Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

fun with language

Here’s a wonderful timesuck: wordorigins.org.

The site offers a growing list of words and phrases, their “conventional wisdom” origin stories and their real etymology. Clicking through the site and reading the various write-ups is a lot of fun for a word geek like me. A sample:

Hell in a Handbasket

To hell in a handbasket simply means going to seed without effort, a handbasket being easy to carry. The term has been in use since at least 1941.

Safire, however, identifies the term to heaven in a handbasket as dating to at least 1913. In this case the sense as of some sort of assured sinecure in the afterlife—again attaining the destination without effort. The change in direction was quite natural, especially since it retained the alliteration.

Also fun: Dictionaraoke.org, which takes the pronunciation sound clips from dictionary Web sites (like m-w.com and strings them together with a MIDI background track to create “cover” popular songs. I highly recommend their version of A-Ha’s “Take on Me” (MP3).

Speaking of dictionaries, in December, Slate took on the question of “What’s the best dictionary out there?” (“Word Up” - 12/04/03) Beginning with the caveat that one should choose a dictionary that best meets one’s own attitude toward language — does it reflect “proper” words and definitions or more colloquial usage? — the writer evaluated seven popular dictionaries and judged the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary the best.

Last month, Lake Superior State University released its annual list of “Banished Words” — words and phrases that should be banished from the popular lexicon. The official list title: “List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness.” At the top of the list for this year? Metrosexual.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that a Web site in the UK has been trying to track the evolution of various British accents over the past fifty years. The people behind Collect Britain say that their research has found that some regional accents have become more “standardized” over the years. (“Web Site Shows British Accent Development” - 02/11/04)

(Thanks to Dari for the Dictionaraoke link, and to Shawn for the “Banished Words” link.)