Another Batch of New Words Now in the Dictionary

Did you know that on average there are one thousand new words added to the English online dictionaries each year? Yes one thousand; that is a load of new words every year isn’t it? Well this week we have seen some more added, and I wanted to share some of my favourites with you.

Where to begin? Well what about food baby, yes that made it in. This is used to describe an enlarged stomach caused from eating too much food, which is seen as resembling that of a woman in the early stages of pregnancy. Talking of pregnancy, how about a babymoon, which is used to describe a relaxing holiday taken by parents-to-be before their baby is born, or can also refer to a period of time after the baby arrives when parents can focus on establishing a bond with their new child.

A few words that have been added are abbreviations that have now been accepted as okay to use in informal situations. These include, apols - short for apologies, congrats for congratulations and vom, to vomit or be sick (yuk!).  Other abbreviations include FOMO (fear of missing out), the feeling that an exciting event is taking place and you are not invited. This feeling is often prompted by a status on a social media site. We also have TL;DR (too long; didn’t read), which is often used as a dismissive response to a lengthy online post, and BOYD (bring your own device), the practise of allowing employees to use their own computers, smart phones etc for work purposes. Another one I like is phablet, a mix of phone and tablet used to describe oversized smartphones! If you have one of these smartphones you may take a “selfie”, a photo one has taken of oneself and uploaded to a social media site.

Then we can look at fashion. We now have A/W (Autumn/Winter) and S/S (Spring/Summer) used to describe fashion collections for these seasons. Flatform refers to a flat shoe with a high, thick sole, whilst double denim refers to a definite fashion faux- pas such as wearing a denim shirt over jeans or a denim skirt. I wonder how many of you are geek chic? This describes the appearance and culture associated with computer and technology enthusiasts, which may be seen as stylish and high fashion.

However, I have saved my favourite two new words until the end. The first being omnishambles, meaning a situation that is shambolic from every possible angle, that has been mismanaged and miscalculated. This word first appeared in 2009 and was used by the writers of the BBC’s political satire “The Thick of It”. I think you will all agree that it certainly has a ring to it!

I will leave you with twerking, which is dancing in a sexually provocative way, involving thrusting hip movements. This word has been around for some time in the United States hip hop culture, but its use has now been adopted across the board, and it has won its place in the dictionary!     

Don’t forget to visit our website www.writtenenglishcorrected.com, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. 

Jokes from the Edinburgh Fringe

I don’t know about you, but I love a good joke, the sort that makes you laugh until tears run down your face and your sides start hurting. Some people just seem to have the knack of “being funny” and making people laugh appears to come naturally to them. I used to work with a girl who had the most infectious laugh, when she started laughing it would spread across the office. Even people who had no idea what she was laughing at would join in. They say that laughing is good for the soul, and it certainly makes you feel good. I’m sure that following a 10 minute laughing session our little office was at its most productive.

Last week, I was browsing the B.B.C. news website, and came across an article which listed the top 10 jokes from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year. For those who haven’t come across it before, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is one of the largest arts festivals in the world. It’s a place where people from all countries and cultures come together to celebrate the arts. There are hundreds of comedy, cabaret, music, theatre and children’s’ shows, held in many venues across Edinburgh. A marvellous event!

Anyway, back to the top ten jokes. I have to confess when I read the article, although sitting alone at my computer, some of them actually made me laugh out loud (especially number 2 and number 8). This is why I wanted to share them with you.

Here we go (courtesy of bbc.co.uk):

1.  Rob Auton - "I heard a rumour that Cadbury is bringing out an oriental chocolate bar. Could be a Chinese Wispa."

2. Alex Horne - "I used to work in a shoe-recycling shop. It was sole-destroying." 

3. Alfie Moore - "I'm in a same-sex marriage... the sex is always the same." 

4. Tim Vine - "My friend told me he was going to a fancy dress party as an Italian island. I said to him 'Don't be Sicily'." 

5. Gary Delaney - "I can give you the cause of anaphylactic shock in a nutshell." 

6. Phil Wang - "The Pope is a lot like Doctor Who. He never dies, just keeps being replaced by white men." 

7. Marcus Brigstocke - "You know you are fat when you hug a child and it gets lost." 

8. Liam Williams - "The universe implodes. No matter." 

9. Bobby Mair - "I was adopted at birth and have never met my mum. That makes it very difficult to enjoy any lapdance." 

10. Chris Coltrane - "The good thing about lending someone your time machine is that you basically get it back immediately."       

