What's in a name: Roxanne

Whenever I introduce myself for the first time, chances are high that someone will sing the refrain of this song:

Believe it or not, but I'm NOT named after the song. It was a damn coincidence (excuse my language there). For the majority of my living existence, I went through life without knowing that 'Roxanne' carried some 'interesting' meanings (we linguists call those things connotations). It was not until a few years ago that someone pointed out to me that 'Roxanne' was the name of a prostitute of the aforementioned song. You are kiddin' me, right?

During one of my procrastination moments on Urban Dictionary, I was drawn to a message on the top corner just above the search bar which suggested to 'look up anything, like your first name'. So, I entered 'Roxanne' to see what it would come up with. Here were the results:

1. Another word for a sexual magnet. Hottest female species alive
2. The sweetest and most confusing girl ever
3. The most awesomeness thing on earth, the best at everything especially beat-boxing and breakdancing. Smartest thing on earth.
4. A drinking game
5. A sweet, popular, very innocent girl
6. The prostitute from Moulin Rouge and the Police song "Roxanne"

I was literally rolling on the floor laughing out loud for ages, especially since the first meaning had the most thumbs up. Seriously, who writes this stuff? I guess (2) and (5) are fairly accurate (at least, that's what I like to think), but to be called 'the most awesomeness thing on earth' (I don't think it's even possible to say 'most awesomeness thing', 'awesome' should be a bloody adjective here) sounds way over the top. I was quite amused with (4) Roxanne the drinking game (Who wants to play Roxanne? Anyone?), which is related to the song. The game goes as follows: All the players have a drink ready and someone starts playing the song 'Roxanne'. Whenever Sting sings 'Roxanne', the player has to drink for the duration which he sings it. This may also include the chorus, in which the band sings 'Roxanne', while Sting sings 'put on the red light'. Surprisingly, the popular reference to a prostitute only came sixth on the list.

For comparison, I decided to check another source namely my best friend Wikipedia (this isn't a pure academic blog, so I am allowed to use Wiki). Wikipedia offered more interesting and nicer facts about my name:

• A major hurricane in October 1995
• A 1978 song by The Police
• Main female character in French play Cyrano de Bergerac written by Edmond Rostande. Also a 1987 movie adaptation of this play with Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah.
• A Pokémon character
• Model and assistant on the 1950-1961 game show Beat the Clock
• English singer (Roxanne Emery)
• A female band active in the late 1980s
• A character from 2011 film God Bless America played by Tara Lynne Barr (Roxanne "Roxy" Harmon)

Also, there are some references to pages with spelling variations of my name:

• Roxana, one of Alexander the Great's wives
• Roxelana, one of Suleiman the Magnificent's wives
• Roshanak, the usual Western spelling of the Persian feminine name
• Roxanne Wars, a series of hip-hop rivalries in the 1980s

I knew about the French character and the hurricane, but I was quite pleased that one of the wives of Alexander the Great was a namesake too. As for the etymology, I like that my name means 'shining, light' in Persian. I'm not sure what to make of The Roxanne Wars though. I guess if you're associated with a prostitute, it can't get any worse getting more ghetto, ain't it?

Despite all this hilarious stuff, I do like my name. Did you know that my name sounds different in various languages? The English call me roks-an (forgive me my inaccurate phonetic transcription, but I think most readers cannot read the International Phonetic Alphabet), my Dutch friends call me rok-san-ne (notice it's got three syllables), the French make my name sound more romantic by prolonging the a (something like roksaan?), and my Chinese family members would be yelling lok-saan-naa.

What's the story behind your name? Are you named after someone/something? Who are your famous namesakes? Do you like your name or would you change it if you had the chance to do so? Let me know in the comment section below!

