I get various Google Alerts for things related to my interests, and today I got one for a story in The Sun and the Daily Express about the '20 English words the public wants to revive'.
Now, if I want to read these articles, I have to pay or give them my first-born, or something like that, so I'm not rushing to read them. But I've got enough of a gist from the Google Alert (orig. AmE) blurb:
The "research", it seems, has been done in the hallowed halls of the Tesco Mobile marketing department, with the celebrity endorsement of Tom Daley and Gyles Brandreth. (There is a video on the various tabloid websites, again, if you want to allow them to put the devil's cookies in your computer.)
But it's enough to read that little blurb: flabbergasted, chuffed, and gobsmacked. The "British public" (Tesco Mobile customers?) wants to "revive" these "classic" words. You know, those moribund words that... wait a minute...
All three of these words seem to be in (BrE) rude health. Have a look at their use in British books. More and more in the 21st century:
All three of these words seem to be in (BrE) rude health. Have a look at their use in British books. More and more in the 21st century:
Calling something that didn't exist before 1980 a "classic" that needs to be "revived" when in reality, it's just reaching its prime is blatant ageism, I say. Gobsmacked, I feel your pain.
But maybe books are weird. Maybe "real" people don't use these words. Maybe not, but the tabloid newspapers have certainly been reviving them for the past 30 years. Here's what you see if you search for these words in the archives of The Sun (courtesy of Nexis):
Are we the British public really missing these "classic" Britishisms? Or are we just missing feeling good about ourselves?
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