Book Review: The Story of English (McCrum, et al.) & The English Language (Barber)

1 May 2003

Generally, we avoid reviewing older books in this space, but we make an exception this month. Over the past few years, several readers of the web site have asked about historical overviews of the English language. The essay A (Very) Brief History of the English Language on the wordorigins.org site is available, but this is simply a summary of major events and trends. Those who want a more detailed account have to look elsewhere. Here we take a look at two lengthy treatments of the topic.

The first of these books, The Story of English by Robert McCrum, Robert MacNeil (of PBS Newshour fame), and William Cran was first published in 1986 as a companion to the BBC television series of that name. The book was (allegedly) revised in 2001.

The Story of English is intended for a popular audience. Written in an accessible style, it scrupulously avoids linguistic jargon and IPA notation. The book also makes wide use of literary and pop culture references. In this respect, the book is a success. It is a good read and makes the linguistic development of English available to a wide audience.

Unfortunately, this comes at a high price. Many of the chapters are woefully out of date. The research and linguistic theory on which the book’s assertions are based are twenty or thirty years old and often have been discounted by more recent scholarship. The 2001 revision has not significantly revised the book at all. The other major problem with the book is sacrificing accuracy for a good story. The authors frequently plump for linguistic tall tales and false etymologies that are fun to tell but that are disproved by only a modicum of research. Finally, the book is also an exercise in linguistic jingoism, repeatedly emphasizing the point that the English language is the greatest, most poetic, most useful, etc.

The first half of the book is significantly better than the second. The tracing of the history of English in the British Isles is a reasonable account. The treatment of Old and Middle English and how these became the language that we know speak is rather a good popular account.

The book begins to fall apart at the midway point. The first glitches appear in the description of early American dialects. The authors hold out several examples of isolated dialects being relics of older styles of speech. They make statements like “it is sometimes claimed that you have to go to the Appalachian hills, or the Ozark Mountains, to hear Elizabethan English,” without providing a factual basis for the claim (there is none). As a linguistic rule, isolated dialects do not represent older modes of speech. Rather the opposite is true, isolated dialects tend to change faster. They may retain specific features that are archaic elsewhere, but this is true of all dialects, not just isolated ones.

The first chapter to show widespread factual problems is the treatment of African-American English. It presents the creolization theory as the basis for the dialect. This theory, which was popular in the 1970s, has been shown to be false. The creolization theory was formed before serious research into African-American and West African dialects had born fruit.

The theory holds that Gullah is representative of traditional slave dialect and is based on a creole of English and West African languages and that the generic African-American dialect is an offshoot of this. Current research discounts a widespread West African influence on African-American speech and holds that Gullah is an isolated dialect of English, neither related to West African nor the progenitor of the general African-American dialect. When the book was first written, plumping for this theory could be forgiven. But given that this is a 21st century revision, the retention of such outdated material is unacceptable.

Which raises the question of what exactly was revised? The revisions appear to be superficial, mainly updating of various pop culture references. There does not appear to have been any serious attempt to bring the book into accord with current linguistic thinking.

Outdated research is not the only problem. The authors often engage in sophistry as an excuse to tell tall tales. A case in point is the previously mentioned promulgation of the Elizabethan English in the Appalachians myth. Note the authors do not state it as absolute fact. They simply note that it is a commonly told story, without mentioning that it is complete nonsense and completely at odds with everything we know about linguistic development in general and the Appalachian dialect in particular.

A similar instance is the association of an American cattleman named Joseph McCoy with the origin of the phrase the real McCoy. The authors say, “he was, as he liked to say, ‘the real McCoy.’” Again, they imply that he is the inspiration for the phrase. They do not mention, as anyone who looked up the phrase in the Oxford English Dictionary could tell you, that the phrase was in use before Joseph McCoy was born. There is no excuse for this. It is simply bad scholarship.

The third major flaw with the book is more a matter of style. Take the following passage from the first chapter:

Why is it that English can inspire astonishing affection not only among those who speak and write it as their mother tongue but also among those for whom it is a foreign language? The richness and power of English was summarized in the nineteenth century by the great German philologist Jakob Grimm when he wrote, ‘In wealth, wisdom and strict economy, none of the other living languages can vie with it.’

