Actually, I will rephrase that, I meant to say; “you are a SNOOD!” Yes, you are a snood fro not knowing what I mean by a snood. I can tell you right now, if you think I mean the scarf with a hood attached, you are so wrong!
To be honest I was in the same confused state of mind as you are now when I first heard the word.
Few nights ago my brother sent me a text saying
“Abi, I can’t believe you could say that, you are such a snood and you totally too far!”
Trust me I sat there thinking what the hell have I done and what is a snood? Like any constant internet user will do; I typed it on google.
Result: (n). A small netlike cap worn by women to keep the hair in place. A headband or fillet.
Yes...it doesn’t make sense. I then went on facebook typed in “what is a snood” as my status on facebook; which was pointless because my friends wouldn’t know and will probably ...”search on google.”
Today I was finally told how the word came into being used in sentence such as “You are snood!”
My brother and his girlfriend were shopping in Topshop; wanting to buy a scarf. She described what she was looking for to the shop assistant and the shop assistant replied;
“Oh, do you mean the snood?”
Although confused and wanting to know who or what the snood was my brother replied yes.
Surprised and shocked, my brother and his girlfriend started laughing.......laughing hard!!! Apparently, they “snood” was referred to somebody....somebody who they thought was the snood or was something that sounded similar to snood that starts with an “F”...Fool! OUTRAGEOUS! I hope are as shocked as I was when I learnt the meaning.
So I ask you again.
Am I a snood? (For not knowing what a snood means)
This brings me to my main topic of discussion; “formation of new words into English Language.” This is otherwise known as “coining words (Neologism).”
A Neologism is a newly coined word or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into “mainstream language”. Neologisms are often directly attributable to a specific person, publication, period, or event.
The term neologism is first attested in English in 1772, borrowed from French néologisme (1734) (even the word is not English!)
English language has millions of words in it word bank and personally I feel as at 50yrs ago, English language has a word to describe anything or anything situation at any given time that will still make sense.
I feel that any new words added to the dictionary now are making the language difficult for the new generations to take on board. Too much of anything is bad, my Dad would say. What is point of saying:
“What is the cause of this HULLABALOO?”
When all you want to say is:
“What is the cause of this noise? Get it?
Below are some controversial words added to the English dictionary that I think do not deserve it!
fidg·et·y (fĭjˈĭ-tē)
Adjective
1. Tending to be shaky or fidget.
2. Creating unnecessary fuss.
It is a general African believe (pardon me if am wrong) that the word “fidgety” was coined by the Nigerian Nobel Prize winner in literature; Wole Soyinka, while he was delivering a speech. Apparently, said a proverb in with a mixture of English and Yoruba language’
“An old man cannot walk without fi igi ti.”
1. Tending to be shaky or fidget.
2. Creating unnecessary fuss.
It is a general African believe (pardon me if am wrong) that the word “fidgety” was coined by the Nigerian Nobel Prize winner in literature; Wole Soyinka, while he was delivering a speech. Apparently, said a proverb in with a mixture of English and Yoruba language’
“An old man cannot walk without fi igi ti.”
...fi igi ti (pronounced as written) in that context means “using a stick as support.” Therefore the sentence is translated as “An old man cannot walk without the support of a stick.” This reason is said relates to fidgetiness of old people while walking.
So, if truly this is the source of the word fidgety, well I would say kudos to Wole for bringing Yoruba to English.
On the other hand, the word (I mean “fidgety” not “fi igi ti” by the way), was never in circulation before added to the dictionary so why should the whole world use it. It is not fair; its either English language is greedy for words or those in charge of adding words have just lost it.
Goo·gle (gū'gəl) (v)
The transitive verb to google (also spelled to Google) refers to using the Google search engine to obtain information on the internet... A neologism arising from the popularity and dominance of the eponymous search engine, the American Dialect Society chose it as the "most useful word of 2002."
It was officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary on June 15, 2006, and to the eleventh edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary in July 2006. The first recorded usage of google used as a verb was on July 8, 1998; by Google founder Larry Page himself, who wrote on a mailing list: "Have fun and keep googling!"
Funny enough, Google itself doesn’t to agree with “google” being used as a verb. This is because they might lose their trademark if this happens. On October 25, 2006, Google sent a plea to the public requesting that "you should please only use 'Google' when you’re actually referring to Google Inc. and our services. It was reported that, in response to this concern, lexicographers for the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary lowercased the actual entry for the word, google, while maintaining the capitalization of the search engine in their definition, "to use the Google search engine to seek online information" (a concern which did not deter the Oxford editors from preserving the history of both "cases").
Doesn’t make sense if you ask me! The other day my sister was checking her Yahoo, while I told her to please search for something for me. She replied, “I will google it on Yahoo search!” According to Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, that is a grammatically correct sentence, but doesn’t that sound stupid to you?
It also doesn’t do anything to help other search engines. Recently I saw a page on facebook called “Dear Yahoo, I've never heard someone say "I dunno lets 'Yahoo It'." Just Saying. Sincerely, Google“ I felt that was just taking the piss. I was Yahoo I wonder what I would have done.
THE SIMPLE THING IS THAT GOOGLE IS NOT AN ENGLISH WORD, IT’S A TRADEMARK AND CANNOT BE USED AS A VERB, AND OWNER DOES NOT APPROVE. SO STOP GOOGLING!!! You are allowed to search on Google though.
419scam (for:won:nain:skam) (n)
Before I start on this word (if you can call it a word), correct me if am wrong, I thought the dictionary was a book that gives meanings to words not freaking NUMBERS!!! I actually found this word; 419scam in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.
419 scam
an illegal way of getting money from someone by sending them an email promising that they will make a lot of money if they invest in a business activity which does not really exist [= advance fee fraud]
The number "419" refers to the article of the Nigerian Criminal Code (part of Chapter 38: "Obtaining Property by false pretences; Cheating") dealing with fraud. The American Dialect Society has traced the term "419 fraud" back to 1992. So what Nigeria is known for Fraud and scams, that doesn’t the “gramatists” the right to add the term to the dictionary? It’s just one of those words that should not be allowed into English language. Don’t get me wrong, if it is written as “four-one-nine”, yes, that is English; but 419? I can’t wait till I start hearing or reading:
“I got 419-ed last year, I lost my money!
Seriously that will be weird as hell!!!
Moreover the more the use and authenticity of the “word” the more disgracing a country as beautiful as Nigeria will be!!
PERSONALLY I CALL THESE WORD CONTROVESIAL ENGLISH WORDS AS THEY DO NOT PAST THE TEST OF COINING A WORD!!!
