” or the proper name of a
political party but in English it refers
only to the former ruling party of
Afghanistan.
This current concentration of
borrowings from the fields of
religion and politics, and the
frequent adaptation of their English
meaning towards a sense of conflict,
suggests a narrowing in the
perception of the Arabic world,
after a rich history of borrowings
from areas as diverse as scholarship,
leisure pursuits, and trade.
Australian Style is published by the Style Council Centre, Macquarie University.
It is edited by Pam Peters, with executive assistance from Adam Smith. The editorial
reference group includes Ann Atkinson, David Blair, Sue Butler, Richard Tardif and Colin Yallop.
Views expressed in Australian Style and the styles chosen are those of the authors indicated.
Design: Irene Meier. ISSN 1320-0941
2 AUSTRALIAN STYLE
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On dinghy, a loanword from Hindi
R
oyal South Australian Yacht
Squadron has three old
books, into which were
pasted cuttings from newspapers,
covering the years 1889 to 1949.
Although most are dated, very few
specify the origin from the Adelaide
daily and weekly papers of the time
The Register, The Advertiser and The
Observer. Sometimes they can be
identified by the type used.
Generally speaking, The Advertiser
and The Register followed each other
with their house styles, although The
Advertiser tended more to American
spelling than its rival. The sources
show interestingly how spelling
changed for the word dinghy, used
for a small rowing and sailing craft.
The Oxford English Dictionary
derives it from “Hindi dengi or dingi,
small boat, wherry boat, diminutive
of denga, donga, a larger boat, sloop,
coasting vessel. The spelling with h in
English is to indicate the hard g”. Its
first citation is from 1794, with
sundry variations in spelling over the
next century. The now standard
spelling dinghy was first recorded in
1879, but other citations show that
dingey and dingy continued to be used
in the 1880s. After that there are no
citations until the 1930s, so this South
Australian data adds helpful detail on
what was happening in between.
It illustrates the process of
standardisation which must have
been acted out in many quarters of
the world.
As the following selected
quotations show, local South
Australian usage changed over a
short period. The two local papers
kept pace with each other in doing
so. The crucial shift in spelling seems
to have taken place in the first decade
of the twentieth century, except for
the isolated (1925) citation from
Australian Motor Boat and Yachting
Monthly.
Dingey/dingeys
6 March 1900 The Register
The committee of the Yacht Squadron
has decided that spaces 12 ft by 6 ft may
be reserved by members for their
dingeys in the new shed on payment of
£2, which will entitle them to sole use of
the space for so long as they are
members of the Squadron. No dingeys
will be allowed in the shed unless space
has been secured.
17 November 1900
The first dingey race of the season in
connection with the members of the
Royal SA Yacht Squadron will take place
this afternoon on the Port River.
24 November 1900
The
members,
whilst
perhaps
encouraging inter-club fixtures, would
do well to cultivate the utmost
friendliness and confidence between
themselves and the Glenelg Dingey and
Aquatic Club.
26 January 1901
Owing to the demise of her Majesty
Queen Victoria, the Royal South
Australian Yacht Squadron have
postponed the dingey race which was to
have taken place today.
23 January 1902
Unfortunately the dingey belonging to
the vessel was ashore, so Miller threw a
lifebuoy into the sea, and jumped after
it, with the idea of getting ashore with its
aid.
Peter Last is a retired consultant
physician and medical administrator.
Dinghy/dinghys
30 January 1904
A lot of interest was taken in the dinghy
race last Saturday, and a large number of
yachts followed, while quite a crowd of
spectators lined Snowden’s Beach and
parts of the wharf.
30 January 1904
The La Mascotte, it is alleged, collided
with the dingy of Mr HJD Munton’s
Alfreda. Her bow virtually cut the dinghy
in two.
19 February 1914
We have been led to understand that a
race in dinghys of up to 12 ft is to be
allotted for competition amongst the
junior members whom the Squadron
has seen fit to elect.
22 January 1926
A meeting of the South Australian
Dinghy Union was held this week to
consider its position in connection with
the interstate championship dinghy
contests to be sailed in South Australian
waters Saturday 30 January to Tuesday
February 2.
9 April 1926
The first race in connection with the 12-ft
dinghy championship of Australia was
held at the Outer Harbor on Thursday
afternoon.
31 January 1927
On Saturday afternoon the Royal South
Australian Yacht Squadron held a race at
the Outer Harbor for 12-ft cadet class
dinghies, managed by crews under 21
years of age.