Such passages crop up repeatedly throughout the book. The authors do explicitly state that English is not superior to other languages in any intrinsic sense, but the constant repeating of such sentiments does create a jingoistic tone.

The Story of English is a good read and the opening chapters do provide a reasonable historical overview of the language. It is, however, a seriously flawed work and should only be used with caution and verification.

In contrast there is Charles Barber’s The English Language: A Historical Introduction. Barber provides a superb introduction to the subject of historical linguistics.

Barber’s book is written as an introductory textbook. He avoids linguistic jargon where he can, but he does use IPA phonetic notation. While this is more accurate and more useful, it detracts from the readability. Barber also avoids the turgid and impenetrable prose that is common in academe. The book is written in a straightforward style that is accessible to the general reader. It is a textbook, however, and lacks the pop culture references and humor that often make popular linguistic books fun reads. In short, it is readable and fact filled, but a bit dull.

Barber approaches the subject of historical linguistics and etymology in a straight chronological fashion. After an initial chapter on general theory of linguistic change, he deals in successive chapters with Indo-European, Germanic, Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, and contemporary English. He concludes with a chapter on various dialects of English around the world—a subject that McCrum and colleagues devote half their book to.

Of the two books, Barber is the far superior, if somewhat duller, treatment of the topic. McCrum and colleagues have produced a more entertaining book, but one of dubious scholarship and that is very much out of date.

The Story of English, Third Revised Edition; by Robert McCrum, Robert MacNeil, & William Cran; Paperback; 496 pp.; Penguin; Dec 2002; $16.00.

The English Language: A Historical Introduction; by Charles Barber; Paperback; 299 pages; Cambridge Univ. Press; 1993; $18.00.

Note on IPA: IPA stands for International Phonetic Association. This organization has promulgated a standard notation system for linguistic sounds. IPA notation is preferred by most serious linguists. It allows one to denote pronunciation in virtually any dialect spoken by humans in a way that anyone familiar with the notation system can understand. A passage written in IPA can be pronounced by someone who is utterly unfamiliar with the original language; the meaning is still opaque, but the pronunciation comes through. The chief drawback with IPA notation is that relatively few people, other than professional linguists, know it. Use of IPA sacrifices ease of reading for precision and universality.

Myths of Language Change, Part 1: That's Not a Real Word

1 May 2003

The changing face of our language has created an interesting conundrum. On the one hand, people recognize and delight in the language change of the past. But on the other hand, people routinely resist current changes in the language. The language they learn as children is, for many, the only acceptable manner of speaking. Change is vehemently eschewed.

How people can revel in the changes of the past yet fiercely resist the changes of the present is just bizarre. And it is futile. The language will change whether we like it or not, and no amount of resistance will stop a change whose time has come.

Prescriptivists and grammarians may have some minor victories. For instance, they have managed to keep ain’t out of formal speech. But they have not come close to stamping it out altogether. And in the meantime, other “abominations,” like irregardless, manage to stick their nose under the tent and eventually the entire camel is inside. Fighting language change is like the resisting Star Trek’s Borg—futile.

This resistance usually takes one of several classic forms. In this series of articles, we well examine each of these classic errors of resistance. The first is:

That is Not A Real Word

Dictionary, n., A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work.
—Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

How many times have you heard someone say “that is not a real word?” And in almost every case (outside the context of games of Scrabble®) the statement is dead wrong. It is, in fact, a word. It may not be a standard word. It may not appear in a dictionary. But it is a word.

Of course, on one level this is not an error. People can’t go out and invent their own vocabularies. If they did, no one else would understand them. But the objection is rarely, if ever, over a matter of comprehension.

I still remember the shock and horror when I heard the director of marketing at my firm use the word impactful in a sentence, “we need a really impactful ad campaign.” The very fiber of my body rebelled upon hearing that word. It just felt wrong. Yet there was no communication problem. I understood exactly what she meant. The word is simply a derivation of the common word impact and the common suffix –ful, a very standard and productive pattern of word formation. As I heard others use it, I gradually began to realize that it really was a rather useful word, especially in the world of marketing and advertising. It conveys a nuance that other substitutes, like effective, successful, or emotional, do not. Gradually I have come to accept the use of the word (although I still can’t bring myself to use it myself).

