Potty-mouthed? New English words are just lush.

From The Mirror -

10 August 2005

Potty-mouthed? New English words are just lush

LONDON (Reuters) - Do chuggers bother you when you want to rock up to a restaurant with your cockapoo to hoover a supersized ruby murray?

Confused? Then you need to refer to the new Oxford Dictionary of English to understand a host of new words that appear for the first time in its latest edition.

Among the new entries are "potty-mouthed" (meaning using or characterized by bad language), "lush" (very good) and "scopophilia" (sexual pleasure derived chiefly from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity).

Some words, such as "demographic" (a particular sector of a population) have become commonplace but only now make it into the dictionary.

They are joined by those emerging from new technology like "phishing" (fraudulently sending emails purporting to be from reputable firms to get individuals to reveal personal details).

Many of the new words are simply formed by mixing two others together, such as charity and mugger making "chugger" (someone who approaches passers-by in the street asking for donations for a charity) and "labradoodle" (a cross between a Labrador retriever and a poodle).

"To suit the pace of our lifestyle today there is a growing tendency to mix words together to make entirely new ones called blends," the dictionary researchers said.

They also said there were now 350 ways of insulting someone -- from "chucklehead" to "muppet" -- ten times more than there were complimentary expressions, while there were 50 words for good-looking women, there were only about 20 for men.

And for those without a dictionary to hand, "rock up" means arrive, "cockapoo" is a mix between a cocker spaniel dog and a poodle, "hoover" means to eat something quickly, and "ruby murray" is rhyming slang for a curry.

mirror.co.uk

Adam,

There is a linguistic Darwinism (or natural selection) that goes on amongst all new words in languages. Of the words you mentioned, I think that only "demographic" and alas!, "potty-mouth" will be around for a long time.

It's interesting how some new words and meanings survive while others disappear. For example "jerk" has been around since the early 1930's but a 1970's competitor, "bozo" has largely fallen by the wayside. "Cool" (in the sense of "hip; fashionable") goes back to about 1940 but gone are its numerous 1960's competitors "tough", "fab" "boss" , "rave", "gear" and "groovey" etc. some of which were really better in my opinion.

Yeah, words like this seem to go out of fashion after a few years.

When I was at school, we used to call someone we don't like a "spazz". now that term is hardly used anymore.

I was surprised that "demographic" has only just entered the dictionary. I thought it has been around for a long time.

Around here at least, "cool" seems somewhat outdated, and "spazz" is not a word one calls people, but rather is a verb meaning "to freak out". As for many if not most of the words and expressions mentioned above, I've never heard or seen them in use ever myself, at least in the fashion mentioned in the article above. The only ones from the article which I've seen used in the manner referred to are "potty-mouth", "demographic", and "phishing". The funny thing though about "demographic" is that unlike the rest of the terms mentioned, it is just very sterile and dry technocrat-and-marketer-speak more than anything else.

"Guest" should be myself.

"Guest" sollte ich sein.

Adam,

"Demagraphic" as an adjective has been around for a long time. I remember hearing blurbs on the radio in 1979 that "Muslims in the Soviet Union are a demographic time bomb " and "According to a recent demographic study on 17% of American youth keep up with the news."

However, like you, I have heard "demographic" in the sense of 'a certain segment of the population (noun)' used only in the last few years.

Guest,

I think "spazz out" in the sense of "to freak out" dates from the 1970's, maybe the early 80's. When I was in high school in the 1960's, "spaz" and "spastic" were words used unkindly for people who were awkward, geeky or socially unpopular. Sometimes it was just a term of opprobrium for anyone you didn't like.

I grew up in Miami, FL, where these words are still alive and well - at least in my vocabulary. I'm in my early twenties. "To spazz" is a verb that means to freak out. "Spastic" is the adjective to describe a person who freaks out often. "A spazz" is a person who is energetic and freaks out a lot, though usually not someone you like unless used in a sarcastic manner.

"Spastic" is still used here (in Australia), an insult - calling someone or something "mentally retarded" (--> pathetic). "Going Spastic" would be the equivalent in meaning as "spazz", and although I have heard of "spazz", I think "going spastic" would be more prevalent.

Other words along the same line used in Australia are:

Monger (from Mongoloid - a person with Down Syndrome)

Minda - a South Australian word (and exclusively used in SA) - it comes from the acronym of the association run by the South Australian government for intellectually handicapped people/kids (Coincidentally I mentioned the word to someone from another state and they thought I was talking about a fashion label!)

Should read: "According to a recent demographic study ONLY 17% of American youth keep up with the news."

I feel a right muppet this morning....trying hard to suppress decidedly scopophiliac tendencies...must have been that ruby murray I had last night. If I wasn't hard at work I'd take the labradoodle out shanks naig....I wouldnae be seen deid wi' a cockapoo and tha's fir suir!

"Potty-mouth" is old, at least around here. The first time I remember hearing it was sometime around 1980 when my parents told me not to use certain kinds of words that I heard on the playground. :P I'm surprised the expression took so long to arrive to the UK.

Never use slang that is less than 30-40 years old. Slang tends to fall in and out of fashion at lightning speed, so the only safe way to use it is to wait and see how long it survives. You can still call something "cool" even after many decades because this slang term has proven very sturdy, but many other expressions fall out of favor so quickly that they aren't even worth learning.

Not only is slang very ephemeral as a general rule, but it is also very localized. The "in" slang of one group may be completely different from that of another group; and whenever you use slang, you restrict yourself to only a fraction of the entire English-speaking world, because the only vocabulary that _everyone_ understands is standard vocabulary (with no slang at all).

If you are recording your words in any way, be especially careful about the slang you use. It can be very embarrassing to have your own slang shown to you after a period of years, when the slang you used is no longer in favor (or perhaps no longer even understood!).

"Potty-mouth" has been used in Britain for quite some time, so I'm surprised it's only just appeared. Equally "muppet" was used all the time in the early 90s by Steve Wright on his Radio One show- in fact I think it's only used by DJs!