Dingy/dingies
October 1925, The Australian Motor
Boat and Yachting Monthly
It must be most gratifying to the
members of the Royal Prince Alfred
Yacht Club that the 12ft cadet dingy class
they established and fostered in its initial
stages is now flourishing in nearly every
state of the Commonwealth...SA expects
to have a big fleet of these dingies racing
during the coming season, and to be
represented in the inter-State contests for
the class.
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Putting a newspaper online
John Grey is Online Editor of The
Courier Mail and The Sunday
Mail. He was a member of the panel
discussing “News Online” at Style
Council 2002, Brisbane.
D
oes putting a newspaper on
the internet bring certain
doom to print newspapers?
Statistics have shown that the internet
has actually helped the smart
newspaper players, and a couple of
years ago we set about the business
of making The Courier-Mail the
dominant Queensland news breaker
online, as it is in print. The result is
thecouriermail.com.au, now pulling
about 3 million page impressions
from about 200,000 unique visitors a
month.
The aim of the site is to be more
than the newspaper and a bit less
than it too. We have content, services
and activities on the website that we
can’t have in the newspaper, and the
paper has much more content and
information than we put on the site.
The object is to use this new medium
to promote and enhance our core
product, Queensland news, which is
still published and distributed in the
most efficient, user-friendly method
currently available – on light, flexible
sheets of bio-degradable, recyclable
processed cellulose. Or, if you like,
chewed up bits of waste wood.
From print to web
But there’s an overlap of content,
and a consistency in style, between
the two faces of The Courier-Mail. For
a start, the major stories on the site
are taken from the paper. We pick
them up late in the production
process of the next day’s paper.
Then we do something called
repurposing, defined in the American
Heritage Dictionary of the English
Language, Fourth Edition as “to use
or convert for use in another format
or product”.
This obviously entails changes in
coding and the physical structure of
articles and pictures into an html
environment. It also can entail some
re-editing – an excellent newspaper
4 AUSTRALIAN STYLE
JUNE 2003
headline might not work as well in
the context of a web index page.
Web news readers are generally
looking for quick snacks of
information, so perhaps the online
story should be shorter? Then again,
the website doesn’t have the space
limitations imposed on a newspaper,
so it might be worth restoring some
more words or pictures to the story.
Audience reach and archiving
The choice of articles is based on
considerations such as the nature of
the web audience, the nature of
Queenslanders, copyright limitations
and available resources. There are
also extra legal considerations online.
For example, a court case that can be
legally reported in Queensland might
be suppressed in South Australia.
And online, we publish in South
Australia. And in Croatia, Columbia
and Costa Rica, for that matter.
There are other considerations,
too – for example the fact that we
have readers all around the world.
Just about every time we run a story
on, say, Mal Colston, I have
American readers emailing me saying
“Huh? What’s a rort?” Apparently
it’s a peculiarly Aussie term. And our
columnists will often use colourful
phrases that would make no sense to
a non-Australian. So on occasion I’ve
felt the need to add in some
definitions.
But our major online target
audience is still Queenslanders. It has
the benefit of being able to include
expatriate Queenslanders, who send
very warm feedback about the site.
They miss us. They want to come
home.
Most news articles will have a 24hour life span (although they are still
available for a week in a free
archive). Feature articles live about a
week. Other material such as
resources for schools can have a
much longer life.
Beyond the free week’s archive,
you have newstext.com.au, a
subscription service with access to
the database used by our journalists.
This contains millions of articles
from News Ltd publications (and all
Courier-Mail and Sunday Mail articles
since 1984. And the Telegraph).
Online interaction
An increasing focus for The CourierMail website is not what we can put
on it, but what people can do on it. So
far you can offer feedback, make a
complaint, write to a journalist, send
in an anonymous news tip, place ads.
You can find cheap fuel, order
photographs, send a message to our
overseas troops, book a ticket to a
show, check your local weather
forecast or consult your stars to find
out why you’re having such a lousy
day. You can search the web, take a
60 second quiz, search our archives,
buy or sell a car, find a job or a place
to live, send us your local sports
results and – of course – you can
subscribe to the paper.
If The Courier-Mail is typical,
there’s plenty of scope for online
newspapers in the future.
S C O S E
R
ecent SCOSE meetings have
covered the usual array of
usage problems, some of
them requiring the wisdom of
Solomon to solve.
The ABC is faced with the
challenge of deciding how to refer to
new Palestinian Prime Minister – by
his formal name Mahmoud Abbas or
by his Arabic kunya (an alternative
name) Abu Mazen, which is widely
used by both the Arabs and the
Israelis. Initially, the ABC was
referring to him as “Mahmoud
Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen”,
but SCOSE agreed that it’s too
cumbersome to use both names all
the time. The press is using the
formal name, especially in the
context of mentioning other world
leaders where the western title Mr is
used a lot. Mr can be attached to the
formal name (Mr Abbas) but not to
Abu Mazen, which means “father of
Mazen” (it makes no sense to say
“Mr Mazen”). But until an
internationally accepted style has
emerged to settle the issue, listeners
will need to be aware of both names
since both are likely to be
encountered in the media.
