Lost for words?

It was recently announced that certain words have been dropped from a leading dictionary for children. Dictionaries, where would we be without them? They are the source of our knowledge of words, and without words we would have no language. So, why are we losing words?

The publishers claim that the changes have been made to reflect the fact that Britain is a ‘modern, multicultural, multifaith society’ And what is to replace these words? Inevitably it has been decided that the words removed are being replaced with more contemporary and used and understood on a daily basis; words like ‘blog’, ‘mp3’ and ‘voicemail’. Perhaps the most important point to make is that we don’t loose words even if a dictionary decides not to include them. The words are still with us; in fact as the words in question are associated with Christianity, the monarchy, British history and the countryside, it is obvious that many will continue to use them.

I’m sure we all regret changes like these, but to the average student of English it is doubtful if they will mourn their passing when new and more exciting and useful words are constantly being added to our language. That’s how the English language keeps developing!

What words would you remove and what words would you add? Let us know

Words taken out:
Carol, cracker, holly, ivy, mistletoe, Dwarf, elf, goblin
Abbey, aisle, altar, bishop, chapel, christen, disciple, minister, monastery, monk, nun, nunnery, parish, pew, psalm, pulpit, saint, sin, devil, vicar
Coronation, duchess, duke, emperor, empire, monarch, decade
adder, ass, beaver, boar, budgerigar, bullock, cheetah, colt, corgi, cygnet, doe, drake, ferret, gerbil, goldfish, guinea pig, hamster, heron, herring, kingfisher, lark, leopard, lobster, magpie, minnow, mussel, newt, otter, ox, oyster, panther, pelican, piglet, plaice, poodle, porcupine, porpoise, raven, spaniel, starling, stoat, stork, terrapin, thrush, weasel, wren.
Acorn, allotment, almond, apricot, ash, bacon, beech, beetroot, blackberry, blacksmith, bloom, bluebell, bramble, bran, bray, bridle, brook, buttercup, canary, canter, carnation, catkin, cauliflower, chestnut, clover, conker, county, cowslip, crocus, dandelion, diesel, fern, fungus, gooseberry, gorse, hazel, hazelnut, heather, holly, horse chestnut, ivy, lavender, leek, liquorice, manger, marzipan, melon, minnow, mint, nectar, nectarine, oats, pansy, parsnip, pasture, poppy, porridge, poultry, primrose, prune, radish, rhubarb, sheaf, spinach, sycamore, tulip, turnip, vine, violet, walnut, willow

Words put in:
Blog, broadband, MP3 player, voicemail, attachment, database, export, chatroom, bullet point, cut and paste, analogue
Celebrity, tolerant, vandalism, negotiate, interdependent, creep, citizenship, childhood, conflict, common sense, debate, EU, drought, brainy, boisterous, cautionary tale, bilingual, bungee jumping, committee, compulsory, cope, democratic, allergic, biodegradable, emotion, dyslexic, donate, endangered, Euro
Apparatus, food chain, incisor, square number, trapezium, alliteration, colloquial, idiom, curriculum, classify, chronological, block graph

Comments

Lets make sure we don’t loose ‘bellicose’ - very topical, and useful, given the state of the republican party at the moment!
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bellicose

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/11 at 11:20 PM

i like nincompoop!
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-nincompoop.htm

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/12 at 06:46 AM

What about ‘linger’?
Remember the Cranberries?
‘Do you have to let it linger? Do you have to, do you have to,
Do you have to let it linger?’
http://www.cranberries.com/music/songography/Linger.aspx

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/12 at 08:15 AM

Glad to see ‘blog’ has been put in!

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/12 at 10:31 AM

discombobulate
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/discombobulate

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/12 at 01:29 PM

I’d vote for slathered
Look it up…

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/13 at 10:35 PM

Now these are really useful words - discombobulate, slathered, bellicose….

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/14 at 07:26 AM

paraskavedekatriaphobia - if you can say it!
What is it? Its fear ofFriday the 13th
Phew! Its over…

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/14 at 02:17 PM

Go to: http://www.myfavoriteword.com/
for some great words too!
How about:
Claptrap
Higgledy-piggledy
Lugubrious
Kerfuffle
go there to find out what they mean if you don’t know already!

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/14 at 02:36 PM

With a new word being added to the English language every 98 minutes we’re evidently approaching our millionth in around April.
http://www.languagemonitor.com/
Any suggestions for a possible inclusion?