2012 in Words: Hashtag, Gangnam Style, Alpacalypse

Via The Drum

At the beginning of the new year, ‘hashtag’ was voted as the word of the year 2012 by the American Dialect Society. The word of the year is chosen according to its prominent occurrence in the traditional and new media. According to Ben Zimmer, a committee member of the Society, 'hashtag' was most memorable due to its widespread use on Twitter and its role in creating online trends. Apart from the 'word of the year', the Society also voted for words of 2012 in categories such as 'most useful', and 'most euphemistic'. Here's a list of the winning words of every category:

• Word of the year: hashtag – a word or phrase preceded by a hash symbol, used on Twitter to mark a topic or to make a commentary
• Most useful: -(po)calypso, -(ma)geddon – hyperbolic combining forms for various catastrophes
• Most creative: gate lice  – airline passengers who crowd around a gate waiting to board
• Most unnecessary: legitimate rape – type of rape that Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin claimed rarely results in pregnancy
• Most outrageous: legitimate rape – see meaning above
• Most euphemistic: self-deportation – policy of encouraging illegal immigrants to return voluntarily to their home countries 
• Most likely to succeed: marriage equality – legal recognition of same sex marriage
• Least likely to succeed (two winners): phablet – midsized electronic device between a smartphone and a tablet; YOLO – acronym for ‘You Only Live Once,” often used sarcastically or self-deprecatingly
• Election words: binders (full of women) – term used by Mitt Romney in the second presidential debate to describe the resumes of female job candidates that he consulted as governer of Massachusetts

Via The Telegraph

What I particularly like about this word list (click here for the full list) is that it gives a nice reflection of the social and cultural trends in that year (obviously it's a bit biased because of its Americanisms). Also, these kind of lists tend to offer good insight into word formations of new (slang) words. Most new words tend to be created with reference to popular culture: Gangnam Style (Korean pop song which makes fun of a rich district (Gangnam) in Seoul); Gray Thursday (name for Thanksgiving as a shopping day before Black Friday), Frankenstorm (term for hurricane Sandy alluding to monster of Frankenstein). Other words are invented through a process called blending: meggings (male + leggings), phablet (device inbetween a smartphone and tablet), acronyms: YOLO (You Only Live Once), MOOC (massive open online course), alluding to characteristics of (well-known) people: Eastwooding (actor Clint Eastwood), Obamaloney (president Barack Obama), Romnesia (Mitt Romney), and shortening of words: feels (for 'feelings'), and cray-cray (for 'crazy'). 

 My personal favourites of the nominees list (and which I might consider using) are:

Via quickmeme

• Hate-watching: continuing to follow a television show despite having an aversion to it
• Dunlop effect: when one’s stomach protrudes over ill-fitting pants (“belly done lop over the belt”)
• Dancelexia: inability to pull of dance moves
• Big data: large collections of digital information used for revealing behavioural insights (this would be a great term to put into my thesis)

What's your favourite word of 2012?

OED Appeals: Lexicography and the general public

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is like the bible among linguists; it is said to be THE authoritative source of the English language. But as language changes constantly, so does the OED need to be updated from time to time. Their latest project OED Appeals, which started in October last year, is a call for help to the general public in tracing the earliest records of words in the English language. Terms of which the origin tends to be iffy are present-day slang words or expressions. The latest appeal, for example, is 'gangster':

The earliest OED record of 'gangster' dates back to 1896, but new evidence has shown that the term was used at least ten years earlier. So if you happen to find an earlier record of words like 'party animal' (1982) 'rock paper scissors' (1954), or 'easy-peasy' (1976), you can submit your evidence by leaving a comment on their website. I think this is a fantastic collaboration between linguists and non-linguists in preserving the English language.

In my research data, I also found the usage of a term which is older than the OED citation. According to the OED, the first occurrence of the term 'cull' was in 1698 in a work called In Vino Veritas:

However, I found the use of the term in the cant sense in one of the Old Bailey Proceedings (which are trial reports) published in 1693 (see below):

And that when she was taken, she said she was a dead Woman, and her sweet Life must pay for it, and that she was heard to say, That she got the old Cull out to drink, and so did her business effectually (Trial Elizabeth Davis, 13 July 1693)

I might have a word with the editors to check whether they need any help in uncovering and revising the history of eighteenth century slang words in the OED...

