Most people, though, have never heard of dysphemism, which is the opposite practice: using harsh or negative terms in place of neutral or positive language.
To refer to dying as “passing away” or “graduating to heaven” is euphemism. To refer to it as “kicking the bucket” or “carking it” is dysphemism.
To refer to having a cold as “being under the weather” is euphemism. To refer to it as “having the plague” is dysphemism.
English is full of examples of dysphemism. What’s your favourite? Alternatively, is there one you really dislike?
So, it turns out I was right in my observations about the word doomscrolling.
Doomscrolling has just been announced as the Macquarie Dictionary Editorial Committee’s Choice Macquarie Dictionary Word of the Year 2020.
You can still vote in the People’s Choice category if you’d like to have your say. Read the full article, see what the other options are, and vote here: Macquarie Dictionary Word of the Year 2020
It’s almost the end of a school year that has been perpetually exhausting. Every teacher I know is beyond worn out.
I’ve used the words ‘tired’ and ‘exhausted’ so much in recent times, they have started to lose their currency. Not only are they becoming cliched, neither one really adequately describing the profundity or the long-term nature of the tiredness we’re feeling.
So, in the interests of communicating more effectively, I’d like to suggest some more expressive words to use instead.
Toilworn is a lovely word that reflects the nature of the tiredness that comes from hard work. It can also be used for something showing the effects of that kind of tiredness, or of the work that caused it.
Forswunk, as I’ve mentioned before, is one of my favourites. It’s a very old word that means exhausted by hard work.
Knackered is a term that is certainly expressive, and remarkably pleasing to say. I don’t know where else in the world people say this, but it’s certainly well understood in Australia as a term that means absolutely worn out.
If you have any other suggestions, I’d love to hear them.
In Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy — the one that stars with “To be or not to be…” — the overthinking prince lists a number of problems that make life hard to bear. Most of these are things to which we can relate quite easily: oppression, love that is not returned, the wheels of justice turning too slowly, and people being rude to you.
Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1
Most people, though, would read the speech and get to the phrase ‘the proud man’s contumely’ and be completely stumped. It’s not a word one comes across terribly often. In all honesty, it’s probably only literature scholars and high school students studying ‘Hamlet’ that are likely to come across the word, and only one of those groups are likely to know right away what it means.
Contumely is a very old word that means disrespectful, offensive or abusive speech or behaviour.
Contumely is interesting in that most English words that end in -ly are adverbs, which describe verbs, but this is a noun. It doesn’t follow the grammatical pattern of English because it is not originally an English word.
It came into English in the late 14th century from the Old French word contumelie,. That came from the Latin word contumelia, which meant’ reproach’ or insult’, and is related to ‘contumax’ with means ‘haughty’ or ‘insolent’.
These days, we’re far more likely to use terms like ‘insolence’, ‘disrespect’ ‘scorn’ or ‘abuse’ instead.
Still, it could be fun to respond to someone’s arrogance with ‘I do not have to tolerate your contumely’. Hopefully, it would leave them as perplexed as those high school students reading Hamlet’s soliloquy for the first time.
It could also be useful to know that someone behaving with contumely would be described as contumelious.
This word evolved in the 15th century, so it follows the common pattern of the noun form being used first and the adjective coming afterwards. Mr Darcy’s haughty dismissal of Elizabeth Bennet at their first meeting, a lawyer strutting and posturing in the courtroom, or one’s mother-in-law’s disdain for their general existence could all be described as contumelious.
This morning I heard someone use the phrase “preaching to the converted” in reference to someone insisting on telling another person something they already knew and believed.
My mother used to use that phrase all the time, while my usual idiom in response to that behaviour is “singing to the choir”.
It got me wondering: are there any other common phrases for that kind of behaviour? And do they all relate to religious practice, or are there others drawn from other aspects of life?
