By: Mary Norris,
on 4/6/2015
In the summer of 2012, I got a contract for a book about language, based on my experiences of more than 30 years as a copy editor at The New Yorker. I was thrilled, because now I had license to buy all the books about language that I wanted. That September, I was driving on [...]
By: Lauren,
on 2/25/2011
The 2011 Academy Awards® take place this Sunday, February 27, the culmination of months of speculation about who will wear what, who will have the hardest time with the TelePrompTer, and, of course, who will win. But regardless 
of who goes home with an Oscar—whether it’s Natalie Portman for playing a tormented ballerina or Annette Bening for playing a tormented wife—language lovers already have plenty to celebrate with this year’s honorees. Films in 2010 had an array of unusual linguistic choices that highlighted their screenwriters’ unique skills.
Kings and billionaires, both accidental
The film to generate the most adulation for its language was probably The Social Network, in which the dialogue from screenwriter Aaron Sorkin was spoken so quickly (and so articulately, even for Harvard students) that a 162-page script became not a five-hour saga but a two-hour rush of suspense. Sorkin’s script made legalese and technology terms not just comprehensible but exciting, introduced the term “Winkelvii” (to describe the pompous Winklevoss twin characters), which now gets 14,000 hits on Google, and reminded us that articles are never hip—according to one of the characters, Facebook’s success is rooted in founder Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to drop the “The” from the title.
The Social Network is a frontrunner, but its main competition is The King’s Speech. One of the central themes of this historical biopic of King George VI is the importance of clarity in communication—something all writers and speakers strive for, and a goal achieved by the film itself. At once point King George remarks, “I am the seat of all authority because they think that when I speak, I speak for them.” Scriptwriter David Seidler uses this tactic—words as tools to enthrall and enlist—to make audience members align themselves with an actor playing a king (which couldn’t be further from what most audience members are).
Ballerinas, boxers, and LaBoeufs
Three other best picture nominees couldn’t be more different from one another, but are united by a common thread. Black Swan, True Grit, and The Fighter all delve into a distinctive subculture and embrace that culture’s linguistic idiosyncrasies. Dancers, cowboys, and boxers use language that would sound foreign to anyone outside their professions: chaîné, tendu, fouetté, rond de jambe, tinhorn, 0 Comments on And the winners are…language lovers! as of 2/25/2011 11:29:00 AM
By: Rebecca,
on 2/26/2010
Bryan A. Garner is the award-winning author or editor of more than 20 books. Garner’s Modern American Usage has established itself as the
preeminent contemporary guide to the effective use of the English language. The 3rd edition, which was just published, has been thoroughly updated with new material on nearly every page. In the article below, Garner reflects on his column this weekend in the New York Times and asks for our favorite portmanteaus. Mine is chocoholic, what’s yours?
We do love a good portmanteau word, don’t we? A new word blending two old ones.
A friend of mine, a lover of long-distance running and cycling, wrote on his Facebook wall recently complaining about the “drizmal day” he was having. I’d never heard the term, but I didn’t have to think twice about what it meant — and how it felt.
Writing about portmanteaus (/port-MAN-tohz) in this week’s New York Times “On Language” column, I considered what makes or breaks a new coinage. We can certainly do without a strained one, for example, or an indecipherable one, or an unpronounceable one.
Many of the latest portmanteau words are less than charming. I suppose Brangelina might be meaningful to celebraddicts, but I’m not a fan. And some other people seem to agree: bromance, chillaxin’, and sexting have all made the annual wish list of banished words from Lake Superior State University.
No, I don’t really like celebraddicts, either.
But other portmanteau words are clever and incontrovertible evidence that our language continues to evolve in creative ways. Here are some that have survived and even thrived:
What are your favorite portmanteaus? Add them in the comments.
