Homework

 

I learnt that new words come into the English language through many different ways. For example people can name a product something and if it is used in everyday life then that name is then associated with the product and eventually becomes a word in the English language. Also words can come into the English language from other languages which we have adapted to make our own eg. Jusqu’au boutiste is a French word but during the war it was adapted to the English language as is means diehard. This could also suggest that words can enter the English language through events. As we adapt to using new words through experiences and many words we come across by accident and tend to continue using them or we change a certain word to become a new one.

 

I looked up the word Napoo which means gone/non-existent. This came into the English language from the French phrase "il n'y en a plus" meaning "There is (are) no more....."

 

Maconochie is another word that I looked up which is actually the name of a soup that they used to eat in the war. It was made by two brothers called Archibald and James Maconochie and so I believe they named their soup after themselves. This soup was apparently very disgusting when eaten cold however it tasted quite nice when heated up but most of the time it was eaten cold due to the conditions that they were in as they did not have enough time to heat it up.

 

The oxford English dictionary editors arrange the lists under the subheadings in alphabetical order and it seems to me that they almost listed the subheadings in chronological order as if to tell a story. This is interesting as it is almost telling the reader the little stories within all the wars and it continues through other wars to show how language as developed and changed throughout them all.

 

You could use this collection of words to investigate how some words came about and how they adapted and changed overtime to fit the new and evolving societies that it encounters. You could also investigate the amount of times the words are used in different eras or periods of history for example some words may be used more during wars as they are specifically related to war zones and can’t really be applied to everyday life eg. Foxhole.

You could link this to different time periods in history and see how language has evolved and how it differs to previous and possibly future generations.