Well ! Well ! Well ! If Daniel had his way this is what he
he'd say : Carambola , thou art weighed in the balance ,
found wanting and relegated to the 'basket of descriptives'
Thanks Helen for putting me where I belong ; I shall
endeavour to remain therin for the balance of this
incarnation .Next time around I will be Webster Oxford
Collins with username Starfruit.
By the way I always had the feeling that a dictionary
was a reference book that gave the meanings and
pronunciations of words . Unbeknownst to me that meaning
changed to include that it 'prescribes' how words should
be used -etc, etc.
As I go back in time when my hair was still black and my
gray matter absorptive , I read that somewhere in good old
England there was a committee of monocled old men with
Bryner heads that sat at least twice a year to review
words and slangs that had been recently created with a
view to rejecting or accepting them as standardized
english.As a matter of fact when the word 'Elviserate '
was bantered around Times Magazine was confident that
it will not become standardized english because the Baldies
were very conservative.
With so many words now finding themselves into popular
english usage I wonder if that 'esteemed 'committee still
exists . A second thought - it may have been 'sexed up'
by No. 10 Downing street. What a beautiful , living ,
breathing language that allows us to even poke fun at it
while we continue to grapple with its rudiments.
Just tried to be Musca Domestica in the ointment ...have
a glass of Carambola and vodka.
