LL-L "Lexicon" 2009.11.14 (04) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 14 November 2009 - Volume 04
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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at fleimin.demon.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2009.11.14 (03) [EN]

> From: Andrys Onsman <Andrys.Onsman at calt.monash.edu.au>
> Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2009.11.13 (01) [EN]
>
> Doesn't the function to which words are put create meaning shifts and
> wouldn't that cause such imported words change meaning over time, so
> that
> eventually a word like ersatz means something slightly different in
> English
> than it does in German. Doesn't angst now mean something somewhat

I think this sort of thing can explain the need for the word "utilise"
in English, which I've seen vehemently criticised from time to time both
on and off the list.

My guess is that the word "use" has come to have some negative
connotations, especially when it's people that are being used.

Managers and organisers are now often unwilling to be heard saying that
they "use" people because of the concept that "just using someone" is a
generally bad thing. So the alternative form "utilise" has arisen to
avoid tripping up on this.

I suppose the word is overused, but it doesn't seem to me to be a
completely redundant word in modern English usage, as some have
suggested.

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Lexicon
>
> To me, "loanword," by its mere etymology, seems to imply a temporary
> status. ("Let me borrow this word for a moment. Uh, and do you want it
> back when I'm done with it?")

I don't think this is the way language teachers use it, is it? Anyway,
who'd want it back after we'd been using it?  :)

> It is not only lexical items of foreign origin that are initially used
> only in jargon and may and may not make it into the general language.
> The same applies to lexical items that are newly coined using native
> components. Lately I have been reading and hearing the adverb
> "jewishly" a lot, confined to Jewish contexts. (Let's assume that
> "Jew" is a native English word although it developed from an ancient
> importation.) In general English the equivalent is "in a Jewish way,"
> "from a Jewish angle" or some such. "Jewishly" is quite commonly used
> in English-speaking Jewish circles (e.g. "Let's think about this
> jewishly!"). My prediction is that this will not go beyond this
> particular sociolect. In Jewish contexts it denotes a "native" way of
> doing that is the result of four thousand years of history and
> tradition. Furthermore, in general English there is no precedent for
> such a construction (e.g. no *"englishly", *"frenchly",
> *"norwegianly", *"christianly").

Yes, there are specific terms in Deaf culture that don't look like
they'll ever spread out into general use.

"Hearing" as a qualifier is one example. It's the opposite of Deaf, but
Hearing people seem to me to say "non-deaf" when, on rare occasions,
they need to express this concept.

There are terms that fail to cross the cultural divide in the opposite
direction, too. For example, "hearing impaired", though invented by
Hearing people with the intention of finding a term that everybody would
be happy with, never makes it into Deaf circles.

•

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