Googleganger

January 15, 2016March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 3 Comments

Googleganger is a fairly new word; it has an equally interesting synonym in doppelgoogler.

A googleganger is a person who has the same name as you and is discovered when you search for yourself using an internet search engine.

The origin of both googleganger and doppelgoogler is the originally German word doppelgänger, meaning ‘a double of a living person’.

Googleganger has been named the Macquarie Dictionary word of the year (2010) and was nominated (in the form Googlegänger) for word of the year (2007) by the American Dialect Society.

‘Cue’ and ‘queue’

January 11, 2016March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 4 Comments

The first homophones of the year are cue and queue. The order of the vowels in queue is also a source of confusion for some writers.

Cue:

a signal for action
a signal for an actor to enter or begin
a hint or signal about how to behave
a reminder
a long, straight, tapering wooden rod used to strike the ball in games such as billiards and snooker; to hit a ball with a cue
to act as a prompt or reminder
to set audio or visual equipment in readiness to play
on cue – at the right moment

Queue:

a line or sequence of people or vehicles awaiting their turn; to form or remain in a line while waiting
(in computing) a list of data items, commands, etc., stored so they are retrievable in a particular order; to arrange such items in a queue
a plait of hair or braid worn at the back
to be keen to do or have something (e.g. they were queuing up to hire him)

Cue jokes about British people in a queue.

Gallimaufry

January 8, 2016March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 3 Comments

No, I have not misspelled Gallifrey.

Gallimaufry is an old-fashioned word and I think it deserves to be used more than it is.

It means ‘a confused jumble’, and it is a synonym of the equally glorious hodgepodge.

Gallimaufry originally meant ragout (the stew). It first appeared in the mid 16th century, having developed from the archaic French word galimafrée meaning ‘unappetizing dish’.

It is thought to combine the Old French galer ‘to have a good time’ with the dialect mafrer ‘to eat a lot’.

Noel

December 18, 2015March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 7 Comments

If you sing or listen to carols, this word is probably very familiar. It is to me – some of my best childhood memories are of singing carols with a choir at Christmas.

Noel is often used as a refrain in carols and on Christmas cards. It means ‘Christmas’. A noel is a Christmas carol.

Its origin is early 19th century, from the French Noël. Noël is based on the Latin word natalis meaning ‘birthday’.

Joyeux Noel is sometimes used by English speakers to wish others a happy or merry Christmas. If you are writing to a French speaker, remember to use Noël.

You may have seen the spelling Nowell or Nowel. Nowell is the Middle English spelling of Noel. It’s now regarded as archaic and is rarely used. However, it is common for the carol ‘The First Nowell’ to be spelt using the original form (you can read more on why here).

If you use Spotify, here’s the carol with its famous refrain:

This is my last post for a week or so. I’ll still be contactable should you have any proofreading-related emergencies.

I wish you a very merry Christmas.

‘Slay’ and ‘sleigh’

December 14, 2015March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 2 Comments

It is getting closer to the time when Father Christmas delivers presents! As he dashes around the world every Christmas Eve, his method of transport is a sleigh.

Santa’s Slay is a film I don’t think I ever need to see.

Slay

to kill something in a violent way
to delight, impress or amuse someone very much
a tool used in weaving

Sleigh

a sledge drawn by animals, usually horses (or reindeer!)
(sleighing) ride on a sleigh

Here’s ‘Jingle Bells’, with the well-known sleigh-related lyrics:

Feeling Christmassy yet?

Xmas

December 11, 2015March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 5 Comments

Xmas gets a bad rap. It is often seen as a symptom of the commercialisation of Christmas and is accused of ‘removing Christ from Christmas’.

Given the history of the word, that interpretation seems unfair. I don’t think it is as elegant as Christmas but it is an abbreviation that stays true to its meaning.

The use of Xmas is not a recent phenomenon. Fowler’s states it was first recorded in the 18th century; it appeared in a slightly different form even earlier.

The X represents the first letter (chi) of the Greek word for Christ – Χριστóς (Khristos, meaning ‘the anointed one’).

The use of X and XP to represent Christ has a long religious history. (You might recognise XP from the Chi-Rho monogram or symbol.) It’s worth reading about, particularly in regard to the influence of the Roman emperor Constantine I.

In spoken English, Xmas is usually (or should be) pronounced as ‘Christmas’ rather than as ‘ex-mass’.

‘Mincemeat’ or ‘minced meat’?

December 7, 2015March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 5 Comments

We are progressing rapidly through December, and that means it is now acceptable to eat lots of mince pies.

Mince pies contain mincemeat, and you probably wouldn’t want to put brandy cream on a pie containing minced meat.

Minced meat: Meat that has been cut up into very small pieces (usually by a machine).

Mincemeat: A mixture of dried fruit, sugar and spices. It may also contain alcohol (often brandy) and suet.

Mincemeat did once contain actual meat, and there is an interesting article on the history of the filling of mince pies here. Some dictionaries do give mincemeat as another word for minced meat, so be sure to check the context it is being used in.

Defenestration

December 4, 2015March 16, 2016Hannah McCall 12 Comments

Defenestration is the action of throwing someone (or something) out of a window. It can also be used to describe the process or action of removing someone from a position of authority or power.

You can defenestrate someone or be defenestrated.

Defenestration is early 17th century in origin, stemming from de- meaning ‘down from’ and the Latin fenestra meaning ‘window’.

The word is thought to have been coined around the time of the Defenestration of Prague in 1618. The incident at Prague Castle saw two Catholic governors and their scribe thrown from windows by Protestant citizens. The defenestration helped to start the Thirty Years War.

‘Team’ and ‘teem’

November 30, 2015November 30, 2015Hannah McCall 3 Comments

Team:

a group of players forming one of the sides in a sporting contest or competitive game
a real or notional group which supports or favours a thing or person
two or more people working together
two or more animals working together
harness together (animals, typically horses) to pull a vehicle
‘team up’ – to join with someone in order to work together to achieve a common goal
‘team with’ – to match or coordinate something with something else (typically clothes)