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.They entered the teen-age vocabulary in about1966; by 1967 they were out.You cannot use a time criterion for slang any more.One fact contributing to the rapid introduction and obsolescence of words is theincredible speed with which a new word can be injected into wide usage.In the late 1950'sand early sixties one could actually trace the way in which certain scholarly jargon wordssuch as "rubric" or "subsumed" were picked up from academic journals, used in small-circulation periodicals like the New York Review of Books or Commentary, then adopted byEsquire with its then circulation of 800,000 to 1,000,000, and finally diffused through thelarger society by Time, Newsweek and the larger mass magazines.Today the process has beentelescoped.The editors of mass magazines no longer pick up vocabulary from theintermediate intellectual publications alone; they, too, lift directly from the scholarly press intheir hurry to be "on top of things."When Susan Sontag disinterred the word "camp" and used it as the basis of an essay inPartisan Review in the fall of 1964, Time waited only a few weeks before devoting an articleto the word and its rejuvenator.Within a matter of a few additional weeks, the term wascropping up in newspapers and other mass media.Today the word has virtually dropped outof usage."Teenybopper" is another word that came and went with blinding speed.A more significant example of language turnover can be seen in the sudden shift ofmeaning associated with the ethnic term "black." For years, dark-skinned Americansregarded the term as racist.Liberal whites dutifully taught their children to use the term"Negro" and to capitalize the "N." Shortly after Stokely Carmichael proclaimed the doctrineof Black Power in Greenwood, Mississippi in June, 1966, however, "black" became a term ofpride among both blacks and whites in the movement for racial justice.Caught off guard,liberal whites went through a period of confusion, uncertain as to whether to use Negro orblack.Black was quickly legitimated when the mass media adopted the new meaning.Withina few months, black was "in," Negro "out."Even faster cases of diffusion are on record."The Beatles," says lexicographer Flexner,"at the height of their fame could make up any word they like, slip it into a record, and withina month it would be part of the language.At one time perhaps no more than fifty people inNASA used the word 'A-OK.' But when an astronaut used it during a televised flight, theword became part of the language in a single day.The same has been true of other spaceterms, too lik 'sputnik' or 'all systems go.'"As new words sweep in, old words vanish.A picture of a nude girl nowadays is nolonger a "pin-up" or a "cheesecake shot," but a "playmate." "Hep" has given way to "hip";"hipster" to "hippie." "Go-go" rushed eagerly into the language at breakneck speed, but it isalready gone-gone among those who are truly "with it."The turnover of language would even appear to involve non-verbal forms ofcommunication as well.We have slang gestures, just as we have slang words thumbs up ordown, thumb to nose, the "shame on you" gesture used by children, the hand moving acrossthe neck to suggest a throat-slitting.Professionals who watch the development of the gesturallanguage suggest that it, too, may be changing more rapidly.Some gestures that were regarded as semi-obscene have become somewhat moreacceptable as sexual values have changed in the society.Others that were used only by a fewhave achieved wider usage.An example of diffusion, Flexner observes, is the wider use todayof that gesture of contempt and defiance the fist raised and screwed about.The invasion ofItalian movies that hit the United States in the fifties and sixties probably contributed to this.Similarly, the upraised finger the "up yours" gesture appears to be gaining greater respectability and currency than it once had.At the same time, other gestures have virtuallyvanished or been endowed with radically changed meaning [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.They entered the teen-age vocabulary in about1966; by 1967 they were out.You cannot use a time criterion for slang any more.One fact contributing to the rapid introduction and obsolescence of words is theincredible speed with which a new word can be injected into wide usage.In the late 1950'sand early sixties one could actually trace the way in which certain scholarly jargon wordssuch as "rubric" or "subsumed" were picked up from academic journals, used in small-circulation periodicals like the New York Review of Books or Commentary, then adopted byEsquire with its then circulation of 800,000 to 1,000,000, and finally diffused through thelarger society by Time, Newsweek and the larger mass magazines.Today the process has beentelescoped.The editors of mass magazines no longer pick up vocabulary from theintermediate intellectual publications alone; they, too, lift directly from the scholarly press intheir hurry to be "on top of things."When Susan Sontag disinterred the word "camp" and used it as the basis of an essay inPartisan Review in the fall of 1964, Time waited only a few weeks before devoting an articleto the word and its rejuvenator.Within a matter of a few additional weeks, the term wascropping up in newspapers and other mass media.Today the word has virtually dropped outof usage."Teenybopper" is another word that came and went with blinding speed.A more significant example of language turnover can be seen in the sudden shift ofmeaning associated with the ethnic term "black." For years, dark-skinned Americansregarded the term as racist.Liberal whites dutifully taught their children to use the term"Negro" and to capitalize the "N." Shortly after Stokely Carmichael proclaimed the doctrineof Black Power in Greenwood, Mississippi in June, 1966, however, "black" became a term ofpride among both blacks and whites in the movement for racial justice.Caught off guard,liberal whites went through a period of confusion, uncertain as to whether to use Negro orblack.Black was quickly legitimated when the mass media adopted the new meaning.Withina few months, black was "in," Negro "out."Even faster cases of diffusion are on record."The Beatles," says lexicographer Flexner,"at the height of their fame could make up any word they like, slip it into a record, and withina month it would be part of the language.At one time perhaps no more than fifty people inNASA used the word 'A-OK.' But when an astronaut used it during a televised flight, theword became part of the language in a single day.The same has been true of other spaceterms, too lik 'sputnik' or 'all systems go.'"As new words sweep in, old words vanish.A picture of a nude girl nowadays is nolonger a "pin-up" or a "cheesecake shot," but a "playmate." "Hep" has given way to "hip";"hipster" to "hippie." "Go-go" rushed eagerly into the language at breakneck speed, but it isalready gone-gone among those who are truly "with it."The turnover of language would even appear to involve non-verbal forms ofcommunication as well.We have slang gestures, just as we have slang words thumbs up ordown, thumb to nose, the "shame on you" gesture used by children, the hand moving acrossthe neck to suggest a throat-slitting.Professionals who watch the development of the gesturallanguage suggest that it, too, may be changing more rapidly.Some gestures that were regarded as semi-obscene have become somewhat moreacceptable as sexual values have changed in the society.Others that were used only by a fewhave achieved wider usage.An example of diffusion, Flexner observes, is the wider use todayof that gesture of contempt and defiance the fist raised and screwed about.The invasion ofItalian movies that hit the United States in the fifties and sixties probably contributed to this.Similarly, the upraised finger the "up yours" gesture appears to be gaining greater respectability and currency than it once had.At the same time, other gestures have virtuallyvanished or been endowed with radically changed meaning [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]