This brand New Year will inevitably bring an influx of new words to our language – but is this a good thing or an abomination? Changes in the way we live have generated a huge number of fresh words which are now in daily use - for example in 2015 retweet and photobomb were added to the Oxford English Dictionary. Is this progress?

Absolutely – they reflect everyday life but the same cannot be said for twerking or butt-dialling which surely do nothing to evolve or enhance our beautiful language. Do we really need words like awesomesauce (meaning really good or excellent) or manspreading (men taking up too much room by sitting with their legs wide apart) or do they just indicate a lack of vocabulary?

A friend of mine is currently incensed by the misuse of the word revert. Although I don’t have personal experience of this particular abomination, I do understand his irritation. Instead of saying I’ll get back to you, I’ll reply soon, or I’ll give you a call – they say I’ll revert. Revert to what I ask myself – infancy or prehistoric man? Why is it necessary to take a perfectly good word with a perfectly good meaning and use it in completely the wrong context? I just don’t get it.

This brand New Year will inevitably bring an influx of new words to our language – but is this a good thing or an abomination? Changes in the way we live have generated a huge number of fresh words which are now in daily use - for example in 2015 retweet and photobomb were added to the Oxford English Dictionary. Is this progress?

Absolutely – they reflect everyday life but the same cannot be said for twerking or butt-dialling which surely do nothing to evolve or enhance our beautiful language. Do we really need words like awesomesauce (meaning really good or excellent) or manspreading (men taking up too much room by sitting with their legs wide apart) or do they just indicate a lack of vocabulary?

A friend of mine is currently incensed by the misuse of the word revert. Although I don’t have personal experience of this particular abomination, I do understand his irritation. Instead of saying I’ll get back to you, I’ll reply soon, or I’ll give you a
call – they say I’ll revert. Revert to what I ask myself – infancy or prehistoric
man? Why is it necessary to take a perfectly good word with a perfectly good meaning and use it in completely the wrong context? I just don’t get it.

Other things that drive me insane include the use of one pence – please, what is that about? The singular of pence is penny – saying one pence is the equivalent of saying one mice. Similarly, persons really winds me up and I blame political correctness. Everyone is obsessed with using the word person rather than a male or female reference. Since the time of Chaucer the plural for person has been people – why substitute something different now?

And for my final rant, I must address the ubiquitous Ms. Although I absolutely agree that women’s titles should not be segregated by marital status, there must be something better than Ms which has the fatal flaw of being unpronounceable.

If you have any similar pet hates, send them into me here and I’ll publish a collection –perhaps we can shame a few people into using the language properly.

Oh, and Happy New Year………………………

Keyboard invests in really understanding every client’s business, delivering a flexible, high quality service at realistic prices. It offers the benefits and confidentiality of in-house support but with the financial advantages of an external resource.  Contact Sue Mather to find out how your content and the way you present your business can be transformed.

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Manspreading?

New words – progress or sabotage?

A linguistic rant to start 2016

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Other things that drive me insane include the use of one pence – please, what is that about? The singular of pence is penny – saying one pence is the equivalent of saying one mice. Similarly, persons really winds me up and I blame political correctness. Everyone is obsessed with using the word person rather than a male or female reference. Since the time of Chaucer the plural for person has been people – why substitute something different now?

And for my final rant, I must address the ubiquitous Ms. Although I absolutely agree that women’s titles should not be segregated by marital status, there must be something better than Ms which has the fatal flaw of being unpronounceable.

If you have any similar pet hates, send them into me here and I’ll publish a collection –perhaps we can shame a few people into using the language properly.

Oh, and Happy New Year………………………

Keyboard invests in really understanding every client’s business, delivering a flexible, high quality service at realistic prices. It offers the benefits and confidentiality of in-house support but with the financial advantages of an external resource.  Contact Sue Mather to find out how your content and the way you present your business can be transformed.

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