Several matters served as a
reminder that political correctness is
not always the way to go. A
Melbourne staffer sought SCOSE
guidance on whether to call
professional fishermen fishermen or
fishers. Unfortunately, he said,
everyone in the ongoing debate
about the establishment of marine
parks by the State Government, and
opposition to this from the
commercial fishing industry, is using
the term fishers, which is very
confusing on radio. SCOSE
responded with the advice to stick
with the traditional word fisherman
(-men). (Sensibly, newspapers like the
Sydney Morning Herald do.) Fishers
sounds old-fashioned and biblical
while, as the Melbourne staffer had
observed, recreational fishers evokes
the image of a trout on a banana
lounge.
Similarly, the time-honoured term
West Indians was given the thumbs up
NOTES
despite the suggestion that it was
perhaps offensive to those from the
various islands that constitute the
West Indies. Dismissed too was a
listener’s complaint that it was
inappropriate to use the colloquial
word shonky in a news bulletin
because it was possibly derived from
an offensive name for a Jew.
SCOSE judged that in the nativised
Australian usage, shonky has no such
offensive associations – that it’s
familiar to Australians in its
circumscribed meaning, and acceptable in the context “laws to crack
down on shonky manufacturing of
medicines” and “shonky operators”.
SCOSE continues to remind
broadcasters to shun jargon and
unfamiliar technical terms used
without explanation. Do you know
anyone who has summited a high
mountain lately? Nouns used as
verbs are a normal part of English,
but some of the newer ones are
often in the category of jargon and
therefore best avoided (besides,
there’s nothing that irritates ABC
listeners more than nouns used as
verbs unnecessarily). A staffer
thought summit as a verb was okay
because it was a possible word and
he’d seen it in mountaineering
literature. People may climb
mountains just because they’re there,
but at the ABC broadcasters are not
encouraged to use words just
because they’re there!
Also SCOSE wondered why
Stobie poles and bomblet were necessary
when power poles and small bomb
would have done. (No, a bomblet isn’t
an egg exploding in the microwave –
that would be bomelette!) Likewise
flechette round was military jargon we
could live without, especially when
misspelt fleshette – flèche is French for
“arrow”, a thing that ends up
piercing the flesh.
The term suicide bomber seems here
to stay. Although it was probably a
politically motivated term, SCOSE
takes the view that suicide bomber
(bombing) is now widely used as a
generic term – the recent Bali
bombing was described as a suicide
Language researcher Irene Poinkin
summarises recent discussions at
SCOSE, the ABC Standing Committee on Spoken English.
bombing. An alternative suggested
by SCOSE is terrorist bomber. (It has
been reported that, in an attempt to
shift the focus from the terrorist/
suicide bomber to the victims, the
US State Department has adopted
the term homicidal bombing, but this
term seems less likely to survive.)
Use of the word elderly will require
caution in future. After a news report
referred to an “elderly couple in their
sixties” being robbed in their home,
SCOSE was asked to raise the
qualifying age for being called elderly.
It’s ridiculous to describe people in
their sixties as elderly, it was asserted,
and the committee agreed, saying it’s
better to avoid the word altogether
as it’s often gratuitous.
Lastly, members of the ABC
audience continue to lament young
people’s apparent lack of knowledge
of important figures and events in
Western culture and history, and the
effect this has on their understanding
and use of English. We saw what
was undoubtedly the howler of the
year in a story quoting the
Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie,
on the subject of schoolies week. “I
don’t think the Gold Coast Council
can play Ponchious Pilot on
schoolies”, the story read. Clearly,
the reporter didn’t have any idea
who Pontius Pilate was, and mustn’t
have had a clue what Beattie was
talking about either.
DECEMBER
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2003
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STYLE5 5
T
he editor’s mailbox has been
packed
with
interesting
questions and observations on
the way the language is being used in
2003. Many thanks to all who wrote
in or emailed their thoughts, and
especially to those who sent in
clippings and other evidence to detail
their comments. Particular thanks go
to RG Kimber (NT), whose reading
of both Territory and national
newspapers has produced a
wonderful crop of new words and
colloquialisms not often seen in print.
