Vocabulary

Laurie Bauer

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781134712847
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Routledge Language Workbooks are practical introductions to specific areas of language for absolute beginners. They provide comprehensive coverage of the area as well as a basis for further study. Language Workbooks can be used for independent study or as part of a taught class.
Vocabulary:
* covers issues such as the power of words to influence our perceptions
* looks at the origins of words from English and other languages
* explores the relationships between the meanings and shapes of words
* examines the correlation of different kinds of words with different style levels
* uses striking and entertaining examples to make fundamental points about the words we use
* lays the groundwork for further study in morphology, lexical semantics, historical linguistics and lexicography.

THE MAGIC OF WORDS 1

In this chapter e look at the po er of ord. In particular we consider cases where ords are thought of as being so po erful that they may not be uttered without fear of sanction.

There is a large amount of evidence which shows that people believe words to have magic powers. This is most easily illustrated with those very special words, people’s names. In the traditions of modern Ethiopia, the real name of a child is concealed in case the child is bewitched through the use of the name. It is believed that knowledge of the name gives power over the person who bears that name. Beliefs of this type are widespread throughout the world. In Borneo, for example, the name of a sickly child is traditionally changed so that the spirits tormenting it will be deceived and leave the child alone. The spirits, apparently, can recognise people only by their names, not through other characteristics. An extreme example was reported by the early explorers in the Marquesas Islands. There it was possible for two people to exchange names as a sign of mutual respect. But this exchange of names also involved an exchange of responsibilities: obligations with respect to the family, friends and even enemies went with the change of name. A man might even be expected to go to war because of the responsibility to his new name.

In some cultures, the use of a particular name is an offence. In imperial China, for instance, it was a crime to use the name of a reigning emperor. This could provide problems when the emperor’s name was also a common word. If this occurred in an English-speaking country today where the emperor’s name was Bill, it would be illegal to talk about a bill from the electricity company, a bill before parliament or the bill of a bird. Similar prohibitions are found among the Zulus: there a woman is not allowed to utter the name of her husband or the names of his parents.

EXERCISE

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1.1 Can you think of any names that we are not supposed to mention or not supposed to mention outside certain specific contexts in any parts of the English-speaking world?

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Similar kinds of constraints can apply to the names of things, as well as to the names of people. It is fairly common to find a taboo against the use of the name of a powerful animal such as a bear, tiger or crocodile. Instead phrases like ‘honey-eater’ or nick-names like ‘Bruin’ are used. In parts of Africa and India it is not done to name a snake. Instead you say things like ‘There is a strap’ or ‘There is a rope.’ It is believed that if you call something a snake it is likely to act like a snake, and bite you. In a similar vein, Bavarian farmers in Germany traditionally do not name the fox, in case using the word calls the fox, and causes it to attack their hens. In a very similar vein, we still say ‘Talk of the devil’, suggesting that speaking of someone causes them to appear. Finally, and more subtly, it used to be the case in China that a doctor who did not have the appropriate drug for his patient would write the name of the drug on a piece of paper, burn it, and get the patient to eat the ashes. It was believed that the name of the drug would be just as efficient as the drug itself.

One theory about the origin of these beliefs is that the magic of names is established as children learn language. As soon as small children learn the names for things, they can use those names and the item they name will appear — usually because some kind adult or older brother or sister fetches it. The link between saying the word and the appearance of the thing is a very strong one. Knowing the word is equivalent to having power over the object.

From our vantage point in twentieth-century ‘civilised’ society, we tend to be rather patronising about such irrational beliefs about names and words. We feel that we, as rational people, are not prone to them. We feel we know better. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. Innumerable instances can be found where people act as though the name of a thing has power equivalent to that thing.

EXERCISE

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1.2 Consider the following extract from an item that appeared in The International Express for 12–18 June 1996.

Bosses have more than fifty ways of saying it, apparently, but they never use the word ‘sack’. Rationalisation, re-engineering and organisational realignment are among euphemisms used, according to a union survey.