I hope you have had a little chuckle looking at these! If you have any jokes that you would like to share, post them in the comments box. Perhaps in the future we can look at readers’ jokes on another blog – what do you think? Who knows perhaps we will see one of you appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in years to come.

Don’t forget to visit our website www.writtenenglishcorrected.com, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Canoodling with a Dollop of Codswallop!

A bit of summer madness, let’s have a look at some silly sounding words. These are perfectly good English words that are fine to use, not rude or swear words but just sound a bit funny! They are the kind of words that can bring a smile to your face and surely that has to be a good thing!

Okay so what kind of words am I talking about? Well the first one that springs to mind is canoodle, meaning to have a bit of a kiss and cuddle. I love canoodling don’t you? The funny thing is I just can’t say the word without smiling; it’s such a happy sounding word. The word dates back to the mid 19^th century but the origins are unknown. There is a folk story that suggests it goes back to the time when young lovers escaped from their chaperones by jumping on canoes and rowing away. Whether or not this is true I have no idea, but how romantic is that?

 

Here’s another good one for you, codswallop. If someone is saying something that is nonsense or rubbish you may say “you are talking a load of codswallop!”  It is British slang for something that makes no sense at all. This is a term that all you Harry Potter fans will be familiar with, as it is said by Hagrid on many occasions. A very expressive word but we have to ask ourselves where does it come from? The honest answer is the etymology is unknown. However there is a story that dates back to the 1870’s which refers to a British soft drink maker Hiram Codd, who patented a bottle for fizzy drinks with a marble in the neck which kept the bottle shut by the pressure of the gas until the marble was pressed inwards. Wallop is known to have been a slang term for beer, and it is suggested that codswallop became used by beer drinkers as a derogatory term for weak or gassy beers, or for soft drinks. However, there are flaws to this argument as the word is not recorded anywhere until 1959, a long time after Codd’s invention. Also there are no examples of the word being spelled as “coddswallop”. Why we started using this word I have no idea, but I love that it sounds so silly!

 

How about dimple? Isn’t that an odd sounding word? A dimple is a small hollow or crease found naturally in soft tissue on the human body, especially on the cheeks or chin. Often a little dimple may appear in the cheeks when someone is smiling. They may be a permanent feature, or may appear and disappear over time. The word can also be used to refer to slight depressions or indentations on other materials, such as those found on a golf ball. Just as an aside, think of how many great actors have dimpled chins. I’ll give you a start with Cary Grant, Colin Firth, Kirk Douglas and Ben Affleck, but there are many, many more.   

 

The last on my list for today is dollop, what a strange sounding word that is. You may have a dollop of ice-cream or a dollop of jam on top of your pudding. It is a term that refers to a large portion of something, usually soft and squishy. It often refers to food, but can also be used in other circumstances such as dollops of wet mud. The idea of a dollop is certainly not a delicate, weighed out portion, but rather a large shapeless mass. If you put a big spoon into an ice-cream container and pulled out the largest amount you could, that would make a good dollop! Go on give it a go – you know you want to!       

Don’t forget to visit our website www.writtenenglishcorrected.com, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Time for Eastern European Football Club Names - And The Stories Behind Them

As the football season gears up for another 9 months entertaining the world, I thought it would be a good time to revisit our occasional series on the origins and histories of football club names. I don’t know about you, but I have often wondered about where some of the eastern European clubs acquired their interesting names, like Spartak, Dynamo and Torpedo.

In its simplest form the answer is that the football clubs were formed by national sports societies in the former Soviet Union, and the communist countries of eastern Europe. All sport in the Soviet Union was amateur until it was realised that sporting success was a great advertisement for the USSR, and professionalism improved the chances of success! But this explanation does hide some interesting stories.

