A morning. I like to welcome you to word solid. My name is josh wheeler. I am the director of the Thomas Jefferson center the protection of free expression. The source of great pride for us at the Thomas Jefferson center that we have been involved in every one of the 23 virginia festival of the books. Often you only think of free speech when you think of speech we dont like. Then we hate actually. But we forget sometimes that free speech also allows us the great kind of expression that we can find in the art. Science and everywhere. Besides that can only be achieved were free to explore any idea or subject. Thats why were proud to be a proud of this. Where else is there a better example of the height that can be reached by having free speech todays program but i have a bout of housekeeping notes. This is brought to you by the Virginia Foundation of the community. If you would silence your cell phone, if you want to tweet about the event you can do so at at virginia books 2017. They had me read that every year and every year i have no idea what that means. We would like to thank the city of charlottesville i like to walk my viewers on cspan in charlottesville on to be ten. At the end of the program for the last part will have q a from the audience. We ask that you wait for microphone to be brought to so it can be recorded for our audience at home. The festivals free of charge but not free of cost. Please go online or get back in a giving envelope and support your festival so we can continue to bring in for more years. Please fill out the programal s evaluation. M evalua they provide useful information that helps keep the festival free and open to the public. We also have handed around for today session but recalled little ballot. I will read these. One is and will take this nominations and they will explain more about what the program what the word of thelet there are two wordsmiths they equally steady new ways to find them. Since 1981 allen has served as executive secretary was scholarly group. His member studies of all expects of it. Including one that told you how to predict whether new word will become a part of the language. Most recently hes written the subject of todays book from skedaddle to selfie. D before the skedaddle book, Oxford University press published a book about okay. The improbable story of americas greatest words. It should be noticed that just this past thursday march 23, was okay day. [laughter] the 178 birthday of america. In effect the worlds greatestet word. In the day job al is of english professor in illinois. First, lets turn to how it people misuse words that part of the program we are going to hear from robert rubin. It gives me great pleasure and great impression to introduce robert to you. Ple ian ill explain why. Robert is actually an old friend, very few people i can say this about. Robert and i have known each other for over 55 years. Ve that gives me great pleasure, it also depresses me that i can save known someone for 55 years. For both sons of College Professors and grew up on the same college campus, running around in her superman and batman costumes. And it was not holloway. Anyway, robert has grown up to be a fine young man. Yw his an editor of, poet and teacher who lives in raleigh north carolina. Two anthologies of poetry to be read out. Most recently, going to hell in a hand basket. His a long time who likes to raise a ruckus and is delightedc to share his perils of wisdom. With us today. With no further do, and like to introduce robert rubin. , its an honor to be part of a Program Sponsored by an organization involved with the freedom of speech. Like book is about people who are too free with their speech sometime. Im delighted to be in the program i love the sort of mistakes that people make very we all make them. Make the i was last night as part of the festival of books. Out happ and he issued and he talked about choice which is not quite right. And but we all make those. In some malapropisms become new words. A lot of malapropisms make perfect sense or perfect nonsense. Nonsense one example is going to hell in a hand basket. When you think about it it could be going to hell in a hand basket. Why is it instead of going to hell in a hand basket. The basket i suppose is to carry alex, who knew. Speaking of eggs, one of thecarg things that got me interested in it was a new kind that has been discovered by linguist on a website called language law. That is called an egg corn. The linguists discovered these because someone wrote in and said my neighbor keeps an egg corn what you know about that . And they thought about it and said thats a new kind of malapropisms. It makes sense. An acorn is shaped like a naked if you take off the little cap. So it might as well be in a good corn if you havent learned how to spell. I was interested in these and started researching on the internet and they are abundant. Theyre all sort of fans who have collected these things. I was the heart of this book. But a lot of other malapropisms that are not. The difference is that an egg corn makes sense. A regular malapropisms doesnt make so much sense. For instance am excited about the program and im ready to cut to the cheese. So lets have a few these and i happen to be in illustrator. When my fun things was doing drawings to go around with the this one is, grain of salt. [laughter] i like to think of it as been attacked by oatmeal. If youll take it with a grain of salt will move on from there. This is an example of one that makes perfect sense. A double axle. The ska. The time when you think about it and axel goes around, right] the job in the double