Some workers soon to be jobless have been told: ‘You’ve made yourself redundant’, or ‘This will get you out of a rut.’

How does this illustrate the power of the word?

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The example cited in 1.2 raises another aspect of the magic of words. There are some words which are too forceful to be used in polite society. This is particularly the case, in English, for words denoting bodily functions. To a certain extent this is because the word reminds us too strongly of the action, and just as the action is not a public one, so too it is felt that the words should not be.

EXERCISE

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1.3 What makes people treat the words for private actions as private?

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However, this is not the whole story, because if there are a number of words denoting the same thing, it is often possible to use some of them without causing offence (or at least, without causing as much offence). For example, small children can pee, piddle or do a wee-wee,and use the words in public without shocking anyone but the most prudish. In the hospital it is perfectly possible to speak of urination and micturition without giving offence. In informal contexts it is permissible to mention the need to spend a penny or see a man about a dog without risk of being thought coarse. But the contexts in which the word piss can be used are extremely limited. This prompted Ogden Nash to write:

Ode to the Four-Letter Word

When in calling, plain speaking is out;

When the ladies (God bless ’em) are milling about,

You may wet, make water or empty the glass;

You can powder your nose, or the ‘johnny’ will pass.

It’s a drain for the lily, or man about dog

When everyone’s drunk, it’s condensing the fog;

But sure as the devil, that word with a hiss

It’s only in Shakespeare that characters ….

An article showing the force of another common English word appeared in the Wellington newspaper The Evening Post on 20 December 1982. Part of that item is reproduced here:

A complaint against the New Zealand Times of using obscene language has been dismissed by the Press Council.

A Lower Hutt reader, Mr L. D. Leitch, complained to the council about the use of a word, ‘a fairly widely used vulgarism for copulation’, according to the council, in the paper’s Bookworld column on September 5.

The word appeared in a poem in an anthology of New Zealand verse reviewed by Michael King.

Mr Leitch expressed dismay and disgust and asked the New Zealand Times to apologise.

The paper’s editor, Bob Fox, said the word was used in context where a qualified reviewer was discussing the latest addition to New Zealand literature.

He said he would not have used it on the front page, but the word [appeared in] part of an arts page column, unadvertised, and was in context.

It was not used in a prurient sense and was published after deep consideration in a newspaper which sought to cover literature with due seriousness.

The fact that the `widely used vulgarism for copulation’ is not used in the article reporting the case is just one of the things showing how powerful the magic associated with the word is. Others are the comment that it would not have been used on the front page, and that even so it was only published ‘after deep consideration’. It is unlikely that there are many readers — if any — who have not heard the word fuck, which is presumably the ‘vulgarism for copulation’ in question. Neither does it seem that it is the naming of the act that is found distasteful, since the word copulation is used quite freely. Fuck is almost certainly a more common word than copulate, but because of the superstitious awe with which thossible to use the words without the actione word is viewed, papers cannot print it. Examples like this show clearly the power that some words have.

EXERCISES

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1.4 The example of fuck shows that the magic is connected with particular words rather than with the meaning of the word. Below are listed some concepts, for which you can probably think of a number of words. What synonyms can you find, and when would you use them? (You might like to consider what you would say in a court of law, to a doctor, in class, to your parents, to your friends.)

to be intoxicated

to evacuate the bowels

to pass wind

to die

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1.5 We also show how powerful words are by using them to ward off ill luck. While many of these words indicate actions (like touch wood, for ex...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• In the Same Series
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Using this book
• Acknowledgements
• 1 The magic of words
• 2 Vocabulary statistics
• 3 Borrowing
• 4 New words from English 1: compounds
• 5 New words from English 2: derivatives
• 6 Meaning relationships
• 7 Formal relationships
• 8 Stylish words
• 9 Technical words
• 10 Where words come from: etymology
• 11 Words that change their meanings
• 12 Dictionaries
• 13 Where next?
• Answers to exercises
• Index