Sometimes the claim that a word is not real is phrased as, “it is not in the dictionary.” Obviously, if we were limited to just the words in the dictionary (and which dictionary will we choose?), there would never be any new words. The language would become hard and inelastic as Bierce fears. This brings us to the question of who decides what is correct or Standard English.

There is no body of experts that meets in London or Washington and passes judgment on words and phrases, deeming which are worthy of canonization and which should be cast into perdition’s flames. Instead, the editors of a particular dictionary make the decision of what to include and what to exclude. Each dictionary has its own criteria to guide the editors. Some leave out scientific and technical terms. Others leave out proper names. American dictionaries omit British expressions, and vice versa.

Almost all English language dictionaries are descriptive in nature, rather than prescriptive. That is, the editors seek to describe how words are used, not to tell people how they should be used. So if a word is not in a dictionary, what does that mean? Well, it simply means at least one of the following statements is true:

• The word does not conform to the editors’ rules for inclusion.
• The word did not exist or was not widely used at the time the dictionary was published.
• The editors made a mistake and left out a word they should have included.

For example, there is no entry for impactful in the Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition, but the word does appear in that dictionary. It can be found in a 1975 usage citation, “overdramatization of an already impactful event.” For whatever reason, the editors did not give the word its own entry or recognize it as an adjectival form of impact, but it was not because it did not exist.

Of course, this doesn’t give one license to use any word at any time. You probably want to avoid the word ain’t in a job interview for instance, but not because it is not a word. It may not be appropriate in a given situation, but it is a word, one good enough for writers like Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, and William Faulkner.

American Dialect: Upper Midwest

1 May 2003

Even if you have never been there, most of us are familiar with the accent of the Upper Midwest states from movies such as Fargo (1996) and Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion on National Public Radio. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Minnesota, and the Dakotas (a.k.a. Baja Manitoba) have some distinct features of pronunciation and vocabulary.

The patterns we examined last month also apply up here. The Northern Cities Shift is active in the region, but there are some other pronunciation changes that are unique to the Upper Midwest.

The chief difference between the Upper Midwest accent and that of most other English dialects is the treatment of long vowels. In most English dialects, long vowels glide at the end, either up or down. Up in the frozen north, however, there is no glide. Take the ubiquitous OK for example. Most Americans pronounce this as /owe-kay/. In the Upper Midwest it is generally pronounced /ohh-keh/. You can also see this lack of a glide in the names of some of the states in the region. Elsewhere in the United States, Minnesota and Dakota are pronounced /min-i-sowe-ta/ and /da-kowe-ta/, but natives of those states say /min-i-sohh-ta/ and /da-kohh-ta/.

As you travel northward in Minnesota and the Dakotas, Canadian pronunciation patterns begin to dominate. In particular one begins to hear the Canadian raising. In most of the United States, the OU and long I sounds begin with an /ah/. But in much of Canada and the Northern Tier states the /ah/ shifts to an /uh/. Instead of being pronounced /ah-oot/ for example, the word out is /uh-oot/.

The other major Canadian influence is the tendency to end sentences with a questioning eh?

The region was largely settled by immigrants from Scandinavia and the Nordic languages have influenced the dialect of the region. This can be seen in the vocabulary of the region, especially in the use of yah instead of yes.

There are also some consonant changes that are often heard in the region. The consonants B, D, and G are often changed to P, T, and K, respectively, when ending a word. Stab becomes /stap/, bed is pronounced /bet/, and dog is /dok/.

Upper Midwest Vocabulary

Rubber binder, n., rubber band, also just binder (Minn.)

Bismarck, n., an oblong, deep-fried cake, often jelly-filled, cf. Chicago.

Bluff, n., a clump of trees in otherwise open country or prairie (N.D., Wis.)

Boodlebag, n., a purse or money bag, from the Dutch boedel, estate or property (Wis.)

Brat, n., clipping of bratwurst (esp. Wis.)

Bubbler, n., a water fountain, esp. one found outdoors (esp. Wis.)

Budge, v., to insert one oneself, to merge without permission, to budge in line (Wis.)

