New words – 7 April 2014

On By Cambridge WordsIn New words1 Comment

unplugged_wedding

unplugged wedding noun a wedding at which no one is allowed to bring phones so that there will be no photos posted to facebook or instagramming

Unplugged weddings are becoming very popular here in the UK and have great advantages for all involved in the wedding. An unplugged wedding simply means that you’ve politely asked your guests not to use phones, cameras or other devices during your wedding or at least during the wedding service or ceremony.

[www.blog.kathrynandrewsphotography.com 03 October 2013]

dark sky park noun a nature reserve that is protected from light pollution by night

International dark sky parks are areas where the night sky is protected and lighting controls are in place to prevent light pollution.

[www.bbc.co.uk 06 December 2013]

quietway noun a backstreet, cycle-dedicated road which cars are not allowed on

Mayor Boris Johnson’s Vision for Cycling document also proposes the introduction of so-called Quietways on ‘low-traffic back streets’ for cyclists to use

[www.bbc.co.uk 14 November 2013]

About new words

The Top 5 Ungrammatical Song Lyrics

On By Kate WoodfordIn Grammar, the English language17 Comments

by Kate Woodford and Dom Glennon
rock_warning
Are you annoyed by song lyrics that do not obey the rules of grammar? Do you correct them as you sing along? To mark the inclusion of English Grammar Today on Cambridge Dictionaries Online, we thought we’d count down some of the worst offences against the rules of grammar committed by songwriters, either deliberately, or without knowing.

5. The standard non-standard

Rock’n’roll has always been drawn to the rebellious side of life, so it’s little surprise that a large number of songs feature non-standard or slang grammar in their lyrics: double negatives such as ‘We Don’t Need No Education’ (‘Another Brick In The Wall’ by Pink Floyd) and ‘I Can’t Get No Satisfaction’ (‘Satisfaction‘ by The Rolling Stones). Some musicians go even further, adding in the equally non-standard ‘ain’t’, as in ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ by Bill Withers, and ‘You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog’ (‘Hound Dog‘ by Elvis Presley).

Perhaps the best example of deliberate breaking of the rules is in Louis Jordan’s ‘Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby?’, guaranteed to send your Word grammar-checker haywire. The non-standard seems almost standard in rock music. Continue reading “The Top 5 Ungrammatical Song Lyrics” →

Phrases from Shakespeare, Part 2

On By Kate WoodfordIn the English language, Vocabulary3 Comments

by Kate Woodford
oyster
This week we’re looking at a few more of the phrases from the plays of William Shakespeare, (1564 – 1616), that are part of ordinary ‘everyday’ English. Again, some of these phrases were coined (= invented) by Shakespeare. Others, which were already in use when he was writing, were simply made popular by him.

In modern English, It’s all Greek to me is a way of saying that you do not understand something said or written. In Shakespeare’s history play, Julius Caesar, the character of Casca is asked what Cicero said and replies: ‘But, for mine own part, it was Greek to me’. (Cicero had been speaking Greek and Casca didn’t understand Greek.) In modern English, we have simply added the word ‘all’ to the phrase.

Today, something that beggars description is so very good or so very bad that you find it difficult to describe. (A ‘beggar’ is a poor person who asks other people for money and so ‘to beggar’ here means ‘to make someone or something very poor’.) In Shakespeare’s play Antony and Cleopatra, Mark Antony’s friend says of Cleopatra’s appearance, For her own person, It beggar’d all description, meaning that Cleopatra’s appearance (‘her own person’) was so beautiful, it made words seem poor and useless.

Continue reading “Phrases from Shakespeare, Part 2” →

New words – 31 March 2014

On By Cambridge WordsIn New words4 Comments

digital_dementia

digital dementia noun impairment of brain function as a result of overuse of screens, leading, for example, to inability to recall phone numbers/dates of birth/PINs, etc.

So that means that many of us, including kids who grew up with technology and those of us who adopted it in our later lives as part of living in the modern world, may not be destined to digital dementia indefinitely after.

[www.alzheimers.net 12 November 2013]

digital water cooler idiom informal a social network on which people talk about something such as a TV show or sports event

In recent months [Facebook and Twitter] have engaged in an escalating battle […] to claim the title of the nation’s digital water cooler as they woo networks and advertisers.

[New York Times (US broadsheet) 02 October 2013]

About new words

Phrases from Shakespeare, Part 1

On By Kate WoodfordIn the English language, Vocabulary12 Comments

by Kate Woodford
shakepeare_1
English speakers often repeat lines and expressions from the plays of William Shakespeare, knowing that they are quoting (= saying words by) the famous English writer, (1564 – 1616). However, they also use phrases as part of ordinary ‘everyday’ English without even knowing that they appeared in Shakespeare’s plays. Some of these phrases Shakespeare himself coined (= invented). Others, which were already in use when he was writing, became popular after he included them in his plays.

The phrase a fool’s paradise is used in modern English to mean ‘a situation in which someone is happy because they think they are in a good situation although in fact, the situation is bad’. (A ‘fool’ is a stupid person and ‘paradise’ is a very happy place). This phrase appears in Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet.  The character of Nurse talks to Romeo in order to find out whether he loves Juliet. She warns him not to lead Juliet into a fool’s paradise, meaning that if Romeo does not love Juliet, he should not make her believe that he does.

