The Engine Room A blog about language use, misuse and abuse, brought to you by two sub-editors (copy editors) on a weekly magazine. If you have questions about words, grammar, spelling etc, why not ask us? Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 0 4516

Articles from The Engine Room

Word of the day: heavage 2007-07-19 02:39:00 I forgot to mention that my post on smirting was mentioned recently on Buzzfeed – the day the smoking ban came in, I believe.Chuffed to be picked up by Buzzfeed, I had a bit of a look around. In amongst a lot of guff about giant fish, disposable underwear and third nipples (it's a classy site), I did come across a page on a new word - heavage.Heavage is man cleavage - you know, when the boys have their first couple of shirt buttons undone to show off the top of their chest. Not something I often do.It's such a new word that there isn't even a Wikipedia entry on it. However Googling it seems to suggest that Jon Bon Jovi is a particular offender....Don't worry, I know some of you are sensitive souls so I'm not going to post a picture!***(In case you were wondering, Apus is on leave yet again and will be away until some time in August - one of the perks of being a chief sub seems to be that you get several months' holiday a year...) ...

Man-eating badgers: denial 2007-07-18 06:57:00 UK military spokesman Major Mike Shearer said: "We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area."That memorable quote comes from a story about honey badgers in Basra on the BBC News website which Gareth has brought to our attention. Well, it amused us.I eat honey, not people ...

Word of the day: copacetic 2007-07-17 08:11:00 This email recently arrived in the Engine Room inbox:We came across a word the other day, which neither of us two have heard before.It’s “copacetic” and means “something is in excellent order”. Apparently, it’s an obscure American word! Have you come across it before?It was used to describe the mood of my cow, Malcolm, who I’ve adopted online and after I fed him some broccoli....I have to admit it was a new one on me too. However Wikipedia says copacetic is used "almost exclusively in North America", so maybe it is not so surprising I haven't come across it before. I wonder where Malcolm the cow lives?Copacetic, which rhymes with 'oh, pathetic' and has a number of variant spellings, is an interesting word because its origin is highly debated. Theories variously suggest it comes from Creole French, Hebrew, or African American slang. It may even be a corruption of 'the cop is on the settee' (my personal favourite).There's too much to write about copacetic here, but if ...

Western Mail: dead easy 2007-07-16 07:37:00 Following on from Norwich Union telling us in a rather sinister manner that 'accidents happen', Colin has emailed in the following cutting from Welsh newspaper the Western Mail. (If it's too small to read, click on it to see a bigger version.)For those of you who don't do pictures, it says: "Arranging the death of a loved one isn't easy. But there are companies and services here to help you every step of the way... if you can offer your services and wish to advertise with us please call Claire or Emma."Don't be surprised to see Norwich Union advertising in the Western Mail any day now... ...

Well I'm a Dutchman 2007-07-13 12:11:00 The English language absorbs words and phrases from a bewildering variety of sources, including our former adversaries.Take the Dutch. We have a Dutch treat (which is no treat at all); double Dutch (gibberish); Dutch courage (based on alcohol); and "if that's true I'm a Dutchman" (you're lying). There's no doubt that the Dutch were once ferocious trading rivals who were not afraid of a scrap – the naval encounters between the two nations in the 17th century included the "four-day battle" which reflects the fact that neither side was prepared to give an inch. But perhaps the most telling Dutch-based phrase is "Dutch cap" as slang for a diaphragm contraceptive device. The use of "French letter" for condom reminds us that we've also been known to fall out with our next-door neighbours – while the infamous aphrodisiac (and toxic) Spanish fly ensures that our third major naval adversary is not left out of this somewhat disreputable list. ...

Odds and ends from the subs' desk 2007-07-13 07:44:00 Just a few odds and ends from the past couple of weeks on the subs' desk.1. A reporter wrote about the "problems that are ripe in the industry" - couldn't work out if this was an unfortunate typo or a misunderstanding of the phrase. Made me smile anyway. Obviously, he meant 'rife'.2. A few nice tautologies that our writers supplied (and didn't make it into print):Damning indictmentExpendable pawnsPanacea to cure all illsHere's an expendable pawn3. One writer talked about something being "increasingly critical" - not sure how that works!4. Lastly, a couple of great phrases. One of our IT systems was described by a senior manager as "a lego set that is one big brick" - and in the same meeting he said that some of our company websites "look as though they haven't been designed, they've congealed"...Now that's a 'damning indictment' if ever I heard one! ...

Fighting: not just for drunks 2007-07-12 06:58:00 Earlier this week I saw some kind of government health and safety poster with the following advice:There are some things you only do when drunk. Fighting shouldn't be one of them.It was in a bar in Borough, London, and I don't think it was meant ironically. Strangely it seems to suggest that you shouldn't only fight when drunk - you should fight at other times as well...Who wants a scrap? ...

No to simplified spelling 2007-07-10 10:00:00 Today on the BBC website I came across an interesting debate on whether English spelling should be simplified - I personally agree with Vivian Cook who argues against simplification.In addition to Vivian's points I'd like to say that when I taught English as a foreign language, my students struggled much more with English grammar (especially tenses), and with phrasal verbs, than they did with spelling. I hope that's not a reflection on my teaching...Also, spellings often indicate a word's etymology - and by simplifying spellings, we would lose a lot of visual clues to the origin and history of words.A third point I believe is not raised in the debate is that related words are often pronounced differently but spelled similarly, for example 'maniac' and 'maniacal'. If the spellings of these words were 'simplified', the connection between these words would no longer be so obvious in the spelling - which might actually hinder language learning.Masha Bell, arguing in favour of si ...