axle they go around and jump. Its named after a guy named axel. Ax el. Some norwegian. But a double axle makes perfect sense or perfect nonsense anything about it. A true egg corn. With baited breath. [laughter] [laughter] i tried to think how you could take your breath maybe with a particular kind of mouth logic perhaps. I dont know. All my joints have a chicken in them, by the way. Which came first the chicken or the egg corn . Bareknuckle fighting. There is use their claws rather than their you can put in the term like a bare knuckle fighting you can see how many usages it turns up so they areup delightful that is the fun thing that people do with language sometimes not intentionally sometimes intentional. [laughter] i exercise my demons all the time. [laughter] but i am doing that today. Does make perfect nonsense to exercise your demons. [laughter] jaw dropping this is a particular type of malapropisms combining to the different words if the experience was jarring andng ort jaw dropping or jar dropping and actually that is starting to overcome the jaws dropping as the most common usage and that is happening. So lets a whole and in on the subject . That does not make sense to hone your skills as a speaker but this is becoming more common. [laughter] and this makes sense of course, you will find a bull in a china shop. [laughter] this one i like busting tables. It makes perfect sense that the somebody of the meal somebody said said that the end of it they busted. St some of the adjoining is learning about their historyearg the word busing comes from the 20th century if somebody would said bus the table they were called the omnibus so you would bust the table i am a buster at the restaurant. [laughter] we all drive the cadillac converter. [laughter] this is from the cadillac into a volkswagen. Claustrophobia. It makes perfect sense. But that comes from the latin word but in the sense but claustrophobia is the fear of locked into a small place or locked into a cluster of people so that is the great example. You are a word nerd of the oxford, it is a controversial subject people have long lectures on the oxford, then you turn into the oxford, so i particularly appreciate this one. A french crawler but the actual ones are square they are driven but the ones that Dunkin Donuts offers this is an example of the of french crawler. This makes perfect nonsense a Courtesy Call or a curtain call or a Courtesy Call. We dont have washboards very often so the reference to a the washboard but everybody does have a dashboard in their cars away dashboard stomach although that would be hard to put the Steering Wheel under your shirt. Now duct tape is interesting. Ays due originally it was abe teeeighteen the original word was duct tape or crack it was a fabric tape out ofas cotton duck fabric but they started to read the of rubberized putting it was good for duct work so now that is the standard usage. And now theres even a brilliant that calls itselfs the tape and everybody thinks it is a joke but itct was the original name. So it is how they become part of the of language of those code words that were mistakes better now standard usage the elementary canal. [laughter] day un bien so young Elementary Students so thele flamenco dance. This is a twoway malapropisms but the of flamenco is the name of for flamenco soon the original battle of originally meant flamenco so now it goes back to its original meaning. I love that. This is a game of bronze reference gungho. That was a cry of world war ii so people who got excited about fighting were and then as gungho. Event in imminent danger. If were in imminent danger is the intimate experience in the experience of being in an intimate danger. Nautical miles. Or if were going 12 knots as a speed it does make sense we are on volume. The word white lambaste or view would leave a horse to beat that battle think william is a good getaway vehicle. Arsh. The mosh pit. It does get a little sloppy in their. Originally called does william pitt then the mashed thathen the mosh pit. Who knows how they pronounced that. That has yet to be defined. And how does this song go . Inch by inch or row by row i will make regarding row. [ldinner entree. On the trade. What more can i say . And ng remember the rest of us need a mnemonic device. To have a rapid fran that moves pretty fast one thatha reels its ugly head to we are its ugly head in the ring bear. [laughter] fuseli acute little teddy bear this is my favorites to bring your chickens home to roast to get that confused with roosting chickens live like to think of them having t a celebrity roast. This is a biblical but a sliver of cake so here this snake is offering that allocate apple cake statute miles the romans had a milepost the fairytale that mixes up the ferries and the mermaids and the toe headed child. [laughter] some words have lost their meaning the us ben flax was known as stowe and those that had flaxen hair were toe headed so that looks like a big toe. And total line. A toe the line i question my College Students they forgot the original meaning. Llew of the naval sailors on aig ship to put the toes on the line if you do that you were doing your work the wind turbines. Ulaughter] and ultra of violent light. [laughter] so that concludes my presentation on the powerd the i point and those mistakes that i love further in thethat l program. [applause] we laughing and laughing and then thinking what is wrong with that . [laughter] remaining the of one of the first jobs i was talking to my boss is said the other department would not listen to was with said it is like they are turning a blind the year to