It’s good always to receive
comments on the articles published,
and especially amendments to their
content. On the use of the word
service station in Australia we had two
helpful notes documenting its arrival
before 1985 (cf. AS 10:1/2). David
Watson (b.1950) knows it from “as
far back as I can remember” in the
Newcastle and Central NSW Coast
region; while Philip Kerr (QLD)
documented its use on 4 July 1964 in
the Brisbane region, with the help of
an advertisement for two petrol
outlets from the Brisbane Courier
Mail.
New words noted by AS
correspondents, are emerging in
several domains of current interest,
and/or expanding and in need of
new
nomenclature.
One
is
mountaineering, which was helped
by retrospective broadcasts on
Edmund Hillary’s triumphant climb
of Mt Everest just 50 years ago. Elva
Julien (NSW) noted the use of the
verb summited, not yet registered in
millennial dictionaries (cf SCOSE
notes p.5). Another mountaineering
term gorbie was reported by Ruth
Anderson (NSW). Apparently it
refers to the bystander who gazes
with amazement at those ascending
the precipice, and is used by
mountaineering groups in Tasmania.
Please let us know if you have heard
it in any other context.
The corporate world is another
hearth of lexical innovations, for
better or worse, where turning
nouns into verbs, e.g. partner (as in
6 AUSTRALIAN STYLE
JUNE 2003
“we continue to partner with XX
Asset Management, and transition (as
in “the equity funds will transition to
the investment approach”. Just
what’s going on there is a bit fuzzy.
Other business style terms are brisk
and totally up front, as in “doing
the merch” from a printed
advertisement sent in by RG Kimber
(NT). It paraphrases merchandising i.e.
publicizing one’s goods, but with
a remarkable abbreviation of
merchandise. A new business practice
was signaled in the term raincheckable,
noted by Bruce Holmquist (NSW) in
reference to an item not immediately
available after it was advertised in the
catalogue of a well known
department store.
Social activities are forever
changing, and so fresh terms are
often needed. A new adrenalin
raising amusement for young men in
some parts of northern Australia is
bonnet surfing, i.e. riding on the bonnet
of a moving car, with potentially
fatal consequences. It appeared in a
couple of clippings from the
Northern Territory News sent in by RG
Kimber, along with discussions of
other kinds of pranking, i.e. practical
jokes played on unsuspecting
citizens. That must be about the first
verbal use of the noun prank as
opposed to the very old verb prank,
meaning “dress or behave in a
flamboyant way”. The NT clippings
also made use of the verb humbug,
which in general Australian English
refers to the practice/exercise of
humbug (we all know someone who
does that!).
But in Aboriginal
English the verb focuses more on
the effect of practising humbug, and
it’s glossed in the Macquarie Dictionary
(1997) as “irritate, bother”.
Apart from the interest in
individual
words,
the
AS
correspondence drew attention to
grammatical issues that revolve
around the humble word of, one way
or another. The curious use of of in
structures such as the “town of
Albany” was noted by John
Mandelson (NSW). It does seem
redundant, yet it’s enshrined in idiom,
and noted in all dictionaries as
appositional use of the preposition.
Usually of marks relationships of
other kinds, e.g. possession,
association,
origin,
or
else
quantitative ones, as in “a slice of
cake”, and even the vague “a period
of time”.
Of is incidental to another
grammar problem raised by Katrina
Nilan (NSW), as to whether
expressions like “one out of five
Australians” should be followed by a
singular or plural verb. Going by the
word one would mean singular
(formal) agreement, whereas plural
agreement comes naturally with the
nearest word “Australians” (this is
what’s called proximity agreement).
If you regard “one in five” as a ratio,
and definitely meaning more than
one in its context of use, it too would
prompt a plural verb (this is notional
agreement). So two out of three
kinds of agreement embedded in
that phrase call for a plural verb.
Research associated with the Longman
Grammar of Spoken and Written English
(1999) found that plural agreement
was used in the majority of such
cases in its corpus.
Feedback Acknowledgements
Feedback 20 on alternative past
forms of verbs was greatly helped
by hundreds of respondents, and
especially the following people, who
sent in batches of questionnaires on
behalf of their groups, named and
unnamed: Kathleen Ailwood NSW
(8), Ruth Badcock VIC (27), Pat
Burnheim NSW (4), David Byrne
NSW (8), Peter Last SA (14),
Loudon/Hobart V3A Writing
Workshop (11), Rosemary Milne
VIC (11), John Pfitzner SA (11),
Maggie Ragless SA (15), Lorraine
Sushames NT (6), Norman Talbot
NSW (17), Robyn Whiteley VIC (29)
and thanks to the unknown sender
from the Canberra Department of
Communication and the Arts (4),
and the Sunshine Coast Literati (6).
