Dictionary
I was delighted to learn this week that you can make up a new definition for a word and all of a sudden the dictionary will change it for you.
It was of course the Workplace Minister Bill Shorten who explained on the ABC show Q&A that “misogyny” didn’t mean what the dictionary said it did but in fact what the Prime Minister said it did and so a couple of days later the chastened editors of Macquarie Dictionary said they would change the definition accordingly.
This was a tremendously liberating development and so I now have for the dictionary some other words that urgently need redefining.
Continue reading "Well, if we’re gonna start redefining words…" »
As editor of the Macquarie Dictionary, I picture myself as the woman with the mop and broom and bucket cleaning the language off the floor after the party is over. And in this case it was quite a party.
But what it left on the floor was misogyny – with a new meaning. The established meaning of misogyny is ‘hatred of women” but this is a rarefied term that goes back to the 1600s in English that acquired the status of a psychological term in the late 1800s when its counterpart misandry was coined. Both terms refer to pathological hatreds.
Since the 1980s misogyny has come to be used as a synonym for sexism – a synonym with bite but nevertheless with the meaning of ‘entrenched prejudice against women’ rather than ‘pathological hatred of women’.
Continue reading "There’s more than one way to define a catcall" »
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OchreBunyip says:
I don’t think hating one women necessarily translates into all women…perhaps we need a new word soligynist - the hatred of just one woman. No need to thank me, dictionary editors, its all in a day’s musings. it can be used for that one, special ex, or the PM without… Read more »
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JT says:
@vox Are you really that obtuse vox? You attack others for non-expert opinions and yet you are completely ignorant of the fact that my entire post earlier is a direct quote from George Orwell’s 1984. Someone as ignorant as you should not cast aspersions on others. Read more »
We come into this world naked and squalling. Red in the neck, uncouth. Unsophisticated. Obsessed with boobs, loud, annoying, a bit farty. Not much interest in literature.
We are all born bogans, and life is just a matter of accreting varying levels of sophistication.
Today, as we bathe in The Voice winner Karise Eden’s victory proclamation of “I love youse all”, we can also joyfully splash about in the fact that the word ‘bogan’ has finally made it into the Oxford English Dictionary.
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A.T says:
Tory Shepherd you may have been born a bogan I wasn’t my parents taught me couth and culture from an early age they also taught me not to be borrish, obnoxious or rude. Having money,d boozing it up, driving a big flash ute and dragging a jetski around is none… Read more »
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K2 says:
Culture is just your cult (in green language). Given that we live in a world where socially accepted norms are driven by the mass media, it would seem that now being a ‘bogan’ is “normal” - lets take it one step further and look at Lady Ca-Ca, and you can… Read more »
When I got 618 in a game of online Scrabble on the weekend, I immediately bleated the fact to the world via Facebook. As you do. Then I got this cheap, dirty feeling deep inside.
I’m not the worst Scrabbler going around. I know how to play the game. But I’m no 618 man, and it’s fair to say I had a little cyber-assistance in compiling such a big score.
The problem with online Scrabble, circa 2010, is that even mug players have access to dictionaries of several hundred thousand words. You might not know what the words mean, but if the computer approves them, hey presto! You’re on your way to 618. Or more.
Continue reading "I got 618 in Scrabble and I feel like a dirty, cheating rat" »
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Robert Smissen, rural SA, God's own country says:
You used a dictionary & only scored 618? ? ? Sad, very sad. Read more »
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Babs says:
Richele - definitely. I have 11 current and ongoing games (ferocious rivalry between siblings 6 of them) - there’s always room for one more. I’ll see if you write back, then we can proceed, regards BF Read more »
Next time you update your Facebook status or send off an email without checking for spelling errors, think of the children and pick up a hard cover dictionary.
A recent study by the University of Manchester has found that thanks to our predilection for communicating online, we’re raising an entire generation of bad spellers:
“The increasing use of variant spellings on the internet has been brought about by people typing at speed in chatrooms and on social networking sites where the general attitude is that there isn’t a need to correct typos or conform to spelling rules, “ said Lucy Jones, the author of the study.
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Caitlin32Berg says:
I propose not to wait until you get enough amount of cash to buy different goods! You can just get the mortgage loans or car loan and feel fine Read more »
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marley says:
Lily - I understand what you’re trying to say, but it would have had a bit more credibility had you understood the difference between “it’s” and “its” or the spelling of “solely.” Read more »
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