The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams points to the power of certain groups who controlled what was included or excluded in the compilation of the Oxford Dictionary. The book is a novel but is well researched. The focus on gender equality, or lack of it, is fascinating.
Word usage changes with time. Generational words and phrases have their own movable flow as do colloquialisms. We all have our personal take on what has stayed with us and what has faded. Here is mine … it may be relatable to some, not to others.
As I move into my eighth decade, I am nostalgic for some words that are not used much anymore in day-to-day conversation. I am showing my age when I use wonderful, marvellous, delightful, intriguing.
A word I miss is melancholia. It’s debatable whether depression, used so much currently, has quite the same meaning. For me, melancholia means profound sadness due to a specific life experience, although medical interpretation cites biological causes as well. Depression to me indicates a more entrenched state, with the cause often unclear. There are many opinions on this.
Thankfully I’ve lost my Sixties jargon such as sharp, fab, square, groovy. So dated.
Some Gen X (1965-1980) words and phrases that have left their mark are wicked (not sure they coined it although they used it a lot), whatever, take a chill pill, talk to the hand. All are most descriptive.
Among Millennials (1981-1996) woke, lit and adulting come to mind. I can’t think of much else.
As for Gen Z (1997-2012): unfortunately I cannot cite one word.
And then there are all the colloquialisms unique to a country. As a fresh migrant I found surrounding conversation in Australia a constant learning experience. She’ll be right, no worries, pearler, bludger, eskie, battler, tinnie and see you later were all quite confusing. More than once I was told I looked like a stunned mullet. I’ve always liked winners are grinners, and get a wriggle on. Colloquialism usage can change with the years too: how frequently are bonza, cobber, dunny and stone the flamin’ crows used today?
Some words that seem to have survived through the decades are vibe, dude, chill and tacky. I like them all.However, there is one that has truly stood the test of time, starting way back with the Forties jazz music scene, the Beat generation of the Fifties right through to current usage. The word cool now seems timeless. Cool has played a role in our music, films, and conversation.
When I spent time in America in the Sixties it was heard everywhere. The film Cool Hand Luke was released in 1967, and its title needed no explanation.
The Oxford Dictionary cites all the meanings of cool. In its informal inclusions it mentions: ‘Free from excitement, anxiety, or excessive emotion’, and ‘Fashionably attractive, or impressive’. In Cool Hand Luke, Paul Newman fits all these descriptions.
These days I am completely comfortable with using cool among older and younger people alike.
I’ll keep this piece short lest I be accused of bunging it on, when all I want is to be totally cool.
Burnside Writers Group 