Words to the wise
English is constantly evolving — which is just the way Phil Wang and Susie Dent like it
- Bill Borrows
Unspeakable is on Radio 4 on Thursday at 6.30pm. Add it to your collection.
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Did you know that Stephen Fry is officially credited by the Oxford English Dictionary with coining the term “luvvy” in the late 1980s? It refers to a type of actor much like himself, but it was “a linguistic gap” that needed a word to fill it and, inadvertently, he provided it in print.
Unspeakable is the Radio 4 show that allows panellists to dream up new words or raid other languages for universal, shared concepts and experiences that have up till now lacked an English expression. The hosts, comedian Phil Wang and lexicographer and RT’s Countdown wordsmith Susie Dent, tell us all about it and reveal some new contenders for inclusion in the OED.
How did they sell the idea of Unspeakable to you both?
SUSIE DENT When it came to me it was already this enticing package of a radio show about language… and Phil Wang was involved. So I said, “I’d love to do it.”
PHIL WANG Well, to me they said, “We’ve got this show about words and Susie Dent’s involved…” Not really. They said, “We’ve got a format idea for a show about words and made-up words.” And because my persona is, I guess, nerdy, for want of a better term…
SD [Raises hand]
PW OK, Susie is also nerdy but she carries it with a glamour that I don’t have. I think I’m just nerdy.
SD Can I just throw in that “grammar” and “glamour” were once exactly the same word? “Glamour” was the magical learning that was part of “grammar”, which meant all knowledge. And then they needed something else for the sparkly bit, so it went off in a different direction. So you can be grammarous, I reckon.
PW This is exactly the content you can expect from Susie.
When was the last time someone used a word in conversation and you didn’t know what it meant?
SD It happens more often than you might think, but I enjoy it because it sends me to the dictionary, which is the place I am happiest. As Phil will tell you, I have the OED on my phone.
PW Usually it’s new slang that catches me out. A “sigma male” is above an “alpha male” for the younger generation, so when this kid in the street overheard me joking to my girlfriend that I’m a sigma he shouted over, “You’re not sigma, mate, you’re skibidi.”
SD Skibidi is the word that nobody can define, because it can mean cool and it can mean really uncool.
Language changes all the time. Wasn’t it Dr Samuel Johnson who wanted to build walls around the English language to prevent this?
SD Yes, he set out to try and freeze language to protect it against impurity. He didn’t want any vulgar slang to come in and he didn’t particularly like French words, but then he realised it was impossible. Or, as he put it, very beautifully, “to enchain syllables, and to lash the wind” were equally futile exercises.
So how does Unspeakable work?
SD I’m always asked, “Why don’t we have a word for X, Y or Z?” Usually followed by, “I bet the Germans do.” And the Germans either do have a word for it or can easily make one up with their Lego-style language. However, it turns out that there are words from our own past that can often fill a gap, so I offer a word of the week that’s lesser known but might be useful and the panellists each bring a word. We suggest words that cover existing language and ones that should exist but don’t.
PW The panellists often create a portmanteau word from two existing words, which is a great insight into their personal lives...
SD Stephen Fry, for example, brought “shiffle”, a blend of riffle and shuffle – that is when you are scrolling through the photos on your phone to show a friend but can’t find the right one. Miles Jupp came up with “app nauseam” , which is where you need an app to do absolutely anything in life.
Any contributions yourselves?
SD This might be too rude for Radio Times but “askhole” is a good one – a person who’s always asking for advice but then never takes it. There’s also my current favourite word, “crambazzled”, which is Yorkshire dialect and means to be prematurely aged from excess drinking.
PW [Laughs] I was brought up in Malaysia and I want to introduce tin kosong to English. It literally means “empty tin” but refers to a person who has nothing in them but is very loud.
SD We call that, believe it or not, “trumperiness”. It’s the state of being extremely showy but utterly worthless. How prescient is that? And its first recorded use was… [checks phone]… 1868.
How did the live audience react to the show?
SD They were phenomenal, because we also asked them to come up with their own suggestions for words and they absolutely did.
PW They also loved the part when the panellists can consign a word that they detest to the bin. Before you ask, mine is “massively” or, rather, the overuse of the word “massively”.
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SD Mine is “basically”, which is used as filler by people who then carry on talking about nothing for five minutes. So that, or “gusset”.
Authors
Bill Borrows
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