Dear Pam,
As a former print media journalist
I thought I would share this
recollection with you. In the late
1960s my then chief of staff had had
enough. On his section of the office
noticeboard appeared this threat:
The next reporter who misspells the
word “accommodate” will be
suspended until they can show me
conclusively they know that it has
two a’s, two c’s, two o’s and two
m’s.
I am happy to report that no-one
fell foul of his wrath. It was in the
days when newspapers employed
proofreaders. Apparently the head
reader had sent the COS a despairing
memo stating that in his opinion
“accommodate” was the most
misspelt word in the English
language.
John Satterley
Lockleys, SA
Dear Pam,
I have had in mind for some time
to write about the mess people have
made of naming levels in buildings
by mixing the British system (starting
from the ground floor) with the
American, working from Level 1.
The problem is visible in the Work
Cover building in Sydney which has
floors named Basement, Ground,
level 1, level 2...This is an absurd mix.
Either make it Ground, 1st floor,
2nd floor etc., OR level 1 level 2,
level 3.
The NSW Society of Editors
meets on the first floor of the
Mechanics School of Arts (one
above street level). At least once
there was a sign downstairs saying
the meeting was on level 1 – which in
that building would be the ground
level.
Paul Bennett (Brisbane, QLD) was pleased to see that someone knew the
difference between the words historic/historical, and took the trouble to
make the change.
Dear Pam,
First, I hope you will not mind
receiving a letter in pen and ink; I am
both incomputerate and lacking a
typewriter.
Secondly, I am emboldened to
write of two of my pet peeves in the
use of the English language: the habit
of police officers, particularly the
younger ones, of using the phrase
“male person” instead of “man”,
“youth” or “boy”, whichever might
be applicable.
They also seem to prefer the use
of the present perfect to that of the
simple past, e.g. “The deceased has
died after he has been stabbed by
another male person.”
Dear Pam,
Ted Webber’s letter on page 7 of
the last issue of Australian Style
reminded me that, 25 years ago, I
needed a word for an event
occurring regularly on the same day
of each month. The premiums of
some insurance policies are paid
monthly, the day of the month
depending on the commencing date
of the insurance. I needed the word
for use in instructions to members of
the staff, and coined the word
“mensiversary”, which I suggest is
better bred than “luniversary”.
Lawrence J.Cohn
Doncaster, VIC
Pat Hunt
Southport, QLD
Robyn Whitely
(Richmond, VIC)
sent in this notice
attached to a very
sensitive building.
John J.Howard
via email
DECEMBER
JUNE
2001
2003
AUSTRALIAN
AUSTRALIAN
STYLE
STYLE7 7
From local to global English
Bruce Moore is director of the
Australian National Dictionary
Centre. He reviews From local to
global English: proceedings of
Style Council 2001/2, Dictionary
Research
Centre,
Macquarie
University (2003), RRP $27.50.
T
his volume brings together
papers given at Style Council
conferences in Sydney in 2001
(“From Local to Global English”)
and in Brisbane in 2002 (“The Digital
Shift from Print to Screen”). As the
conference titles indicate, these
papers are dealing with some very
large and important issues. In the
space available in this review I want
to indicate the range of material
examined, since these papers deserve
to be read by an audience much
wider than the usual readers of
conference proceedings.
In Section One (“English as a
World Language”) Edgar Schneider
presents a challenging theory about
what he sees as the five-stage
evolution of any “New English”.
What is most interesting about this
theory is its predictive power.
For example, in stage 3, called
“nativisation”, Schneider predicts
that as the New English develops its
own local linguistic usage that differs
from the “mother tongue”, this will
result in “a clash of opinions and
internal discussions” and the
appearance of the “complaint
tradition”: “the stereotypical statement that linguistic usage keeps
deteriorating, frequently expressed in
outlets such as letters to the editor in
quality papers”. This, of course, is
precisely what happened in Australia
in the first half of the twentieth
century. Gerald Nelson examines the
differing functions of modal verbs in
a number of Englishes by using the
evidence of spoken corpora. Pam
Peters asks the question of what
“international English” is, or might
8 AUSTRALIAN STYLE
JUNE 2003
be, whether it might best be developed by first or second language
speakers, and what role the Internet
might play in its development.
Section Two (“Regional Englishes”) includes Peter Collins
discussing the issue of whether the
grammar of Australian English
differs from that of other Englishes,
Laurie Bauer examining the extent to
which some New Zealand texts use
linguistic features that are or are not
distinctly New Zealand-ish, Susan
Butler exploring the problems
encountered in constructing an
English dictionary for a Singaporean
market (especially the local
sensitivities about Singapore-isms),
Kingsley Bolton examining the
lexical development over time of
Hong Kong English and some other
Chinese Englishes, and Julia
Robinson
discussing
lexical
regionalisms from Queensland.
