Dictionary of Antiquated words

The Virtual Linguist, recently posted about a new dictionary of slang for young people. This dictionary is unusual in that the "slang" is the language of senior citizens. The "Gran Slang" dictionary contains words that are commonly used by older people but unknown to the younger generation. Some of the included words are: higgledy-piggledy, poppycock, scallywag, tomfoolery and whippersnapper. The dictionary also includes a "Youth Slang" section for older readers.

Home and Capital, a British equity release company, claims they produced the dictionary, "to help younger people understand and communicate with their grandparents." I, however, am prone to believe that the dictionary was produced primarily as a marketing tool because as Home and Capital states, "good communication between generations is important...particularly when it comes to financial matters."


At any rate, I initially thought the idea of a "Gran Slang" dictionary was a good one until I thought about the fact that all of the "gran slang" word definitions can be found in any decent dictionary. Now I am left weighing the amount communications between generations would actually benefit from such a dictionary against the amount of laziness such a dictionary would promote in youth by discouraging them from picking up a regular dictionary to look up a word.

The Plural of Mongoose - Mongooses or Mongeese

The manager of a large city zoo was drafting a letter to order a pair of animals. He sat at his computer and typed the following sentence: "I would like to place an order for two mongooses, to be delivered at your earliest convenience."
He stared at the screen, focusing on that odd word mongooses. Then he deleted the word and added another, so that the sentence now read: "I would like to place an order for two mongeese, to be delivered at your earliest convenience."
Again he stared at the screen, this time focusing on the new word, which seemed just as odd as the original one. Finally, he deleted the whole sentence and started all over. "Everyone knows no full-stocked zoo should be without a mongoose," he typed. "Please send us two of them."

According to Dictionary.com and the American Heritage Dictionary the plural of mongoose is mongooses which makes sense because etymologically there is no relation to the word goose. The word mongoose comes from mangus, a word from the Indic language Marathi.

Interestingly, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary does include mongeese as an accepted plural form. This is likely because of its repeated usage by people unfamiliar with the etymology of mongoose.

To learn more about what qualifies a word for dictionary inclusion please refer to the previous post on this topic.

A Word is a Word - or is it?

With all the new words that appear daily (portmanteau or otherwise) have you ever wondered how new words achieve dictionary-inclusion status?

In answer to this question - It is up to the almighty dictionary editors. New words are located by dictionary editors through magazines, newspapers, and various other media including online sources. If a word is found frequently enough in various sources with the same meaning and if the editors think the word has long-term staying power then there is a good chance the word will make it into the dictionary's next update.

Chawbacons Terminology

Speaking of chawbacons, I was just web surfing and came across what is titled a "Hickphonics/English dictionary"

HEIDI - noun. Greeting.
HIRE YEW - Complete sentence.Remainder of greeting. Usage: Heidi, hire yew?"
BARD - verb. Past tense of the infinitive "to borrow." Usage: "My brother bard my pickup truck."
JAWJUH - noun. The State north of Florida. Capitol is Lanner. Usage: "My brother from Jawjuh bard my pickup truck."
BAMMER - noun. The State west of Jawjuh. Capitol is Berminhayum. Usage: "A tornader jes went through Bammer an' left $20,000,000 in improvements."
MUNTS - noun. A calendar division. Usage: "My brother from Jawjuh bard my pickup truck, and I ain't herd from him in munts.
THANK - verb. Ability to cognitively process. Usage: "Ah thank ah'll have a bare."
BARE - noun. An alcoholic beverage made of barley, hops, and yeast. Usage: "Ah thank ah'll have a bare."
IGNERT - adjective. Not smart. See "Arkansas native." Usage: "Them Bammer boys sure are ignert!"
RANCH - noun. A tool used for tight'nin' bolts. Usage: "I thank I left my ranch in the back of that pickup truck my brother from Jawjuh bard a few munts ago."
ALL--noun. A Petroleum based lubricant. Usage: "I sure hope my brother from Jawjuh puts all in my pickup truck."
FAR - noun. A conflagration. Usage: "If my brother from Jawjuh don't change the all in my pickup truck, that thing's gonna catch far."
TAR - noun. A rubber wheel. Usage: "Gee, I hope that brother of mine from Jawjuh don't git a flat tar in my pickup truck."
TIRE - noun. A tall monument. Usage: "Lord willin' and the creek don't rise, I sure do hope to see that Eiffel Tire in Paris sometime."
RETARD - Verb. To stop working. Usage: "My grampaw retard at age 65."
FAT - noun, verb. 1. a battle or combat. 2. to engage in battle or combat. Usage: "You younguns keep fat'n, n' ah'm gonna whup y'uh."
RATS - noun. Entitled power or privilege. Usage: "We Southerners are willin' to fat for are rats."
FARN - adjective. Not local. Usage: "I cuddint unnerstand a wurd he sed....mus' be from some farn country."
DID - adjective. Not alive Usage: "He's did, Jim."
EAR - noun. A colorless, odorless gas: Oxygen. Usage: "He cain' breathe....give 'im some ear!"
BOB WAR - noun. A sharp, twisted cable. Usage: "Boy, stay away from that bob war fence."
JEW HERE - Noun and verb contraction. Usage: "Jew here that my brother from Jawjuh got a job wit that bob war fence cump'ny?"
HAZE - a contraction. Usage: "Is Bubba smart?" "Nah....haze ignert. He ain't thanked but a minnit 'n 'is laf."
SEED - verb, past tense of "to see".
VIEW - contraction: verb and pronoun. Usage: "I ain't never seed New York City....view?"
GUMMIT - Noun. A bureaucratic institution. Usage: "Them gummit boys shore are ignert."