I asked a few friends who have different interests in life if they knew of any others. They made some great suggestions:
“That horse has already bolted” and ‘flogging a willing horse” are both metaphors drawn from the world of horse-racing. This is definitely not religious imagery… unless you’re Australian, in which case, it could be.
“I’ve already picked up what you’re putting down.” This seems to be a metaphor related to card games.
“We’re beating the same drum” and “We’re singing from the same song sheet” are both appealing musical images.
Similarly, one could say “We’re on the same page.” Exactly which page that is remains helpfully unclear, allowing for some flexibility of reference and application.
I’d love to know if you use or know of any other such terms, particularly if you are from somewhere other than Australia, or if we all say similar things.
In case you were wondering:
Idiom: a popular expression or way of saying something that has significance other than its literal meaning. Idiom is often specific to a particular language or a particular group of people.
Metaphor: an image that sounds literal, but is understood not to be a literal statement. For example, someone “singing to the choir” may neither actually be singing, nor in the presence of a choir.
What Do You Say When People Try To Tell You What You Already Know? #language #words #images
In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle explores the literary history of a distinctive word During the eight years I’ve been running this blog and combing every book, we…
Today, while I was updating my professional development log for the year — a required activity that is about as exciting as it sounds — I discovered a quote in a note I had written a while back.
My first response that I really like the quote. Then, I wondered why I hadn’t written down who said it. I usually do.
The next step was, of course, googling it to find the source. I googled the whole thing. I googled key phrases. Surprisingly, I couldn’t find it anywhere. It’s just not out there.
“Reality is what’s left over of the known universe for those who don’t read books.”
Possibly… me?
Is it possible that I said this? Is it possible that the person who came up with the term “face pants” for a mask has actually had more than one episode of lexical genius in her lifetime?
As soon as I asked that question, cynical self interjected with the observation that I can’t be much of a genius if I said something this good, and then forgot about it. My optimistic self then reminded me about the existence of absent-minded professors and those super-clever scientists who forget about everything except what they are working on at the time.
So, the reality is that I may have said this, and written down my own quote, or I may not. My genius may be transient, or subtle, or so ingrained that I can’t recognise it, or largely non-existent.
Given that this is the kind of reality that is likely to do my head in, I am rather glad that I am one of those who reads books.
Possibly said by me. In the absence of any other options, I’ll claim it.
“Awesome!” is an expression that has become widely used in response to things or experiences that are really good and very positive and, in my opinion, has become greatly cheapened by overuse.
Dating back to the late 16th century, ‘awesome’ used to be an expression of something that generated profound reverence or fear.
This was the original sense of the word ‘awe’, which goes back to around the turn of the 13th century. It was the term used in English translations of the Bible to describe the human response to the presence of God or of angels: deep fear and worship at the same time.
The phrase “stand in awe” dates back to the early 15th century. The phrase “awe-inspiring’ was first recorded in 1814.
Sloths have become enormously popular in recent times. Cute, fluffy sloths adorn pyjamas, tee shirts, and accessories. Plush sloth toys adorn bedrooms and living rooms of kids of all ages. In this era of COVID-19, I even have a face mask with sloths on it.
Native to the rainforests of Central America and South America, they are fascinating animals. Although not conventionally attractive, we still tend to think of them as “cute”. They appear to smile all the time, and they appear to have a more relaxed attitude to life than most other animals with which we are familiar. When life is stressful and busy, being a sloth for a little while might be an attractive option.
These animals were first called sloths in the early 1600s. It came from a translation of the Portuguese word preguiça which meant “slowness” or “slothfulness”. This, in turn, originated in the Latin word pigritia which meant “laziness”.
Sloth is a Middle English word that evolved from an Old English word that meant “laziness” or “indolence”. The sense of meaning that relates to moving slowly or being late dates to the middle of the 14th century. The King James Bible of the early 17th century uses the word sloth as one of the seven deadly sins, being the sin of laziness .
The animal, then, took its name from the behaviour rather than the other way round.
WordyNerdBird 