Cheesehead, n., someone from Wisconsin, originally (1919) a non-regionalism for a stupid or awkward person. Transferred specifically to Wisconsin because of the dairy industry there. Recently adopted with pride by Wisconsinites as a nickname. Current use is often in reference to Green Bay Packer fans.

Cherry soup, n., a cold soup made from cherries (Wis.)

Chicago, n., an oblong, deep-fried cake, often jelly-filled, cf. Bismarck, (Wis., Minn., N.D.)

Cornhusker, n., nickname for a Nebraskan.

Dugout, n., a primitive home built at least partly underground, a cellar (Okla., Kan., Neb.)

Flickertail, n., a ground squirrel (esp. N.D.)

Flowage, n., flood water, a lake formed by a dam (Wis.)

Green Bay fly, n., a mayfly (Wis., northeast Mich.)

Grinnie, n., a ground squirrel (Iowa)

Hot dish, n., a casserole or main dish at a meal (Mich., Wis., Minn., N.D.)

Inso?, interrog. exclam., contraction of isn’t it so? Frequently appended to declaratory sentences (Wis.)

Ishy, adj., icky (Minn., Wis.)

Jackpine savage, n., a rustic or yokel (Minn., Wis.)

Jayhawk, n., a nickname for a Kansan, also jayhawker.

Kolacky, n., a type of pastry, from the Czech kolač (Wis.)

Kringle, n., a type of pastry, usually in the shape of a ring with a fruit or nut filling, from the Danish for ring or loop (Wis.)

Lefse, n., a thin, unleavened bread made with mashed potatoes, from the Norwegian (Minn., Wis.)

Loose-meat sandwich, n., ground or shredded beef served on a bun, a sloppy joe (Iowa)

Muskeg, n., a marsh or bog, from Algonquin (Minn., also Alaska and Canada)

Ostkaka, n., a type of cheescake or pudding, from the Swedish (Minn.)

Pop, n., carbonated soft drink, soda, widespread throughout the United States, but chiefly found in the Upper Midwest.

Runza, prop. n., trademark for sandwich of ground beef, cabbage, onions, and spices in a pocket of bread. Probably from the German Ranzen, a satchel.

Snow-stayed, adj., snowed in (N.D.)

Stop and Go Light, n., a traffic light (Wis.)

Uff da, interj., an expression of surprise or disgust (Minn.)

Word of the Month: Mount Everest

1 May 2003

Fifty years ago this month, on 29 May 1953, two men, New Zealander Edmund Hillary (b. 1919) and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (1914–1986) became the first humans to ascend to the summit of Mount Everest, at 29,028 feet (8848 meters) the highest mountain on earth.

In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of this event, our Word of the Month is:

Mount Everest, prop.n., Himalayan peak on the border of Nepal and Tibet, the highest in the world. It is named for Sir George Everest (1790-1866), surveyor-general of India. Cf. Chomolungma, Sagarmatha.

Hillary and Tenzing were members of the 1953 British expedition up the south face of Everest, under the leadership of John Hunt. The expedition established their base camp on 12 April and then set out to cross the Khumbu Icefall, a glacier with huge crevasses and massive blocks of ice and rock. Crossing the icefall is one of the most difficult and treacherous aspects of an ascent of Everest. 

By 21 May, the expedition had reached the South Col, at 26,000 feet (7925 m) a point from which attempts on the summit could be launched. On 26 May, a summit party comprising Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans left the South Col, but their progress was slow and they had to turn back after reaching the South Summit, at 28,700 feet only 300 feet below the top, due to lack of time.

Two days later, on 28 May, Hillary and Norgay began their summit attempt. They established a camp at 27,900 feet (8503 m) before starting their summit attempt at 6.30 a.m. Climbing steadily, they reached the South Summit at 9 a.m. Continuing on, the two climbers reached the highest point on earth at 11.30 a.m. Running low on oxygen, the two remained at the summit for only fifteen minutes before beginning their descent. The news of the successful climb did not reach Britain until 2 June, the eve of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.

Climbing The South Face of Everest

Base Camp, at the foot of the Khumbu Icefall at 17,700 feet.

Khumbu Icefall, a 2,200-foot ascent up the glacier to the Western Cwm.

Western Cwm, a broad, flat glacial valley that leads from the Khumbu Icefall to the Lhotse Face.

