I heard a new word this week. Perhaps I hear them all the time but they don’t normally register. I know the various dictionaries around the world add new words all the time and they have some kind of criteria they apply before a word is accepted, but radio announcers and magazine writers love to get hold of a new word and use it to death.
I remember when some illiterate football commentator used the phrase ‘going forward’ to mean ín the future’. Within days, it was being said by everyone, even the Prime Minister. It’s a horrible phrase and I cringe when I hear it.
I can also remember when the prefix i was first use by Apple when they released the iMac. Now it’s everywhere. Pod is another growth word. First space pod, then iPod, and now we have everything from coffee pods to furniture pods.
The word which caught my attention this week was man-drought. Ha! Apparently, if the ratio of men to women in a particular area falls away from 50:50, there’s a man-drought (or, more seriously, a woman-drought!). With the census coming up, predictions are being made that in some areas of Australia, particularly on the east coast, and in Glenorchy and Launceston in Tasmania, there will only be 47 or 48 men to every woman. Apparently, it is caused by the migration of men to the west to work in the mines, leaving the women behind to keep the home fires burning.
It makes you think, though. I was watching Ready, Steady, Cook this week and there was certainly a man-drought in the audience. However, apart from all that, I’m adding man-drought to my list of useless words, which also includes man-bag and man-hug.
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