Category Archives: English

English as it is meant to be

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No committees, no computers, no OED even: instead a language that is populist and subversive. A dictionary from an individual, Dr. Samuel Johnson:Add an Image

Lexicographer
A writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge.

Oats
A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.

From here:

On June 18, 1746, the bookseller and publisher Robert Dodsley held a breakfast at the Golden Anchor near Holborn Bar to celebrate the successful negotiation of a massive contract for a new dictionary of the English language. The prospective author of this project, Samuel Johnson, who signed his contract during the breakfast, was the arche-typal English amateur. A university drop-out, now aged 37, he had published some poetry and a lot of literary journalism, but had never attempted such exacting work before. Johnson’s story is symbolic of the populist and subversive spirit of English. No one present at the Golden Anchor could have imagined how significant this moment would turn out to be, though knowing the author they might have suspected something special. The trainee lexicographer was vigorous, fit, tenacious, independent and strong-minded. He would settle the importance of English in an intensely practical and typically Anglo-Saxon way — on his own terms. Rather than debate arguments about English vocabulary with a committee of experts, he would research and write the dictionary himself.

No more OED on paper

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The Oxford English Dictionary will no longer be published on paper – and it took a lot of paper. Is this a harbinger of the death of paper? Probably not in our Add an Imagegeneration, but it is getting closer: although I have stacks of books on dusty shelves and still enjoy poking around in second-hand bookshops, most of the books I buy to read now are on a Kindle – same for newspaper subscriptions.

It was first published in sections 126 years ago and is known the world over.

But the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) will never appear in print again, its owners have announced.

Instead the 80 lexicographers who have been working on the third edition for the past 21 years have been told it will exist solely online when it is complete.

The OED has already been available on the internet for the last ten years and receives two million hits a month at a cost of £205 a year, plus VAT.

Its owners, Oxford University Press (OUP), says the dominance of the internet means the latest update to the definitive record of the English language will never be published in print.

‘The print dictionary market is just disappearing, it is falling away by tens of per cent a year,’ said Nigel Portwood, 44, chief executive of OUP.

‘Our primary purpose – and this takes a bit of adjusting to – is not profit, it is the dissemination of knowledge.

‘The university and I get very excited about digital because suddenly you can reach more people than ever before.

‘Print is still pretty important round here but, wherever possible, if there is an opportunity, we are moving out of it.’

There is an interesting history of the OED here. You will have to read it on a computer screen, of course.

Irritating English

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The most irritating phrases in the English language:

There are those who wince and curse whenever a TV pundit or sports spieler speaks the familiar words, “at the end of the day.” This usually announces that what follows will be empty of meaning. Even when the pundit has something of consequence to say, those six words anaesthetize the listener, encouraging them to miss the point. No wonder Jeremy Butterfield’s book, Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare (Oxford University Press), places “at the end of the day” right at the head of the “Top 10 Most Irritating Expressions in the English Language.”

Here is a selection of phrases that irritate me; large companies are fecund breeding grounds for such stinkers:

On a daily basis – what’s wrong with “every day”?

In a timely manner – pretentious way of saying “on time”

Failure is not an option – oh dear, I was going to choose it

Mission statement – cue for meaningless drivel

Vision statement – cue for more meaningless drivel

Think outside the box – cue for mental vacuity

Proactive – an energetic lady of the night

Go forward position – head pointing in same direction as feet

Audit ready posture – bent over

Executive summary – a series of clichés intended to pacify illiterate Vice Presidents

Pursuit of excellence – thank you, Michael Bird

Grammar Vandal

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A Don Quixote for the age of Twitter:Add an Image

With his trusty paintbrush, Stefan Gatward has been flying the flag for the English language.

Dressed in a collar, tie and well-polished shoes, the former soldier has been fixing missed apostrophes on grammatically incorrect street signs in Tunbridge Wells.

Reaction on the street was mixed – one neighbour offered him praise, but another, also a soldier, took offence.

Mr Gatward said: ‘He asked me what I was doing and told me I was wrong. He called me a vandal and a graffiti artist.

‘He tried to tell me that the post office would not deliver to the street if you put an apostrophe on the address.’

Bureaucratic English

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The Association of Chief Police Officers in the UK has written a report containing a 102 word sentence that defies all efforts to pry meaning from it:

‘The promise of reform which the Green Paper heralds holds much for the public and Service alike; local policing, customised to local need with authentic answerability, strengthened accountabilities at force level through reforms to police authorities and HMIC, performance management at the service of localities with targets and plans tailored to local needs, the end of centrally-engineered one size fits all initiatives, an intelligent approach to cutting red tape through redesign of processes and cultures, a renewed emphasis on strategic development so as to better equip our service to meet the amorphous challenges of managing cross force harms, risks and opportunities.’

My favourite part is: “a renewed emphasis on strategic development so as to better equip our service to meet the amorphous challenges of managing cross force harms, risks and opportunities.” A phrase of concentrated impenetrability, garnished with the inevitable split infinitive.