Section Three (“Niche Styles”)
continues the discussion of regional,
national, and global issues. Kim
Lockwood looks at his development of a style manual for News Ltd
newspapers Australia-wide, an
interesting example of a kind of
national enforcement of a version of
“standard English”. Adam Smith
looks at the role of sporting
metaphors in international English,
especially when the sport providing
the metaphor is culturally specific.
Nigel Starck traces the shift of
emphasis and the increase in
importance of obituary writing in
newspapers.
Section Four (“International
Publishing”) develops the question
of “which English?” to the question
of “which market?” Elizabeth Weiss
explains how an Australian publisher
works to get an Australian book into
the international book market. Bill
Krebs explores the problems faced
by a lexicographer whose publisher
has decided that the major
editions of its dictionaries will be
“international” rather than “regional”.
The final paper by Richard Walsh is a
timely warning against taking the
predictions of the marketing gurus
and prophets too solemnly. At one
stage it seemed inevitable that the
electronic book would take over
from the traditional book, and that
the Internet would revolutionise
publishing, but Walsh provides a
fascinating history of what has
actually happened in the book and
newspaper publishing industry,
where earlier predictions have simply
not eventuated. He concludes: “The
first wave of E-vangelists envisaged
the net as a no-charge global
database, a kind of Magic Pudding
that would be paid for entirely from
advertising revenue. But those early
impractical visionary dreams are
finally now giving way to new and
harsh commercial realities”.
In the context of the book as a
whole, this might also serve as a
salutary warning that the predictions
about
the
development
of
international or world English
should not be taken as inevitable
truths. And the appearance of an
Australianism – “magic pudding” –
in the final paragraph of the book is a
small victory, at least, for our side.
Copies of From local to global English
can be obtained from the
Dictionary
Research
Centre,
Linguistics Department, Macquarie
University 2109. Order forms are
available on the website:
www.ling.mq.edu.au/style
The Style Council Centre website
also provides access to selected
papers from Style Council 2002
(“The digital shift from print to
screen”).
H
Convict Words
ow should this book be
described? The back cover
calls it a dictionary, though it
has a limited number of entries.
Under H, for example, are just
seven, and three of those share their
first element: hand, hard labour, home
sentence, hulk, hulk dress, hulk list, hut.
The entries themselves are quite long,
often in the style of an encyclopedia
rather than a dictionary, and
supported by citations of substantial
length. The entry for hard labour has
two paragraphs of text, noting that
the phrase is not peculiar to Australia
but that it was first recorded in use in
Australia in 1803, fifty years before
the OED’s first recorded use. The
entry goes on to explain what hard
labour was and who it was inflicted
on; this is followed by two citations
of about ten lines each, to illustrate
the phrase in context. Preceding the
208 pages of entries is a 22-page
introduction sketching the origins,
workings and legacies of the convict
system. In all, an intriguing mix of
dictionary, encyclopedia and history.
The words mentioned so far raise
the question of what exactly a
“convict word” is. This book is
clearly not just a record of convict
talk or convict slang, although there
is an informative entry at flash which
includes a cross reference to a dozen
flash terms treated as headwords
(from bellowser and cove to swell mob
and trap). Many of the words dealt
with are terms of administration: the
entries at secondary (punishment), separate
(system) and social system, among
others, are useful explanations of
aspects of convictism. Nor is this
strictly a collection of uniquely
Australian words or uses of words,
as already indicated above by
mention of words such as hand and
hulk. In fact hand is included only
because of the phrases on one’s own
hands and on the hands of the government,
used of convicts, while hulk is
described only in the sense of an old
ship used as a prison, a sense which
Laugesen acknowledges to be
standard English, first recorded in an
Australian convict context in 1820. I
could quibble about the criteria for
including words and the selection of
headwords. Some of the entries
seem entirely transparent: does
battery gang (glossed as “a party of
convicts assigned to labour in the
construction of a gun battery”)
contribute much? On the other hand,
it is surprising that three slang terms
for various numbers of lashes (bob,
canary, tester) are mentioned and
explained under bull but aren’t given
entries of their own.
The book draws on the Australian
National Dictionary (ed. W.S.Ramson,
Oxford University Press, Melbourne,
1988), with due acknowledgement. In
many instances, the citations are the
same as in the AND but are much
longer here, often yielding additional
historical background. Not all
headwords are taken from the
AND: hulk is not in the AND. A
little more detail about the sources of
the citations would have been
welcome. The use of the AND and
the Australian National Dictionary
Centre’s database is acknowledged
(p.iv), the introduction has full
footnoted references to historical
works (pp.xx-xxii), and there is a
brief Select Bibliography (p.xxiii).
