The Lexicographer's Rules

This keyboard plugs into your computer so you can use all your mad texting skillz there, too. This is nowhere on my Christmas list. More here.

A bit of a brouhaha is taking place in Iceland over the question of whether the word negri, meaning “negro,” is pejorative.

Tolerating Intolerance. “In most of the western world, a book called ‘Ten Little Negro Boys’ would not make it past the agent’s desk, let alone down onto the presses and onwards into most bookshops in the land. And once in the shops, this book would not usually go straight to the top of the best sellers list. But that is exactly what has happened in Iceland over the last week or two.”

And then there were.... “The Icelandic lexicographer Mördur Árnason has however argued that the Icelandic word negri (’negro’) in itself is not pejorative, though it has on occasion had a negative meaning applied to it. But, I would still be interested to know the reason why so many people find the book worthy of purchase.”

A few weeks ago I joined Harris Salat of Visual Thesaurus and John Briggs of the University of California to discuss texting, slang, and the overall effect of technology on English in a video roundtable hosted by AT&T Tech Channel.

I particularly liked to hear Dr. Briggs confirm what I know but what many people have a hard time believing: text and chat slang and acronyms are showing up almost not at all in the essays of high school students. Students simply need to be taught how to adjust the register of their language for each situation—and that’s part of the reason why they’re in school.

Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are:

dry snitch v. to reveal a secret or to draw unwanted attention to another person under the guise of doing it accidentally, doing it for the person’s own good, or being helpful. Mainly used in Black English and hip-hop culture.

forever piece n. a clothing or personal accessory that is well-crafted and expensive.

Megan Scott quotes me in an article where she tackles the very large subject of “bitch”. She comes out of it pretty much okay.

Mark Weisenmiller also quoted me, this time in an article about new words for Inter Press Service, but unfortunately the article is behind a paywall. If you have a subscription, go for it.