as. [laughter]rt. So i buy to turn our program through the english language with the perfect person to talk about with each generation forms their own words so to turn this over to alan. I need to mention is a candidate to be a proper word of the english language that it is not logical but conventional not because we have logically deduced that that is so we have heard for that particular point we have a number of very good examples. Ther thi that every living link wages always changing if you have a teacher saying we will not accept any changes to the english language the only language it does not change is a dead language. So i am here because of a crazy pieces their book is called generations that every generation of american everybody board within a generation has the same attitude and responses to the world around them then all of a sudden there is a little . The next generation comes up and it seems ridiculous but i decided to test that out to write a book about it over generations to see those particular words for the ones that day invented or that belong to them the most recent of course, has been widely accepted is the of millenials they have lots of words that i like to heards them every day in my classroom my favorite word is selfie because it is altruistic selfishness that they truly believe putting a picture of themselves on the internet will make the world a better place. [laughter] and after awhile you believe it. So that is what my book is about in just one aspect of what i have been studying and another is okay is americas and the worlds greatest word because if youre in a country you can practically conversed to say okay to reach other you both know what it means it is also the american philosophy of the hindu or pragmatism is okay and it will do it began deliberately with malapropisms in 1839 the boston morning post Newspaper Publishing with abbreviations because that was funny just like yolo but okay was in a humorous little piece and was explained as all correct so i guess they were hungry for some kind of humor they realized to say that it is all correct was hilarious. This sounds like it is deliver it. So by the end of the next year it was every where including those 0k clubs for the reelection of van buren as president and harrison whose slogan was logged cabin and hard cider but the new words are especially interesting in the American Dialect Society in 1990 every year was choosing a word of the year and i thought we might do a little bit of the American Dialect Society as a small group of people who study american english get together with the Linguistic Society of america were professionally west end of read james very root back on the Previous Year to ask which word was the most important or defining word of the Previous Year . Kind of like Time Magazine person of the year. So we except nominations throughout the year even once the slips of paper that are handed out then we have renominating session kind of like a convention for the Political Party going over the possible candidates and wiggling them down then with a final vote the next day it turns out 300 people show up there all qualified to vote as long as they have experienced english over the past year that qualifies them as experts so then which words goes best with that particular year . My own request have often gone the wrong way but after all it is a democracy. So we allow speeches when you come to a particular word then everyone is invited to give a second speech in favor or against that word because this is in science it is just fun and also if you want to stand up for row bird you should show y your convictions by raising your hand so we get the nomination and vote in may announced to the world what it is. So what happens since 1980 we were the first but now other dictionaries like oxford and merriamwebster have chosen there is which is different from ours but were the first in the last and most important. [laughter] so you are invited if you can spell american dialectn spe in not put any periods of between that is not an orgy just. Org. [laughter] you look for the words of the your nomination so i take the ones that are nominated here then we will make sure theyre introduced in through the year 2017 although it is not entirely over with those wonderful going on in washington and a possible collection of candidates this is is a the larger definition to have a prefix and the phrase, sentences, says coming up as the word of the year that was written as word of the year the rio so voted on word of the decade and then the monumental taske yr to do word of the century and millennium but that was jazz that is a wonderful word for the 20th century but of the millennium was she the program because an old english it was the word he so she got her independence as an influence from the scandinavian so one of the things they did in my book because the publisher stop to publish it. [laughter] but i wondered why a some words are durable . So i came up with the five qualities as a permanent addition to the vocabulary so if you do it the way i did you could find to the answers and effort was for frequency you is the most important for unobtrusive mess but looking like something that is already there you are resistant to using and then the is diversity of those users and endurance of the conflict like victrola but does not exist much anymore so you could take those to figure out how those current words would last or recurrent new political figures but i guess now we can leave time for questions. [applause] their promise we will leave plenty of time because your questions are far better than mine. We have