The citations themselves are
identified by references such as
Hobart Town Gazette 3 Jan or
B.FIELD Geographical Memoirs on
New South Wales p.31, but I couldn’t
find a consolidated list of all these
sources.
Readers with an interest in
convictism in particular and
Australian history in general will
appreciate the overall quality of the
book, which is well presented, and
historically
informative.
The
introduction takes us from Botany
Bay and the convict “birthstain”
through to romanticisation of the
convict era and the exploitation of
convict sites for tourism. That’s a
journey that all Australians should
continue to reflect on.
Colin Yallop, Editor-in-Chief of the
Macquarie Dictionary, reviews
Amanda
Laugesen’s
Convict
Words: Language in Early
Colonial
Australia,
Oxford
University Press 2002, RRP
$34.95.
DECEMBER
JUNE
2001
2003
AUSTRALIAN
AUSTRALIAN
STYLE
STYLE9 9
TOWARDS A COMMON CASE
The English pronoun system has historically distinguished subject and
object, but there are indications that the distinctions are becoming blurred,
especially in spoken language. In some cases usage seems to be settling on
the subject pronoun for both uses, in others the object. Please indicate
which of the two pronouns you would naturally use in the sentences below,
and whether you would do differently in speech and writing.
21
1. John is taller than me/I.
2. She had danced much longer than I/me.
3. Is the new soloist as good as her/she?
4. There was a message waiting for John and I/me.
5. Between you and I/me, the outcome will be a landslide.
6. Yesterday John and me/I went to the computer show.
7. He/him and his partner were there first.
8. It’s a common experience for us/we blind people.
9. Whom/Who are you waiting for?
10. To who/whom did you give the parcel?
11. The judge whom/who we met in the corridor was very jolly.
12. The candidate who/whom we think would suit the job has withdrawn.
13. I don’t know; my/me being there probably made a difference.
14. He didn’t seem to notice them/their talking all through.
15. We were concerned about your/you working there.
16. How do you like the idea of them/their staying with us?
Would you please indicate your sex and age bracket:
F/M
10-24
25-44
45-64
65+
and the state in which you live:
ACT
NSW
NT
QLD
SA
TAS
VIC
WA
Please return this Feedback questionnaire to:
Style Council Centre, Linguistics Department, Macquarie University, NSW 2109 Australia.
Alternatively, the questionnaire may be faxed to the Style Council Centre at (02)9850 9199.
10 AUSTRALIAN STYLE
JUNE 2003
Feedback 20 continued our survey of Australians’ use of alternative verb
forms, with thanks to the hundreds of respondents who sent in their
verdicts. Special thanks go to those who returned questionnaires on
behalf of their groups (see acknowledgements on p.6). The data have
been expertly processed by Deanna Wong and Adam Smith at the Style
Council Centre, with some interesting results, to complement and extend
those of Feedback 19. Generational differences once again showed
through, despite relatively few returns from those in the lowest age
group (10-24). Their results have therefore been combined with those
of age group 2 (25-44) in the table and commentary below.
The historical trend towards
regularising irregular English verbs is
occurring across all generations for
some of the verbs tested, but not
very many. For beseech, and thrive, the
regular -ed form for the past tense
(beseeched, thrived) was endorsed by
more than 80% of all respondents,
and by 90% for metaphorical use of
the verb wed, as in “wedded to the
idea”. This last contrasts very
strongly with the irregular past tense
wed for the sense of “(got) married”,
which was overwhelmingly endorsed
(by 96%).
In other cases, the younger age
groups (1 and 2) seem to be leading
a trend away from regular past
forms. They are more inclined than
the older age groups to use pled
instead of pleaded, a difference of
16% for the past tense, and 18% for
the past participle, in comparison
with age group 4. The vast majority
(93%) of age group 1+2 prefer
(a)woken the past participle of wake,
whereas 26% of group 4 endorsed
(a)wakened.
Australians young and old seem
to be quite strongly inclined to use
irregular -t past forms for verbs
such as dream, kneel, leap, spell, spill,
spoil, as shown in the table opposite.
Perhaps the -t spellings seem to
correlate better with the actual
pronunciation, although the argument doesn’t then explain the
divergent results for burned as an
intransitive verb (“the bushfire
burned out of control”, and burnt
for transitive (“they burnt the vital
papers”).
If transitivity is the
underlying explanation, we might
expect larger differences between
the generations than are visible in
those particular results, given that it
has been less often talked about in
ordinary language education in
recent decades. The overall result
for learn is equivocal, but younger
people’s preference for learnt again
contrasts with that of group 4 for
learned. The same pattern can be seen
for lean. If younger Australians are
taking the trend towards -t further
than the previous generation, it
will paradoxically make Australian
English less like American English in
this respect (it’s strongly inclined to
regular -ed spellings).
