The Collins dictionary has declared their word of the year to be “permacrisis”. The definition is: “an extended period of instability and insecurity”.
It’s not very imaginative is it?
I’d argue that running together two existing words, or parts of words, doesn’t really create an insightful, apt, clever, or new concept. “Permanent” and “crisis” are terms that have been with us for centuries.
A time traveller from two hundred years ago could observe the whirl of prime ministers, policies, and U-turns, comment that this looks like a government in permanent crisis, then shorten his description. Is it genuinely a “new” word if the Duke of Wellington could use it?
In any case, I believe new words should serve a lengthy apprenticeship before becoming journeymen in the language.
If you hear modern slang such as “slay” (to mean stylish, successful), “dead” (very funny), or “mood” (signifies agreement), then you might, or might not, understand what is being said.
It’s not a problem. If young people aren’t bandying indecipherable slang terms among themselves then they aren’t doing the job of being young properly.
A few middle-aged fools will pretend they are still cool by mimicking the goo-goo, gaa-gaa babble. But most of us realise it is better to be understood.
However, this is increasingly difficult because of the avalanche of newly-coined words. Neologisms spread from Jakarta, Jacksonville, and Jerusalem to Leuchars, Letham, and Lochee in the blink of a digital eye.
I may have said this before: I don’t think dictionaries do their job properly. I believe a dictionary’s function is to define then maintain proper meanings of words. They should give guidance on what people should be saying, not blindly accept what they are saying.
Modern dictionaries seem fall over themselves to adopt a new definition on the basis of very few people using it.
This isn’t entirely bad because ancients like me, baffled by the phrase “slay joke dead, mood?” might have to look it up. However, a qualifier should be given. An asterisk signifying: “not common usage, possibly short-lived slang”.
If a new definition proves its longevity, then fine: welcome to the language. But we have to firstly protect long-established meanings of words. Otherwise, everyone would have their own personal set of definitions, no one fully understanding anyone else.
If I were taking part in a re-enactment and was poised over a gladiatorial opponent, spatha in hand (a highly unlikely example, I admit) and a voice called out “slay” as comment on my swordplay, errors could be made.
Word of the week
Spatha (noun)
A stabbing sword used in Roman times. EG: “The politician U-turned with alacrity, pricked by the sharp spatha of public opinion.”
Read the latest Oh my word! every Saturday in The Courier. Contact me at sfinan@dctmedia.co.uk