British slang words that I have learned in the UK

So this blogpost features another video, in which English twin brothers Jack and Finn teaches their American friend Tyler Oakley some British slang terms.



As mentioned in the video, there's another video (click here) in which Tyler teaches the twins some gay slang that he uses frequently. Make sure to check both videos out, if only to watch some cute guys playing with language.

Inspired by the videos, I compiled my own list of slang words that I've learned over the years just by listening to my British friends. These are terms that you don't get from English vocabulary books aimed at foreign learners.

• Ace - If something is ace, it's very good or awesome. How was the film? Ace.
• Bollocks - Testicles, but generally used to describe nonsense or rubbish (in order to express contempt, disagreement or annoyance). Oh bollocks, I left my house keys at the office.
• Cheers - This word has various uses. The most obvious one is to express good wishes before drinking. However, the British also use it to say goodbye or to end a conversation. Additionally, it means thank you. Your receipt is in the bag. Cheers.
• Dodgy - If someone or something is dodgy, it is dishonest, unreliable or untrustworthy. Don't go there, that area is a bit dodgy.
• Faff - To faff around means to waste time or to procrastinate. I really need to stop faffing around and get on with some work.
• Fancy-pants - Superior or high-class in a pretentious way. I treated myself to an Indian head massage today. Ooh, fancy-pants.
• Fit - Good-looking or sexually attractive. Don't you think those twin guys in the video above are well fit too?
• Gutted - If someone says that s/he is gutted, it means that the person is bitterly disappointed or really upset. I'm so gutted that I missed the deadline last week.
• Knackered - Another way to say that you're extremely tired or worn out. Some people might also use the term shattered (exhausted). I need to lie down, I'm so knackered.
• Mate - A friend or a companion. Do you fancy watching football with me and my mates tonight?
• Nice one! - This phrase can be used to express approval if someone does something impressive. I got a job offer! Nice one!
• Nick - To nick something means to steal. If you're the victim, you are being nicked. Damn it, I think they nicked my bike.
• Nip - To do something quickly. Do I have time to nip to the toilet? 
• Pissed - Getting pissed means getting drunk in the UK. There are loads of other terms to describe the same thing such as bladdered, hammered, car-parked etc. I can't remember how I got home last night, everyone was so pissed.
• Quid - Another term for one pound. Other useful slang terms related to money are fiver (five pound note) and tenner (ten pound note). Forty quid is dead expensive, isn't it?
• Sorted - Term used to say that you've arranged something or fixed a problem. Did you manage to speak to your superior today? Yep, it's sorted.
• Twat - An offensive word used to insult someone who has upset you or to describe a person as stupid or obnoxious. My date didn't turn up yesterday. What a twat!
• Waffle - Talking or writing for a long time without getting to a point. Some people are surprisingly good at this! I lost track of what he was saying, he just waffled on and on.
• Whinge - Whinging or whining means complaining persistently or in an irritating way. I can't stand that woman, she is whinging all the time.
• Wonky - To describe something shaky or unstable. I really hate those wonky tables.

I'm pretty sure that I've picked up a lot more words, but these are the ones I can think of at the moment. So a message to my dear British readers: Are there any other British slang terms that I should know? And to my non-English friends and speakers, which slang words have you encountered whilst living in the UK? Let me know in the comments below!

Via Folksy

Symphony in Slang

Via Moviegoods

I came across this funny short video called 'Symphony in Slang' a little while ago when I was browsing the Internet as usual. It's a Tex Avery cartoon from 1951 about a young man who is about to enter the gateway to Heaven but not before he leaves a record of his life to St Peter. As the title of the video reveals, the man's narrative is entirely filled with contemporary slang words and expressions. Flabbergasted by the fellow's "odd manners of speech", St Peter asks Noah Webster, the famous American lexicographer, to interpret the man's story, but without success. What follows is a series of scenes in which we see Webster's imagined literal understandings of the phrases.

How many slang expressions can you identify in the video, and do you know what they mean? Leave your comments below!