Lhotse Face, an ascending wall of ice that rises some 3,700 feet at 40-50o angles. Lhotse means south peak and is the name of the mountain immediately south of Everest, separated from Everest by the South Col.

Geneva Spur, a large outcropping of rock at the top of the Lhotse Face, 24,000 feet, named in 1952 by a Swiss expedition.

South Col, a saddle at 26,000 feet, named by the British expedition of 1921. Used by modern expeditions as the location of their high camp.

Southeast Ridge, begins at “The Balcony,” a platform at 27,700 feet, and rises up to the South Summit.

South Summit, a dome of ice and snow at 28,700 feet, the decision point to either continue to the summit or turn around and descend.

Cornish Traverse, a 400-foot exposed traverse along a narrow ridge, with drops of 10,000 and 8,000 feet to either side. The Cornish Traverse leads to the Hillary Step.

Hillary Step, the last obstacle before the summit, a 40-foot spur of snow and ice at 28,750 feet. Hillary and Norgay were the first to climb the step and named it for Hillary, the more experienced technical climber of the two.

Summit, the top of the world, 29,028 feet (8848 m).

Climbing the North Face
First accomplished by the 1960 Chinese expedition.

Base Camp, immediately below Rongbuk Glacier, at 17,000 feet.

Rongbuk Glacier, climbs up 6,000 feet to the North Col.

North Col, a low point on the North Ridge at 23,000 feet.

First Step, 110-foot rock wall at 27,890-28,000 feet.

Second Step, 160-foot high series of rock walls and ledges at 28,140-28,300 feet.

Third Step, 100-foot high rock wall immediately above the Second Step. Much of the third step can be skirted by a traverse.

Summit Pyramid, a steep snowfield rising at angles of 50-60o, ending some 60 feet below the Summit.

The Summit
The following are some mountaineering and Everest terms:

Abseil, v., to descend by sliding down a rope, to rappel, from the German abseilen, ab (down) + seil (rope), 1933.

Acute Mountain Sickness, n., also AMS, a medical syndrome caused by rapid ascension to high altitudes. Symptoms include headache, fatigue, breathlessness, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and difficulty sleeping. AMS is relatively minor but can lead to more serious, sometimes fatal, conditions.

Adze, n., an axe with the blade set at right angles to the handle and curving inward, often one end of an ice axe head, from the Old English adesa, c.880.

Arête, n., a narrow ascending ridge running up a mountain, from the French meaning ridge, sharp edge, 1862.

Avalanche, n., a large mass of snow and ice that descends a mountain side, from the dialectical French meaning descent, 1771.

Barn door, v., to lose the foot and hand holds on one side of the body, causing the climber to swing like a door.

Base camp, n., the lowest and largest camp on an expedition, the primary logistical point for an exhibition.

Because it is there, quote, said by legendary climber George Leigh Mallory when asked why wanted to climb Everest. Mallory, 37, along with fellow climber Andrew Irvine, 22, were lost in an attempt to climb the north face of Everest in 1924. In 1975, a Chinese expedition found the body of an “English dead” on the north face, just below the first step. It was believed at the time to be Irvine’s. Mallory’s body was found in that vicinity in 1999; he had died in a fall. It is not known whether this was the same body that the Chinese had found 24 years earlier.

Belay, v., to fasten or secure with a rope, to prevent from falling by use of a rope, originally nautical jargon, 1549. In mountaineering use by 1910.

Bergschrund, n., crevasse(s) at the head of a mountain glacier, from the German berg (mountain) + schrund (crevice), 1843.

Black ice, n., a thin layer of transparent ice, 1829.

Brain bucket, n., helmet, originally US Air Force slang, 1955.

Buttress, n., a projection of rock from the side of a mountain, 1682.

Chimney, n. & v., a cleft in a vertical cliff, resembling a flue, which can be scaled, usually by pressing rigidly against the opposite sides, 1871; to climb a chimney, 1940.

Chomolungma, prop.n., Tibetan name for Mount Everest, meaning mother goddess of the earth.

Col, n., a depression between two slopes or peaks, a high mountain pass, from the French, ultimately from the Latin collum or neck, 1853.

Coomb, n., a deep hollow or valley, from the Old English cumb, also spelled cwm, from the Welsh.