Other results from Feedback 20
show the keen maintenance of
irregular past participles for sew, show
and strew. For shown the majority was
97%, and for sewn and strewn it was
98%. A similar result was found for
sawn (89%) in Feedback 19, whereas
for mown it was down to 66%. As
often, there are “lead words” and
“lag words” in sets undergoing
historical change.
Questions about the past tense
of the verb sink, also followed on
from those of Feedback 19,
where many younger people
showed their inclination to use
the same form for the past tense
as the past participle for verbs
ending in -ing/-ink. Yet the
younger people’s results diverged
markedly in the two examples
presented. In the intransitive
example (“the oil tanker s_nk in
heavy seas”), the majority (81%)
were inclined to use sank, just like
group 4 respondents (92%). But
for the transitive example (“the
dog s_nk his teeth”), only 59%
endorsed sank, as opposed to
85% in group 4. The result raises
again the question as to what
grammatical knowledge or
instinct is at play here.
Total
(727)
Age 1+2
(155)
Age 3
(286)
Age 4
(286)
burned (intr.)
64%
57%
65%
68%
burnt (intr.)
36%
43%
35%
32%
burned (tr.)
33%
28%
34%
35%
burnt (tr.)
67%
72%
66%
65%
dreamed
15%
9%
17%
16%
dreamt
85%
91%
83%
84%
4%
5%
3%
5%
96%
95%
97%
95%
leaned
53%
42%
51%
61%
leant
47%
58%
49%
39%
kneeled
knelt
leaped
12%
12%
10%
13%
leapt
88%
88%
90%
87%
learned
49%
41%
46%
57%
learnt
51%
59%
54%
43%
spelled
27%
21%
29%
29%
spelt
73%
79%
71%
71%
spilled
32%
29%
34%
31%
spilt
68%
71%
66%
69%
spoiled
42%
42%
41%
44%
spoilt
58%
58%
59%
56%
DECEMBER
JUNE
2001
2003
AUSTRALIAN
AUSTRALIAN
STYLE
STYLE1111
RUBICON, devised by David Astle, is a
hybrid of crossword, jigsaw and acrostic.
First, solve as many clues as you can and
begin to fit the answers inside the grid. (The
scattered letters of RUBICON should give
you a toehold.) When the grid is completed,
arrange the clues from the first Across to the
last Down – their 28 initial letters will spell a
category. As a bonus, which six of your
answers belong to the category in question?
N
O
U
Anthony Hopkins’ or Viv Richards’
honour (10)
Hold back another by means of
tenacious conversation (10)
In a panic (10)
Restaurant’s ambience, perhaps (10)
Alarmed (8)
Apathy; weariness (8)
Arkansas neighbour (8)
Heady brew fermented in the Asti region (8)
Inventor of Marlowe (8)
It often stands beside a cricket ground (8)
Like a glass figurine or frail convalescent (8)
Loveless mood or manner (8)
B
Notable flower of Hawaii (8)
Restroom under the stars? (8)
Stable, barn and grounds (8)
Solution to Rubicon in last issue
Word or phrase that carries a
salacious subtext (8)
US PRESIDENTS WITH ONE
Antonym of equitable (6)
SURPLUS LETTER: Charter (Carter),
Attenborough’s fixation? (6)
hoarding (Harding), fjord (Ford),
Data for the quiz fanatic (6)
blush (Bush), madams (Adams),
Drink up (6)
polka (Polk)
Fruitful billiards shots (2-4)
Luther’s doctrine according to the
Diet of Worms (6)
Main character’s name when used
as a title (6)
Mischievous (6)
Otherworldly (6)
Oxford’s grounds (6)
Talisman (6)
Tourists from another galaxy? (6)
How to contact Australian Style
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On editorial matters
Please contact the editor at Macquarie University as follows:
By mail:
Please write to
By Fax:
Pam Peters, Editor
Call fax number 02 9850 9199
Australian Style
Department of Linguistics
By Phone:
Macquarie University NSW 2109
Call direct on 02 9850 7693. If there’s no one in the Style Council Centre office, your call
By email:
will be received on an answering machine and returned as soon as possible.
[email protected]
Concerning the mailing list
If you change your address, or need to alter your details on the mailing list in any way, or would like to add the name of a friend or
colleague to the list, please contact: Australian Style, c/- Government Services and Information Environment Division, National
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12 AUSTRALIAN STYLE
JUNE 2003