On idioms: Before you can say Jack Robinson

Via ingoodfaith

'Yo ho, my boys!' said Fezziwig. 'No more work to-night. Christmas Eve, Dick. Christmas, Ebenezer! Let's have the shutters up,' cried old Fezziwig, with a sharp clap of his hands, 'before a man can say Jack Robinson!' (Charles Dickens,  A Christmas Carol, 1843)

Each language has certain words and phrases which cannot be directly translated into another language, because these terms or expressions have a figurative rather than a literal meaning. I'm talking about idioms or idiomatic expressions. I remember a little while ago that I was looking for a phrase in English to tell someone that she should make the most of her time back home, because she'll be back in Sheffield in no-time. In Dutch (my native language), I would say:

"Geniet ervan, want voor je het weet ben je weer terug in Sheffield"

which in English would literally translate as:

 "Enjoy, before you know it, you'll be back in Sheffield"

My intuition told me that 'before you know it' sounded somewhat odd in English (though I'm sure English speakers will get the gist), so I decided to look up the English idiom that would describe "in a very short time". I can't remember how I found it, but Google managed to provide me the expression "Before you can say Jack Robinson" to describe the exact thing that I wanted to say.

That's also how I came across The Phrase Finder, a wonderful resource that lists all the phrases and idioms in English. The great thing about this resource is that it gives you some information about the origin (etymology) of the word and meaning, although we'll never be able to check whether that information is correct or not. What made this expression all the more interesting is that it was recorded in one of the 18th century dictionaries that I study:

JACK ROBINSON, before one could say Jack Robinson, a saying to express a very short time, originating from a very volatile gentleman of that appellation, who would call on his neighbours, and be gone before his name could be announced (Francis Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785)

As with any slang dictionary, we don't get any information about the origin of the phrase. So who is this Jack Robinson person exactly? According to the Phrase Finder, there was a real Sir John Robinson who was the Tower of London Constable in the sixteenth century and had a notorious reputation for chopping many people's heads off. However, the Phrase Finder does call the link between this person and the coinage of this expression into question. Perhaps it's just another urban legend, and will remain so forever.

So just a question for my native English speaking friends or readers: Is this expression still commonly used today? Do you use this expression yourself?

Slang in the Spotlight: Flash

In "Slang in the Spotlight", I will highlight a historical slang (or cant) term once in a while, because these are the words that most people will be unfamiliar with. The first word is "flash" and the meaning and quotes are taken from J.C. Hotten's Dictionary of Modern Cant, Slang and Vulgar Language (1859), and The Old Bailey Proceedings Online respectively. 

FLASH. 
Showy and knowing; a word with various meanings. A person is said to be dressed flash, when his garb is showy and after a fashion, but without taste. A person is said to be flash when he apes the appearance or manners of his betters, or when he is trying to be superior to his friends and relations. Flash also means "fast", roguish, and sometimes infers counterfeit or deceptive, and this perhaps is its general signification. "Flash, my young friend, or slang, as others call it, is the classical language of the Holy Land; in other words, St. Giles' Greek" -- Tom and Jerry, by Moncreiff. Vulgar language was first term Flash in the year 1718, by Hitchin, author of "The Regulator of Thieves, &c., with account of flash words". (Hotten 1859: 39)

• I swear they were Bank of England notes, notes, not hair dressers' flash notes; I never saw a flash note they were exactly as Bank notes. (Trial Francis Hall, 19 February 1829)
• When I went in [the room] I heard the word, ding it, come from the yard. Q. Was there any way for any persons in the yard seeing you? - No, I only knew it to be a flash word, meaning, to put it on one side (Trial of Druce and Bowling, 18 February 1795) 

Term can also be used as a verb for "showing something":

• He [Berry] changed a guinea, and gave me five shillings, and bid me not to be extravagant; he gave me that, as he said, to flash to the boys, to shew it to them, and say, I made that last night; I was to pull it out all at once. (Trial of M'Daniel, Berry, Egan, 1 March 1755)