Cornice, n., an overhanging accumulation of ice and snow at the edge of a ridge or cliff, from the French or Italian. Originally an architectural term from the 16th century, in mountaineering use from 1871.

Couloir, n., a steep gully running down a mountainside, from the French for colander, passage, 1855.

Crack, n., fissure in a rock wall, varying in width from nail- to body width.

Crag, n., a steep, rugged rock, from Gaelic although the exact origin is uncertain, cognates exist in all the Gaelic languages, c.1300.

Crampon, n., a metal spiked plate attached to boots to assist in climbing in snow and ice, from the French, 1789.

Crater, v., to fall and hit the ground from height.

Crevasse, n., a fissure or chasm in a glacier, from the French, 1823, cognate with crevice.

Crux, n., the most difficult point in a climb.

Fixed rope, n., a rope, or series of ropes, anchored to the mountain to assist climbers over steep, exposed terrain, usually installed by preceding climbing teams.

Free climbing, n., style of climbing using only hands, feet, and natural holds. Ropes are used only for protection from falls. Also free solo, free climbing with no ropes.

Glacier, n., a large, slow-moving mass of ice, from the French, 1744.

Glissade, v. & n., to slide down an icy or snow-covered slope, from the French, originally used to describe a dance step, applied to mountaineering in 1859.

HACE, abbrev., High Altitude Cerebral Edema, swelling of the brain resulting from rapid ascents at altitudes above 9,000 feet (2,700 m). Symptoms range from headache and confusion to coma and death.

HAPE, abbrev., High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, swelling of the lung tissue resulting from rapid ascents at altitudes above 9,000 feet (2,700 m), symptoms range from cough to coughing bloody sputum to coma and death.

Headwall, n., steep cliff face at the head of a valley, 1904.

Himalayas, prop.n., mountain range in central Asia containing the highest peaks on earth, from the Sanskrit hima (snow) + alaya (abode).

Hypoxia, n., a lack of oxygen, 1941, the chief danger to climbers of Everest.

Ice axe, n., tool for cutting steps or holds in ice and snow, 1820.

Icefall, n., a cataract of ice, a portion of a glacier resembling a waterfall, 1817.

Jumar, n. & v., a clip attached to a fixed rope that automatically tightens when weight is applied and relaxes when it is removed, facilitating the climbing of the rope, a climb using jumars, to climb with the aid of jumars, from a Swiss name, 1966.

K2, prop.n., the second highest mountain on earth, 28,251 feet (8,611 m), first climbed in 1954 by Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli. Although not as high as Everest, it is considered a much more challenging climb. Designated K2 by Col. T.G. Montgomery in 1856, the K is for the Karakorum range, K2 was the second peak in that range that he sighted. Also known as Chogori and Mount Godwin-Austen.

Karabiner, n., a metal oval or D-shaped ring with a gate that prevents accidental opening, clipping of the German karabiner-haken or spring hook. Often spelled carabiner in the U.S. Also biner.

Layback, n. & v., a method of climbing vertical cracks by gripping the edge with the hands, leaning back and placing the feet flat on the rock at the side of the crack and slightly below the hands. As the climber pulls on the edge of the crack and presses his feet against the rock, the opposing pressures exerted can be sufficient to support the body, 1925.

Moraine, n., a mound or ridge of rock and other debris carried and deposited by a glacier, moraines are usually found at a glacier’s edge, from the French, 1783.

Notch, n., a small col, 1718.

Piton, n., a metal spike with a hole, or eye, at one end for securing a rope, jammed into cracks or hammered into rocks climbers use them in ascent and descent, from the French for eye bolt, 1898.

Rappel, n., technique of descent by sliding down a rope, from the French rappeler or to recall, 1931, used as verb since 1957. Cf. abseil.

Sagarmatha, prop.n., Nepalese name for Mount Everest, meaning churning stick in the sea of existence.

Scrambling, n., easy climbing, usually unroped.

Sherpa, n., a Tibetan people living in the Himalayas, 1847, from the Tibetan shar (east) + pa (people), in transferred use meaning a mountain guide or porter.

Sirdar, n., the lead guide/porter on an expedition, from the Persian sar (head) + dar (possessor), used by the British in India to denote a valet or bearer since 1782.

