neologisms / U and non-U
Mar. 8th, 2003 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
verbminxI'm reading a book called The Story of English, which is a basic linguistic history. One of the topics in it is neologisms; another is the "U and non-U" distinction made in the 1950s about British speech and word-usage. There is an interesting page HERE.
The thing is, most of the words called "neologisms" are not, in fact, new words; they are either phrases with obvious meanings, or idiomatic expressions. For instance, this page gives "red-letter day" (idiomatic expression) and "electronic funds transfer" (fairly obvious to anyone who would need to use the phrase) as examples. I don't think there is any question about the meaning of "style slave," even though it is vaguely idiomatic (it's a metaphor, OK?)
etc. check it out.
The thing is, most of the words called "neologisms" are not, in fact, new words; they are either phrases with obvious meanings, or idiomatic expressions. For instance, this page gives "red-letter day" (idiomatic expression) and "electronic funds transfer" (fairly obvious to anyone who would need to use the phrase) as examples. I don't think there is any question about the meaning of "style slave," even though it is vaguely idiomatic (it's a metaphor, OK?)
etc. check it out.