Fine herbs: the truth 2007-07-09 08:41:00 One word can have several meanings, or many different shades of meaning, and advertisers can use this to give a misleading impression of their product without actually breaking the truth.I'll give you a silly example. Our staff restaurant recently had on its menu "vegetable soup with fine herbs". I bought some, thinking that "fine herbs" sounded very classy. As it turned out, the herbs were of an average quality but just chopped up very small. Fine can mean both "high quality" and "consisting of small particles" (OED).Any excuse for a food photoOf course, these two meanings of 'fine' are related - fine jewellery, which has "delicate or intricate workmanship" (another OED meaning of fine), is probably of "high quality". There is an association between being small and delicate, and being of high quality - which, sadly, isn't true in every case, as my vegetable soup showed.All these meanings of fine have the same origin - the Latin word 'finire', which also gave us the English word ...

London Lite and £4m notes 2007-07-08 09:13:00 Yes, it's time to mock free London newspaper London Lite again. This time I was amused by a headline regarding a 'gang of cash conterfeiters': "Prison for £4m notes cheats".If I received a £4m note in my change, or indeed from the cash machine, I would probably assume it was counterfeit...Later in the story, we are told:Ringleader Kenneth Howe, 35, of Rainham, was arrested after he tried to outrun police cars and two helicoptersClever boy all round is our Kenneth. ...

The navy's here 2007-07-06 12:03:00 Today one of the writers in our care came up with "unchartered territory". A routine malapropism for "uncharted", of course, but it left me musing on how many of our phrases have their roots in the Royal Navy. "Uncharted" clearly means "off the map" but one of my favourites is rather more obscure: "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey". The good news is, it isn't rude and has nothing to do with chilled simian genetalia. Quite simply, in the days of fighting sail a small number of cannonballs were often kept on deck for immediate use. They were stored in a brass frame known as a monkey (probably because the boys who brought gunpowder from the magazine were known as powder monkeys). In exceptionally cold weather the brass could contract enough to dislodge the iron balls. Another balls-related phrase you can use in front of granny is (for an engine) "running balls out". Steam engines need to be governed to stop them revving too fast and exploding. The governor incorporates ...

A blog with supergeniusitude 2007-07-06 06:54:00 I'd like to use my post today to tell you about one of my favourite blogs, Mark Peters' Wordlustitude.Mark collects examples of amusing but ephemeral words which otherwise might disappear forever. Each of the words comes with a real-life citation so you can be fairly sure he's not making them up himself.To give you a flavour of the kind of words on the site (and some of them are quite close to the bone, so be warned), here are a few of my recent favourites. I think most of the meanings are self-evident:supergeniusitudenutsopathpope-o-licious (infallible)non-honkifiedsexbombishI'm adding Wordlustitude to our blogroll (in the bottom right-hand corner of the blog) so you'll be able to find it eaily - it's updated fairly often. ...

Universal sentence 2007-07-04 11:22:00 Is this the ultimate use-anywhere sentence? It landed on my desk as part of an otherwise reasonable feature:It is not possible to plan for every eventuality but spotting potential problems early and taking appropriate steps and, where necessary, advice is essential.Here's a challenge to any subs who happen to spot this blog – drop this sentence into the next feature you sub and see if anyone notices. ...

Don't mess with Beethoven 2007-07-04 05:04:00 We've had an interesting query from Clare:I need a word inventing. Any ideas?Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata was originally composed for and with, a fascinating man called Bridgetower. The poor bloke fell out with Beethoven (over a woman) so he dedicated it instead to a chap called Kreutzer.So despite it being originally written for Bridgetower, and Bridgetower playing it, which is something Kreutzer never did because he said it was too difficult, Bridgetower has slipped out of the history.There’s a word for that, but I can’t think what it is. The only one I can think of is 'bummer'.Beethoven: not a happy bunnyThe word that comes immediately to mind is 'Kreutzered', as in 'Bridgetower was Kreutzered by Beethoven'. I checked with Apus and he concurred, adding that it sounded "suitably Germanic".I thought also that the story is a classical music version of gazumping - in a way, Bridgetower was gazumped as Beethoven's friend by Kreutzer - but I'm not sure this word has ever been ...

Let's talk about biscuits! 2007-07-03 03:40:00 I share JD's fascination with biscuits, and have the waistline to prove it. But while I enjoy the odd packet of chocolate chip cookies, my favourite remains the noble Bourbon.And yes, the OED confirms that in this context Bourbon takes a capital letter (it gives no reason for this; possibly the lexicographers were simply revealing their respect for a great biscuit).American tourists must be confused by Bourbon biscuits, bourbon being a form of American whisky. But isn't it odd that while the biscuit gets a B the whisky makes do with a b, despite taking its name from (capitalised) Bourbon County in Kentucky.And once they've recovered from the disappointment that Bourbon biscuits contain no whisky, our colonial cousins have to climb a steep learning curve as they work out that to a Brit a cookie is a type of biscuit while to an American a biscuit is a type of cake. Two nations divided by a common language? More a case of two nations divided by a common biscuit.JD, now you know how, ma ...