Summit, n., the highest point a mountain or rock, from the Anglo-French sumette, 1481. Also a verb meaning to reach the summit of a mountain.

Traverse, v. & n., to move horizontally across the face of a mountain, a place where one traverses, 1983.

Yeti, n., mythical ape-man of the Himalayas, a.k.a., the abominable snow man, from the Tibetan for man-like animal, 1937.

War Words Part Deux

1 April 2003

Last month, we featured various military terms that were likely to be on the news. Of course, predictions are not perfect. There are host of jargon and slang terms that have cropped up in the reporting on the war in Iraq. Here are some that we missed last month. Not all of these are relevant to or used in the current conflict. Some are historical, evoked by recent events.

Airhead, n., fortified position behind enemy lines established by troops landed and reinforced by air, 1944. Cf. beachhead, bridgehead.

Appeasement, n., the action of pacifying or assuaging a belligerent or potential belligerent. The verb to appease has been in use since 1330. Modern political use dates to 1919 and is most often associated with the 1938 Munich conference where British Prime Minister Chamberlain made concessions to Hitler. Since 1938, the term has carried disparaging connotations. From the Old French apaisement, apeisement.

Asymmetric warfare, n., military jargon for unconventional attacks against a technologically superior military force. From 1997.

Beachhead, n., fortified position established by troops landed and reinforced by sea, 1940. Cf. airhead, bridgehead.

Blue on blue, adj., military jargon term for friendly fire, from the US military practice of depicting friendly forces with blue graphics on maps and enemy forces as red graphics.

Body bag, n., a zippered, rubber bag used for the transportation of corpses. 1954.

Body count, n., the number of enemy killed by friendly forces in a battle, esp. referring to the practice during the Vietnam war of judging success by the number of enemy killed. From 1965.

Brainwashing, n., the elimination of political unacceptable ideas from the mind of a prisoner or dissident. 1950.

Break china, v.phr., to cause collateral damage. 2003.

Bridgehead, n., a fortified position defending one end of a bridge, fortified position on the bank of a body of water that is established and reinforced by a landing force, 1812. Cf. airhead, beachhead.

Briefing, n., a formal presentation of information or instructions. In sporadic use since 1910, the term came into widespread use during WWII because of its use to denote pre-mission conferences among pilots. From the legal sense of brief, meaning a summary or abstract of an argument.

Bunker buster, n., a bomb specifically designed to destroy underground bunkers, 1991. Cf. blockbuster.

Catastrophic success, n., success so complete and swift that unintended, negative consequences result, e.g, “the dog who caught the car.” 1997.

Coalition, n., an impermanent alliance, from the Latin coalitionem. In English use since 1715.

Combat fatigue, n., psychological disturbance caused by prolonged exposure to combat. From 1943. Also battle fatigue. Cf. shell shock, post-traumatic stress disorder.

Contact point, n., location where two or more units are required to make contact. A hot contact point is where a unit meets an enemy unit.

Dead-ender, n., one who has no choice but to fight to the death, coined by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in 2001 in reference to Taliban loyalists. Cf. bitter-ender. In use from 1993 to mean one who is not accomplishing anything in life, e.g., a drug addict.

Dear John, n., a letter or other correspondence from a woman that ends a romantic relationship, esp. such a letter sent to a soldier overseas. From the traditional opening of such a letter. In use since 1942. Dear Jane often denotes such a letter to a woman.

Decapitation, n., a military attack designed to destroy the political leadership of a country at the start of a war. From Cold War nuclear targeting jargon.

Deconflict, v., to coordinate to ensure friendly units do not interfere with one another, esp. to deconflict airspace or deconflict fires.

Demilitarized zone, n., a region between belligerent parties in which it is mutually agreed that no military forces may be deployed. From 1934. Also, DMZ.

Embedded, adj., referring to a journalist assigned to a particular military unit. 1995.

Failsafe, adj., referring to a system, esp. a system involving nuclear weapons, that will revert to a condition of no danger in case of failure. From 1948. First used in reference to aircraft design. Applied to nuclear weapons by 1958.

Fix, v., to hold an enemy in place with fire and maneuver until more powerful forces can be brought to bear to destroy them. 1991. Intransitive use meaning to take a defensive position dates to the 17th century.