Most of these sports societies were formed by industrial trade unions; hence you will not be surprised that the Lokomotiv sports society was formed by the rail workers’ unions. However, this being the Soviet Union, all of the trade unions were state sponsored so ownership of the sports clubs was actually vested in the various government departments. This led to some interesting situations. For instance the Dynamo Sports Club was owned and controlled by the Interior Ministry, and effectively was the sports club of the police. However Moscow Dynamo was adopted by the Cheka, the first Russian secret police and forerunner to the KGB! For some reason Moscow Dynamo was the most successful football club of the communist era, winning an amazing 11 Russian premier league titles, the Russian Cup 7 times, and the Russian Super Cup once. This is not to say that they were not a great team; as unknowns they toured the UK in 1945 where they comprehensively beat Arsenal and Cardiff City, and drew with Chelsea and Rangers. They were also runners up in the UEFA cup in 1972.

 

The Spartak sports club started life under the aegis of the food producing unions, although this was later extended to cover a range of industries. Subsequently the Spartak club came to represent the general population rather than just one industry. This did not stop Spartak Moscow gaining the nickname “the Meat”. The name Spartak was adopted as a reference to the Roman slave Spartacus, who whilst best known for his rebellion against Roman occupation, was also a renowned athlete. Interestingly, across the Soviet Union and eastern Europe large athletics and gymnastics tournaments and displays were known as Spartakiada.

The Torpedo sports club represented the automotive industry, and football clubs bearing the name Torpedo tended to form where there were large car, tractor or heavy vehicle factories. For those who remember the communist era cars, Lada, Wartburg, Zil, Trabant etc, the name Torpedo does seem rather like wishful thinking!

Let us end with a sad tale. Dynamo Kiev, which was founded in 1927 very quickly became a successful football team, and was one of the few teams that could compete with Dynamo Moscow. When the German Army invaded Ukraine in 1941 the team was disbanded and the players found other work. A number started working for a local bakery, and continued to play on an amateur basis. They quickly came to the attention of the occupying German forces, and were invited to play a “friendly” against an army team. The Ukrainian players adopted the team name “FC Start” and comprised 8 members of the former Dynamo Kiev team and 3 members from Lokomotiv Kiev. FC Start comprehensively defeated two teams from the German army, and twice defeated a Hungarian team. This brought them to the attention of the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force, who proposed a game against the unbeaten Flakelf team. This game was widely advertised, but the result was not. FC Start beat Flakelf twice in 2 weeks. On August 16 1942 FC Start beat Rukh 8-0, and starting on 18 August 1942 the FC Start team members were systematically arrested, tortured and imprisoned. While contemporary accounts vary it appears that at least two players died under torture, and three more players died in Syrets labour camp. This game became known as the “Death Match” and was a game of life and death indeed! It is widely believed that this incident was the inspiration for the movie Escape to Victory, but being a Hollywood version of the story there is no mention of the Ukraine, or the teams from Kiev!

Don’t forget to visit our website www.writtenenglishcorrected.com, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

The Owl and the Pussycat - a Bit of Nonsense

Here we are at the weekend again, so let’s celebrate with a bit of nonsense! Today I want to share with you one of my favourite poems ever – The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear. I came across this poem for the first time when I was about seven years old and loved it – and still do to this day!   

The Owl and the Pussy Cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

The author of this marvelous work Edward Lear (1812 – 1888) was an artist and an illustrator as well as an author and poet. However he is best known for his “literary nonsense” especially his limericks. Indeed in 1946 he published “A Book Of Nonsense” which was a volume of limericks, including:

There was an Old Man with a nose,                                      
Who said, 'If you choose to suppose,
That my nose is too long,    

                                                   
You are certainly wrong!'
That remarkable Man with a nose.

Pure nonsense and pure brilliance! He illustrated his own work which as you can see adds to the comical notion.

In his work Lear used both real and imaginary words to great effect. In the Owl and the Pussycat he talks of the characters dining and eating with a “runcible” spoon. This is an example of one of Lear’s made up words. There is no absolute definition of what is meant by the word runcible but it appears in other of Lear’s works when he talks of a “runcible” hat, a “runcible” cat, a “runcible” goose and a “runcible” wall. Modern dictionaries have offered different definitions, but personally I quite like that this word can mean whatever you want it to. It must be remembered that Lear wrote for children and maybe the magic of his work can be best understood in the imagination of the young!

Don’t forget to visit our website www.writtenenglishcorrected.com, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.