Is That a Real Word?
Most of us remember the old adage “Ain’t ain’t in the dictionary.” Because of that expression, we knew we were not supposed to use that nonstandard term.
However, today, and probably even when we were children, ain’t is in the dictionary. It is listed as a nonstandard contraction for “am not, are not, is not, have not, and has not.” Many dictionaries also note that the contraction is used in popular culture and for emphasis. My musical-loving friends will cite it in songs like “Ain’t Misbehaving” or “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.”
You see, dictionaries are descriptive, not prescriptive, meaning that they list words that have become common in everyday language. Some of us purists balk at that, but there’s history to it.
For one of my master’s classes, I wrote a paper analyzing the book The Story of English by Robert McCrum, Robert MacNeil, and William Cran, which is now in its third edition. Two facts stood out:
William Shakespeare invented as many as 1,700 words, some of which were in common use during his time but not yet considered “words.”
According to estimates from my 1986 version of the book, English has 500,000 words compared to 185,000 German words and fewer than 100,00 for the French. Nearly 30 years later, the numbers are probably larger, but I’m betting the percentages are the same.
The conclusion is that we English speakers like to mess with words. Here are some examples of said messing and my biased opinions on each:
Making up a word that is similar to and means the same thing as another word: irregardless, which means the same thing as “regardless” – for example, “Irregardless of how you acted last night, I still love you.” Yes, it’s a word that has been around since the early 20th century, maybe even the late 18th century as a combination of irrespective and regardless. Roseann’s take: Despite its presence in dictionaries, irregardless is still almost universally considered “wrong.” I wouldn’t use it.
Using an existing word in a way it was not originally intended: impact as a verb meaning “to have an effect (impact) on” – for example, “That fact impacts the way I see the world.” According to the Merriam-Webster’s grammar site, we began arguing against the figurative use of impact as an intransitive verb in the early 20th century. By the late 20th century, we had embraced it. Ah, but we hate to be told not to do something! Roseann’s take: I’m fuzzy on this one. Since impact originally related to a collision, the verb has moved us away from that. I’m not opposed to it, but I tend to use affect or influence more often.
Changing the spelling of an existing word: the adverb underway as one word, as opposed to the two words of under way, meaning “in motion” – for example, “After piling into the car, we were underway.” The original one-word spelling was for use only as an adjective – for example, “Our underway trip is going to take eight hours.” Most dictionaries list underway, one word, as an adjective first and then an adverb, saying “also, under way.” Roseann’s take: I bow to peer pressure on this one and go with one word as the adverb.
Overuse of curse words: I’m not one who curses; I just never picked up the habit. However, curse words have their place, especially in times of deep distress. When a person overuses a word such as the F word or the S word, then when he or she really needs to let loose, those words no longer have their power. Similar to times that a speaker overuses a standard phrase, such as “actually” or “you know,” overcursing simply sounds as if the speaker needs to improve his or her vocabulary. Roseann’s take: Ask yourself, “Would I say this to my kindergarten teacher?” And if you have time to ask yourself that, then it’s not a time of distress, and you don’t need to curse. Just between us, I’m often more offended by taking the Lord’s name in vain, such as the use of JC as a curse. (Check out Beem Weeks’s blog “To Cuss or Not to Cuss: Swear Words in Fiction.”)
If you haven’t read my books yet, I can tell you that they feature no cursing, as well as no use of irregardless. And April 3 through 7, the e-book version of All for Good is free on Amazon.
Oh, I finished the first draft of Nathan and Sophia’s story, tentatively titled A New Heart. On to the editing!
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