Fog of war, n., uncertainty and confusion that is inherently part of battle. Often mistakenly attributed to Clausewitz, who instead uses friction to denote the concept.

Force multiplier, n., military jargon for a factor that increases combat effectiveness without additional troops, such as intelligence or night-vision equipment.

Friendly fire, n., ordnance accidentally directed at one’s own troops. The adjective friendly to describe one’s own forces and fires dates to WWI. The specific phrase friendly fire dates to 1976. Also known as fratricide, a term used in this sense since the early 1980s.

Go kinetic, v., to open fire on the enemy.

Granularity, n., a quality of information that makes it sufficiently detailed to be useful for the intended purpose.

Hearts and minds, n., political support for a war and a regime, phrase coined during the Vietnam War to denote a policy attempting to cultivate support for the Saigon regime among the South Vietnamese people. Since then, the term has often been used with a connotation of a failed policy.

Hotline, n., a dedicated communications link that is always connected, or “hot,” especially the link established between Washington and Moscow in 1963. The term is military jargon from 1955.

Human shield, n., a civilian used to deter an attack on a military target. From at least 1990.

Jarhead, n., a disparaging term for a US marine, this sense dates to WWII. From an older sense of the term meaning a stupid or foolish person or a mule, similar to jughead, 1918.

Kinetic targeting, n., the dropping of bombs, as opposed to soft targeting or the dropping of leaflets or humanitarian supplies.

Liberate, v., to free an occupied territory via military force. From WWII.

Light at the end of the tunnel, c.phr., a favorable ending to a long ordeal, often associated with false hopes for success in the Vietnam war, but the imagery has been in use since the 19th century.

Mother of all ____, c.phr., indicating biggest or otherwise superlative example of a thing, usually facetiously, after Saddam Hussein’s description of the upcoming ground battle in the first Gulf War as the “mother of all battles.”

Mousehole, n. & v., a hole knocked in the walls of a building to enable soldiers to move from room to room or into connecting buildings without exposing themselves to observation. To create or move through such a passage. c.1950.

No man’s land, n., the territory between two entrenched armies. From 1908, but commonly associated with WWI. From an earlier sense of the phrase meaning unowned or waste land.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, n., psychological disturbance caused by exposure to stressful situations, such as combat, 1973. Cf. shell shock, combat fatigue.

Preemptive, adj., referring to military action initiated to counter an imminent enemy attack. From 1959.

Preventive, adj., referring to military action initiated to keep a future threat from coming to fruition. From 1955.

Red line, n., a figurative trip wire, the crossing of which will trigger some response, 1989.

Regime change, n., US policy of using political and military resources to topple Saddam Hussein’s government of Iraq. From 1998.

Regime target, n., infrastructure used by the highest levels of the Iraqi regime, including presidential palaces, security service and intelligence headquarters, command bunkers.

Rules of engagement, n., directives delineating the circumstances and limitations under which military forces will initiate or continue combat against an opposing force.

SALT, abbrev., acronym for Strategic Arms Limitation Talks/Treaty, a series of arms control negotiations between the US and Soviet Union. From 1968.

Sensitive site exploitation, n., process of examining locations suspected of containing weapons of mass destruction, also SSE.

Shell shock, n., psychological disturbance caused by prolonged exposure to combat, 1915. Cf. combat fatigue, post-traumatic stress disorder.

Shock and awe, n., sudden, synchronous, and overwhelming application of military force against an adversary to paralyze its will to carry on. Coined by Harlan K. Ullman and James P. Wade in a 1996 book of that title.

START, abbrev., acronym for Strategic Arms Reduction Talks/Treaty, a series of arms control negotiations between the US and Soviet Union. From 1981.

Strike package, n., the aircraft and ordnance involved in a bombing raid, includes fighters, tankers, reconnaissance and early warning radar aircraft. 1991.

Terror bombing, n., intensive and indiscriminate bombing intended to frighten a country into capitulation. From 1941.

Unilateral, adj., referring to a war correspondent who is covering the conflict without official sanction by one of the belligerent parties. From 1990.

Vertical envelopment, n., a military maneuver where troops are air-dropped or air-landed to the rear or flanks of the enemy.