People sometimes say, ‘All that glitters is not gold’, meaning ‘things which seem at first to be good are sometimes less good when you understand more about them’. (The phrase literally means ‘not everything that shines is gold’. ‘To glitter’ means ‘to shine brightly’.)  This phrase was used in Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice, although Shakespeare used the old word ‘glister’ instead of ‘glitter’.  This is a theme that we often see in the plays of Shakespeare – the idea that appearances can be false, making you believe things that are not true. Continue reading “Phrases from Shakespeare, Part 1” →

New words – 24 March 2014

On By Cambridge WordsIn New words12 Comments

brodog1

brodog noun slang a young man who watches sports and hangs out in bars with other similarly-minded young men

SNOW! Snow? Snow. … Or if you’re a brodog, you might be currently scheming on some confrontation [snowball fight] at Dupont Circle, since that’s now tradition.

[Lunchline with Clinton Yates view.ed4.net/v/2GZNC0/FKSB2M/30D3EOW/ROJOOD/ (Washington Post blog) 10 December 2013]

dead-cat hole noun informal the space between the top of a car tire and the body of the car

US models will have larger dead-cat holes then European ones. Cat lovers can gripe to the EPA.

[Car & Driver (US automotive magazine) Oct. 2013]

dog shaming noun the practice of taking a picture of your dog with a sign (usually around its neck) explaining its misdemeanour and then posting it on the Internet

Internet ‘dog-shaming’ craze undermines pets’ dignity, say vets who claim unfortunate canines look terrified in online photos.

[www.dailymail.co.uk 08 November 2013]

About new words

Hirata buns or kimchi, anyone? New words connected with food.

On By Liz WalterIn the English language, Vocabulary1 Comment

by Liz Walter
cronut
Once notorious for our diet of meat and two soggy veg, we in the UK are now happily tucking into sushi, dim sum, tacos and fajitas, chorizo, bruschetta, tagines, baklava, guacamole, felafels and houmous (over 30 million pots a year from one supermarket chain alone!).

All of this gives the lexicographer a bit of a headache. When do these foods become established enough to merit a place in the dictionary? After all, pretzels, ketchup and lasagne were considered ‘foreign’ once, but are now firmly part of the English language.

As part of our work, my colleague Kate Woodford and I collect new words as they come into English (many of which you can find on this website). We don’t try to predict whether or not they will catch on, but just record them for future research. So I decided to look back at food words we captured between 2005 and 2010 to see which of them have made it into general use. Continue reading “Hirata buns or kimchi, anyone? New words connected with food.” →

New words – 17 March 2014

On By Cambridge WordsIn New words2 Comments

robot_doctor2

anti-vaxxer noun a derogatory word for a person who refuses to have their child vaccinated for a particular disease

Why would the FDA appoint a known anti-vaxxer to their committee?

[http://doubtfulnews.com 17 November 2013]

digital autopsy noun a non-invasive autopsy which involves 3-D scanning, rather than the cutting open of the corpse

The UK’s first dedicated digital autopsy centre opens in Sheffield on Wednesday, heralding a potential revolution in the way postmortems are conducted.

[www.theguardian.com 27 November 2013]

electroceutical noun electrical stimulation used to provide pain relief

They see a chest of medical devices: ‘smart stents’ that report on how well an artery is healing; a pump that titrates medicine into hard-to-reach tissue; ‘electoceuticals’ that fight pain with electrical pulses rather than drugs.

[Smithsonian (US culture and science magazine) Dec. 2013]

About new words

New words – 10 March 2014

On By Cambridge WordsIn New words3 Comments

soldier_dogEDC abbreviation explosive detection canine: a dog trained to sniff out explosives

This is where MSA security trains what are known in the security trade as explosive detection canines, or EDCs.

[Smithsonian (US science and society magazine) Aug. 2013]

GPU abbreviation graphics processing unit; a processor used primarily for 3D functions

Here they let you know whether your smartphone use requires a quad-core processor, whether to value CPU over GPU and how to get the perfect balance between a thin handset and a long lasting battery.

[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ 09 August 2013]

HDR abbreviation High Dynamic Range: a software system for photography that generates a single image incorporating the best light and focus from several consecutive photos of the same scene

But there have been barriers to using HDR. The primary issue is that moving subjects change position from shot to shot in a series.

[New York Times (US broadsheet) 08 August 2013]

ICYMI abbreviation in case you missed it (internet/text etc., abbreviation)

ICYMI: Here’s an amazing video of a man named Jason Mortensen coming to after having surgery and realizing that he’s married to a beautiful woman.

[www.papermag.com 11 September 2013]

About new words

Move over Yuppies – the Magpies have arrived!

On By Liz WalterIn the English language4 Comments

by Liz Walter
yuppies
There are rival claims about the inventor of the term Yuppie, and more than one explanation for what it stands for – either ‘young urban professional’ or ‘young upwardly-mobile professional’. But there is no doubt that this word filled a lexical gap in the 1980s and very quickly became established as a useful term to express society’s ambivalence towards the conspicuously successful young of the Reaganite/Thatcherite era.

It also started a trend for describing an emerging class of people by using an acronym. The other popular acronym of the 1980s was Nimby, which stands for ‘not in my backyard’ and is used as a pejorative term for people who oppose developments (such as wind farms or waste disposal sites) in the vicinity of their own homes whilst being happy for them to be built elsewhere. Both of these terms established themselves so deeply that even their derivatives – yuppification, nimbyism, etc. –  are still in regular use today. Continue reading “Move over Yuppies – the Magpies have arrived!” →