Disappearing words

Harold F.B. Wheeler, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I'd meant to comment on an article last month about disappearing words. It was the two headline words that caught my eye. The Guardian version began "Aerodrome and charabanc are among the words presumed to have become extinct in the past year, according to lexicographers. Collins Dictionary experts have compiled a list of words which have fallen out of use by tracking how often they appear."

The article went on to mention several other words most of which I had not heard of except for supererogate (to perform more than is required) which I know from the study of Romanist teaching, which claims that some did more than enough and so have merit to share with others.

Aerodrome is of interest to me in connection with my father and charabanc with my grandfather. When my late father had a stroke some years ago he made a pretty full recovery. At first however I noticed him using the word aerodrome instead of airport. I would guess that something had happened in his brain to cause him to revert to the older word, which he would have learned first before airport replaced it.

Charabanc takes me to a story my grandfather would tell and that my father would repeat as I do to warn kids against sticking their heads out of the widow of a moving vehicle. My grandfather was once on a charabanc outing when a fellow stuck his head out and got it knocked off by a telegraph pole!

When you are young and hear an older person use an unfamiliar, especially an old fashioned word, it always seems strange (my dad would talk about alleys (pronounced aallees) not marbles, football togs not football kit, ashcart not rubbish lorry and the picture house not ... we'll come to that. Also the now quite unacceptable half-caste). It's strange then to be caught using words that my own sons find strange. Eg I still tend to say training shoes rather than trainers, pictures rather than cinema. My boys also pick me up on junior school rather than primary school and being in goals rather than in goal. I think as you get older you become more stubborn. I obviously made switch somewhere along the line from continental quilt to duvet quite easily but these other words I find difficult to alter.

10 words beginning with 'X'

With the youngsters on Fridays we do 'Alphabets' at the beginning (ie Boys names, etc). When we come to 'Y' I always say 'Why do we do this?' and when we come to 'X' we usually try and get X-ray or Xylophone in somehow. According to Johnson there are no English words beginning with 'X' although even in his time there were some he could have included. Alphabet books for children frequently feature the word xylophone because it is one of the few words beginning with x that a child (or most adults, for that matter) would know. The majority of English words beginning with x, including many obscure scientific terms, are of Greek origin, the x, pronounced (z), representing the Greek letter xi. In the case of xylophone, xylo- is a form meaning "wood," derived from Greek xulon, "wood," and -phone represents Greek phone, "voice, sound," the same element found in words such as telephone, microphone and megaphone. Xylophone is first recorded in the April 7, 1866, edition of the Athenaeum: "A prodigy ... who does wonderful things with little drumsticks on a machine of wooden keys, called the 'xylophone.'"

Here is a random list of 10 'X' words.

1. Xanthum gum - A natural gum of high molecular weight produced by culture fermentation of glucose and used as a stabilizer in commercial food preparation. Named for its yellow colour.

2. Xenogam - Cross pollination (not marrying a foreigner)

3. Xerography - A dry photographic or photocopying process in which a negative image formed by a resinous powder on an electrically charged plate is electrically transferred to and thermally fixed as positive on a paper or other copying surface.

4. Xiphoid - A. Shaped like a sword. B. Of or relating to the xiphisternum (part of the sternum).

5. X-ray star - A celestial object, especially a star, that emits a major portion of its radiation in x-rays.

6. Xylene - A. Any of three flammable isomeric hydrocarbons, C6H4(CH3)2, obtained from wood and coal tar. B. A mixture of xylene isomers used as a solvent in making lacquers and rubber cement and as an aviation fuel.

7. Xylitol - A sweet white crystalline alcohol, C5H12O5, derived from xylose and used especially as a sugar substitute in oral health products.

8. Xylophagous - A. Feeding on wood, as certain insects or insect larvae. B. Destructive to wood, as certain crustaceans or fungi.

9. Xylophone - See above.

10. XYZ - Informal Used to indicate to someone that the zipper of his or her trousers/pants is open. (eXamine Your Zipper). The joke here is also that the XYZ company make zippers.

Dr Johnson's Dictionary

I've just finished Henry Hitchings' excellent 2005 book on Samuel Johnson and his dictionary. Hitchings has PD on Johnson so knows his stuff. He manages to present the material in an interesting and informative way and I would recommend the book to anyone with an interest in English language, literature or history. He sets out his chapters in a clever A-Z fashion that does not intrude but enhances the experience. W should all know at least something about Dr Johnson and his dictionary.

Johnson's Dictionary

Here are some (mostly) famous entries in Sameul Johnson's English Dictionary of 1755.

Cough: A convulsion of the lungs, vellicated by some sharp serosity.

Distiller: One who makes and sells pernicious and inflammatory spirits.

Dull: Not exhilaterating (sic); not delightful; as, to make dictionaries is dull work.

Excise: A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.

Far-fetch: A deep stratagem. A ludicrous word.

Lexicographer: A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words.

Network: Any thing reticulated or decussated, at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections. (See how he defined 'reticulated,' below.)

Oats: A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland appears to support the people.

Pastern: The knee of a horse. (This is wrong. When Johnson was once asked how he came to make such a mistake, Boswell tells us he replied, "Ignorance, Madam, pure ignorance.")

Patron: One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery.

Pension: An allowance made to any one without an equivalent. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country.

Politician: 1. One versed in the arts of government; one skilled in politicks. 2. A man of artifice; one of deep contrivance.

Reticulated: Made of network; formed with interstitial vacuities.

Tory: One who adheres to the ancient constitution of the state, and the apostolical hierarchy of the church of England, opposed to a Whig.

Whig: The name of a faction.

To worm: To deprive a dog of something, nobody knows what, under his tongue, which is said to prevent him, nobody knows why, from running mad.

These are taken from the Samuel Johnson sounbite page here.