Monday, June 22, 2015

Old words; New meanings

The problem with language is that the damn thing just does not remain still. Just as you finish mucking around with the dictionary and the thesaurus, and start feeling smug about having found the meaning of a word, you find that someone has messed with it and it means altogether something else now. If it is just your neighborhood auntie, who thinks that 'homely' means someone who is good daughter-in-law material and not a euphemism for 'ugly', you can ignore her - until you find that the entire nation believes the same. The odds, though, are that not every such mistaken impression will cause you to curse the dictionary for misleading you. That complacency, however, is misplaced when it comes to journalists.

Of course, sometimes even they do not make a mark. There was once a concerted attempt to make 'rule the roast' stand in for what used to be 'rule the roost'. The culinary metaphor did not quite succeed in dethroning the poultry-based one, though, probably because it was still a male-dominated society in the eighties. If, however, you thought that every single such innovation bit the dust, you would be sorely mistaken.

Take for example the fact that, in India, 'wood' has been converted to mean 'film industry' (Anyway, since we are doing away with all the trees, the old meaning would be useless). The US has its Holly-film industry, we have our "Bolly', 'Molly', 'Tolly' etc. ones. I am quite thrilled, though, by the fact that the Internet spans the world. Left to our own devices, videos shared on Blogs would have become 'Bloggywood', a word that makes me retch - or am I being too hasty? Maybe that word is in the works and shall make an appearance soon in daily parlance giving me another reason to barf, besides motion sickness.

Of course there is a school of thought that says it actually is 'ollywood' that means film industry and you just add an alphabet before it to denote either the place or the language to derive the actual word for a specific film industry. USA, irrational as ever, may have added 'H' before the word, for no reason that anyone can fathom but we are more scientific. (WHAT? Hollywood is the name of the place from before there was a film industry there? I don't believe it)

Ever considered the word 'Breaking News'? Initially, it redefined the meaning of 'breaking' since it was rather loosely used even when the news was not so much 'breaking news' as 'broken news' - what was being touted as breaking news was probably hours old at least. So, if it was News, it was considered to also be 'Breaking'. Technology, though, made more things possible. As I found out when I sat in front of a TV with breathless journalists yelping "There is a car coming in" and a flashy scroller screaming "Breaking News: Car enters street. Which VIP is coming for Aishwarya-Abhishek wedding?". NOW - it is 'News' that has been redefined because, as you can see, IF it is breaking, it HAS to be News. Seems to me, though, that all journalists have gone to the same journalism school that taught ONLY one lesson - "News is telling people that Peter is dead, when they did not know or care that he ever lived."

The latest word I have had to learn is 'gate'. Apparently, it means 'scam' or 'scandal' but it cannot be used independently that way. It needs to be attached to some other word : Coal-gate (Warning: you use this one to whiten your teeth at your own risk); Bribe-gate etc. Way back in history, Nixon in the USA indulged in Water-gate - probably a scam related to bottled mineral water (WHAT? Breaking and Entering in an office complex called Watergate to eavesdrop on the opposition party? You must be joking!) From that day on, apparently, you are still permitted to use the word 'gate' to denote that thingy you push (or pull) to enter the compound of a house BUT the more appropriate use is to add it to some other word to talk of a scandal.

Alas! I forgot that thing about 'Freedom of Speech'. I have my freedom of speech but YOU do not have the freedom to question anything I say. THAT certainly does not constitute 'freedom of speech'. AND, sooner or later, I am sure that 'speech' will be expanded to mean HOW I speak in addition to WHAT I speak, thereby ensuring that you cannot question how I use words either.

Which means that I am probably likely to figure in 'Blog-gate' - unless, of course, I somehow manage to go viral on 'Bloggywood'. One way or the other, I shall be figuring in 'Breaking News'!

28 comments:

  1. You are always 'breaking news' with your avant-garde thoughts and ideas:) in your delightful, unique style:)

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    1. Thanks Amit! You really know how to make my day :)

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  2. From where do you get these ideas?! Another delightful read! I am so sick of hearing this or that-gate! I think our commentators and media persons are really short in creative word-smithing, so they simply imitate in a most unimaginative way.

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    1. Exactly the same irritation with that repeated 'this gate and that gate' was what spurred this post, Beloo :)

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  3. most of these words are actually borrowed or rather copied/stolen from west but who cares, the language itself is not ours.

    that was a fun read Suresh! Totally loved it :)

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    1. We are past-masters at borrowing words, Debs, and, why not, since English itself is a language built upon borrowed words :) I am only averse to this sort of ugly grafting of words :)

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  4. Always a pleasure to read your sarcastic blog Suresh :)

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  5. "The culinary metaphor did not quite succeed in dethroning the poultry-based one"- :-D :-D

    Enjoyed it very much, as always... :-D

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    1. Thanks Maniparna! Esp. for noticing the line :)

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  6. Hahaha, nice thoughts. More than the topic itself, i found meaning to a whole new set of words

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  7. That is how it is these days,and surprisingly,these words do convey the new meaning.But this gate business has truly become too much.

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    1. You can make any word to communicate any meaning if enough people use it repeatedly to mean that thing, Indu! After all, any word comes into being that way. :)

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  8. Ha ha ha. To the point and aptly sarcastic, as always.

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  9. Imagine a scam about gates itself , the thing we at the entrance of our homes ; call it gate gate. Gate got gotten :)

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  10. It is absolutely funny and delightful, this little plant in your Bloggywood. Keen observations on ''homely' and ''rule the roost'' and other gradual mutation of the language. Can't get started on how irritating and 'breaking news' and 'gates' are. All the Arnab Goswamis of the world should read this post and forever rest in peace. Just curious, what do you feel about ''awesome''?

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    1. Thanks Shweta!

      About awesome the way I feel is, in one word - awful :)

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  11. Delightful is the word I was looking for...(.and it means what it says!) so enjoyed reading this!

    reminds me of a friend who used the word 'deadly' for anything and everything...how's the dress..deadly, how's the movie..deadly... and it was quite a while before I figured out that it meant very good!

    and by the way, I thought of at least 2-gates (which came to my mind automatically, I swear), which i cannot make a mention of here!! :)

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    1. Hahaha! Yeah - mine is an open to all blog :)

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  12. A witty post, Suresh. I am truly fed up of all the breaking and broken news and all the gates.

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    1. That same irritation is what set off this post :)

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