talked about it is a little bit but while the focus of the program is on the words added or new ways to use language as relevant to consider the words but have been dropped that we dont hear any more a andand ho what theyre represents in terms of our perception of the world and how we connect to the world a and what we value. You are right. Is a very challenging question because it describes something that is not obsolete but somehow society or people mouflon to a different way of talking so now i think there will let robert in answer that. [laughter] as far as malapropisms grows in trying to research malapropisms to find oldld words that could echo the current meaning. Now the old language the dead language like latin by definition are dead but then we bring them back. But the malapropisms means it is absurd but the meaning of the phrase has died and now gets a new meaning to be paired. There is like 1 Million Words in english maybe 2 million theyre not all covered in the dictionary so is very hard to tell if the word is in general use or not that conjures up a picture of sitting around the and eventually they can begin to speak that way but most of us go to the dictionary. You have an answer this but are their words that have dropped out of usage only leaders to make a a comeback . Maybe they come back as malapropisms but are there any tied to one generation and then came back . Not write off than i have to look in my book but maybe alan can help me there. There are lots of good examples of a knot in my head. So this i do know is true but we live in in a time of change but it has not lois been that way there are so many words added to our culture because of technological change so do you have early examples of that twin change was not as . Where Technology Added words to the lexicon . So with malapropisms somebody standing on the pedastool that was actually the old device for the piano player it was in the dictionary but now is forgotten pretty much and is mixed up with pedestal but i note the fact it was a real word was reintroduced now or not that would be Interesting Research for somebody to do. H a couple decades ago wewe called the machines or machine language but now with computers we call them devices that is the use we have not had before but now everything is a device. So those that have a specialized for cadbury back in the day of the sailing ships you would weigh anchor. But now we have lost that connection and we think throw the anchor away. [laughter] but that doesnt make any sense it is an old usage that echoes in our subconscious and apply that to a new situation. Also referred to as oleo at of the refrigerator. We have no idea what he was talking about but apparentlylyni that was the name of a merger in . Margarine or beta max . Not mean something completely different. Like dialing a phone. We asked the audience ifyo you have a favorite or nomination for word of the year we can pass them on but maybe we will read if you right now or open to questions from the audience the one that gets a lot of nominations is alternative facts you probably could in the next edition havel told chapter devoted to the most recent president and i dont say that on any partisan grounds. [laughter] and their crediting him to reaching the languageng including bigly. [laughter] you could interpret that to ways but also it can be the adverb for big director couple of nominations for word of the year but to demonstrate in peach. [laughter] not my eight nominations but fake news or alternate fax. And haters i do hear that a lot with my kids in dope that is an interesting category when the meaning is completely the opposite like bad was good but now with is dope even woke to be in light and to be woke, in light and to be light and what about the other guy . This is a category wanted to ask i am guilty of these all the time a specific kind of malapropisms when you get the lyrics to a song and correct. [laughter] i used to listen to a van morrison song i could never figure out it was going down in the old mine not gunning down the old man. [laughter] that is called a mondegreens it is a song where you get the lyrics mixed up named after famous poem of lady mondegreen was a story of a young man who got involved in their late him of the green. [laughter] that is what that is. We have a few of those. Of th one is from tiny dancer holding the closer tony ginza indians the. [laughter] and them from jimi hendrixpeople excuse me while i kiss this guy music soothes the savage breast. [laughter] i am sure you have a few more and the like to entertain the audience questions or nominations. You can hardly see a newspaper article these days. [inaudible] [laughter] so i am curious how Something Like that can start that i see it every day. But the community of people they will make a statement and another makes a similar statement in writing and also speaking also a matter of headlines the you will see frequently but not with ordinary conversation. My mother was an amateur actress she played mrs. Malapropisms so could you talk about that . There is a long traditionth of literary malapropisms for the character of the constable in much ado about nothing and made mistakes that we all laugh at. But there was no word for it you just thought he was a more on the 175 years later Richard Sheridan wrote a play and there was a woman who miss used language amazingly and it is still a hilarious but at that time there was no word for it but it was such a big hit that those mistakes were known as inappropriate and that is where they got the of label. To make that distinction between literary where food is one class