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/14 at 08:30 PM

When ideas fail, words come in very handy
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/661.html
Seems like they do!

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/16 at 04:38 PM

bamboozle
http://www.tfd.com/

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/18 at 09:37 AM

maybe hullabaloo and poppycock
Dictionary for youngsters perplexed by ‘gran slang’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4697637/Dictionary-for-youngsters-perplexed-by-gran-slang.html

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/20 at 12:57 AM

some Scottish (not Scotch, please!) words:
radge - a wild, crazy, or violent person.
or
bahookie - a person’s buttocks
http://www.askoxford.com/worldofwords/newwords/?view=uk

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/20 at 07:19 AM

‘ponzi’ next ‘madoff’ and now ‘stanford’
new definitions of fraud

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/20 at 09:42 PM

speaking of which, i’d add “bank” and “brown”!

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/21 at 07:52 AM

willy-nilly = impotent
balderdash = a rapidly receding hairline
Thanks David Brown for these!

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/21 at 03:39 PM

it gets worse…
Babygloomer - someone who is having to support both their children and their parents

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/21 at 11:17 PM

Balderdash & Piffle!
http://www.oed.com/bbcwordhunt/list.html

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/22 at 07:12 AM

On this Oscar night, the word has to be ‘slumdog’ !!

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/23 at 08:11 AM

farrago - a confused mixture, a hodgepodge
Its an irregular plural!
What are your farragoes?

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/23 at 06:53 PM

Obamatose: in a deep slumber, dreaming of Obama

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/25 at 09:49 AM

cockamamie
mollycoddle
guttersnipe
Good words! What do they mean?
Check here http://www.etymonline.com/

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/25 at 08:01 PM

Me again
Oh, yes - why don’t you sponsor a word?
http://www.etymonline.com/working/deal.php

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/25 at 08:11 PM

niggle
toddle
Its time to scadaddle!

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/25 at 11:52 PM

I thought it was scidaddle/skidaddle - but maybe its skedaddle!
http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-ske1.htm

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/26 at 09:32 AM

Knismesis - refers to light, feather-like type of tickling
Gargalesis - refers to harder, laughter-inducing tickling, and involves the repeated application of high pressure to sensitive areas
So, now you know!

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/27 at 08:58 PM

gallimaufry - a hodgepodge, jumble; a mixture of diverse things
From the French: galimafrée
Not to be forgotten - I hope!

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/01 at 09:36 PM

cumbersome
unwieldy
lumbering
truculnet
Just some of today’s favourites!

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/08 at 08:16 AM

Gaffe - this seems to be the word of today:
‘Obama’s ‘Tonight Show’ gaffe one of many for president,
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-obama-gaffe-21-mar21,0,6938805.story

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/21 at 02:21 PM

I’d definitely kept ´willy nilly’ and ´hodge podge`- my teacher told me them this week!

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 04/09 at 08:18 AM

The English language will celebrate its one millionth word next month, with “defriend”, “noob” and “chiconomics” among the candidates, linguistic experts have predicted.
The milestone will be passed at 10.22am on June 10 according to the Global Language Monitor, an association of academics that tracks the use of new words.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/5285085/One-millionth-English-word-could-be-defriend-or-noob.html

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 05/07 at 07:06 AM

‘Appropriately enough, the 1,000,000th word accepted as genuine yesterday was “Web 2.0” which was defined as “the next generation of web products and services, coming soon to a browser near you”.’
11 June, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6475123.ece

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 06/28 at 11:59 AM

New invented words?
Try ‘A Dictionary for the Bewildered’ by Pascal Wyse
http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/books/reference/wyse_words.shtml
How about:
Chronanism
Watching a movie you already have the DVD of, just because it is on the telly; Googling ex lovers; contemplating a cheese diary; starting a charity bag; experimenting with screensavers… The special collection of vague activities that gets you from 11pm (when you were totally ready for bed) to 1.30am.
or
Newpid
A piece of expensive, once state-of-the-art technology that makes you feel slightly sick when you find it gathering dust in a drawer. You thought you needed it. You thought it would make you better. You played with it once and never touched it again. It is now obsolete.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/21 at 07:10 PM

The words that make the English
Language is more subtle and complex than we think. How speech reveals national character:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article6740577.ece

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/12 at 12:57 AM

Just to let you guys know, these site contains a Googlewhack which I just discovered and has me over the moon with happiness…

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 06/04 at 02:31 AM

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