language

See Also: SPEAKING, WORD(S)

1. Greek is like lace; every man gets as much as he can —Samuel Johnson
2. It is with language as with manners: they are both established by the usage of people of fashion —Lord Chesterfield

   See Also: MANNERS

3. Language, if it throws a veil over our ideas, adds a softness and refinement to them, like that which the atmosphere gives to naked objects —William Hazlitt
4. Language is a city, to the building of which every human being brings a stone —Ralph Waldo Emerson
5. Language is an art, like brewing or baking —Charles R. Darwin
6. Languages evolve like species. They can degenerate just as oysters and barnacles have lost their heads —F. L. Lucas
7. Languages, like our bodies, are in a perpetual flux, and stand in need of recruits to supply those words which are continually falling into disuse —C. C. Felton
8. Show them [Americans with a penchant for “fat” talk] a lean, plain word that cuts to the bones and watch them lard it with thick greasy syllables front and back until it wheezes and gasps for breath as it comes lumbering down upon some poor threadbare sentence like a sack of iron on a swayback horse —Russell Baker
9. Slang is English with its sleeves rolled up —Carl Sandburg, quoted by William Safire in series on English language, PBS, September, 1986
10. To write jargon is like perpetually shuffling around in the fog and cottonwool of abstract terms —Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch

(See also DICTION, GIBBERISH, PROFANITY.)

bombast Pretentious speech; high-flown or inflated language. It is but a short step from the now obsolete literal meaning of bombast ‘cotton-wool padding or stuffing for garments’ to its current figurative sense of verbal padding or turgid language. Shakespeare used the word figuratively as early as 1588:

bumf Official documents collectively; piles of paper, specifically, paper containing jargon and bureaucratise; thus, such language itself: gobbledegook, governmentese, Whitehallese, Washingtonese. This contemptuous British expression comes from bumf, a portmanteau type contraction for bum fodder ‘toilet paper.’ It has been used figuratively since the 1930s.

claptrap Bombast, high-sounding but empty language. The word derives from the literal claptrap, defined in one of Nathan Bailey’s dictionaries (1727-31) as “a trap to catch a clap by way of applause from the spectators at a play.” The kind of high-flown and grandiose language actors would use in order to win applause from an audience gave the word its current meaning.

dirty word A word which because of its associations is highly controversial, a red-flag word; a word which elicits responses of suspicion, paranoia, dissension, etc.; a sensitive topic, a sore spot. Dirty word originally referred to a blatantly obscene or taboo word. Currently it is also used to describe a superficially inoffensive word which is treated as if it were offensive because of its unpleasant or controversial associations. Depending on the context, such a word can be considered unpopular and taboo one day and “safe” the next.

gobbledegook Circumlocutory and pretentious speech or writing; official or professional jargon, bureaucratese, officialese. The term’s coinage has been attributed to Maury Maverick.

inkhorn term An obscure, pedantic word borrowed from another language, especially Latin or Greek; a learned or literary term; affectedly erudite language. An inkhorn is a small, portable container formerly used to hold writing ink and originally made of horn. It symbolizes pedantry and affected erudition in this expression as well as in the phrase to smell of the inkhorn ‘to be pedantic’ The expression, now archaic, dates from at least 1543.

jawbreaker A word difficult to pronounce; a polysyllabic word. This self-evident expression appeared in print as early as the 19th century.

malapropism The ridiculous misuse of similar sounding words, sometimes through ignorance, but often with punning or humorous intent. This eponymous term alludes to Mrs. Malaprop, a pleasant though pompously ignorant character in Richard B. Sheridan’s comedie play, The Rivals (1775). Mrs. Malaprop, whose name is derived from the French mal à propos ‘inappropriate,’ continually confuses and misapplies words and phrases, e.g., “As headstrong as an allegory [alligator] on the banks of the Nile.” (III, iii)

A person known for using malapropisms is often called a Mrs. Malaprop.

mumbo jumbo See GIBBERISH.

portmanteau word A word formed by the blending of two other words. Portmanteau is a British term for a suitcase which opens up into two parts. The concept of a portmanteau word was coined by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass (1872):

Carroll’s use of portmanteau has been extended to include the amalgamation of one or more qualities into a single idea or notion This usage is illustrated by D. G. Hoffman, as cited in Webster’s Third:

red-flag term A word whose associations trigger an automatic response of anger, belligerence, defensiveness, etc.; an inflammatory catchphrase. A red flag has long been the symbol of revolutionary insurgents. To wave the red flag is to incite to violence. In addition, it is conventionally believed that a bull becomes enraged and aroused to attack by the waving of a red cape. All these uses are interrelated and serve as possible antecedents of red-flag used adjectivally to describe incendiary language.