looking down on another in the modern malapropisms because we hear so many words in the media we dont have time to look them all up so sometimes we just repeat them. And of course, that means that appropriate to if you put that together it describes that. I am probably getting the word wrong but balder rise . Define that for me. To take the naughty words out of shakespeare to pulverize the text so may favor reading was from zero fellow a fellow of fellow and he falsely tells him that his love is being unfaithful to him and and he changed that to she is playing the trumpet in your bed. [laughter] i like the idea to add naughty words. And they would put the naughty parts in the back of the book so people would read the back first. You used the word dope and my wife and i were traveling and restocked to get a sandwich the tshirt said no dope is dope so i was pondering that but no drugs is a good thing so as we laughed i turned to him and said that is a dope church. [laughter] they all said thank you. [laughter] i wonder if you could help me with the word meme what exactly does it mean . I have looked on google and i still do not understand. A biologist invented the word as the equivalent of 18 that passes on hereditary traits it is a word that passage audience passes on the idea and it has come to be meme but the of language the troops the idea that are passed on the internet so the cats that says i can have a cheeseburger that is now called a meme talking about the internet use but the original meaning was the idea that sells for graduates. Why a chicken but also to other languages lend themselves to malapropisms . Two others have this same hazards . I am afraid i am not in a position to comment. I imagine that they do because english is such a part of the world to get these english terms and they get picked up by standard english i dont know what to say about the other languages but the chicken and guests the idea of the acorn generated the chicken. I was talking about a german but it is the only language you could say one thing it has a double meaning. W [laughter]thing an i did not try to argue with him because it is difficult to argue with germans. [laughter] but basically all languages have a divergence or meaning i would say yes you can tois have that in german. I wonder if you can tell us . The most reason was toaster fire which is Dumpster Fire my favorite was bigly according to a calamity but not the end of the world. The equivalent of the Dumpster Fire. [laughter] t within before that the word they at last it is accepted as a singular nouno le the student got their hat now it is accepted where was not before. Arrival little skeptical but that is the vote but a couple years earlier the word was the word of the your belly of a category of. [laughter] around the year 1999 or 2000 everybody was sure there would be a computer Dumpster Fire. [laughter] ; . Moved. It is something that you do on your skin as a tattoo. Dont you know, somebody . I think if somebody has contemplated suicide. Anybody else . Those that contribute to the usefulness of the language but is that destructive for not helpful . There are always changes and also those users of the language and often we look back from 50 years ago theyay could write well inism but that good writing was reserved so it is always the end of the world is coming. Are like to think the down part is that right antia intellectualism that you must we stocked up to be worried about the meaning of words. Here in the middle. To talk about latin i know in finland every week they have a radio show that does the news and latin could do say it is more of a resuscitated of language for those common id is such as email or the handmade tale where her made up latin phrase so could you say that latin is resuscitated or nobody uses that on a regular basis . Spirit that is complicated because it is used by the catholic churchlo all along so further revival nowadays and hebrew is another language that is the unspoken mostly now the National Language of israel. What is the phrase england and United States is to country separated by a common language . Have explored the idea the same word but it evokes a different emotion or meaning . I had a friend who went to england and wanted to buy a pair of khaki pants the clerk looked at him and started laughing it turnss out light a baby is khaki so with is pronunciation. [inaudible] my father was an academic food to the case sabbatical my first day of school i did not know anybody that. Was feeling a little insecure being the only american the person sitting to my right to said can i borrow your rubber . And i am hearing can i borrow your condom . My first thought is you need that now . Barrault . No. [laughter] borrow you can have it. [laughter] is yours to keep the there is a host of other words i had to learn another language like a jumper or biscuit is a cookie. Im Sherri Jewell whole show on these but i worked in Record Stores practically my wall wife and asked deal of a song called indiana night . I can feel it coming indiana night that was phil collins. [laughter] we are just about out of time suggests want to say a couple of words things to the volunteers. [applause] it could not be done without them as they do a fantastic job also our booksellers if you like to purchase these entertaining books also thinks to cspan and local channel 10 and also for presenting an entertaining discussion and he made so i a copy if you do purchase one. Lause] [inaudible conversations] and woke joining us is the editor of linear time book review. Bob is why a book of
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