http://www.ted.com/talks/anne_curzan_what_makes_a_word_real/transcript?language=en#t-994043
Summary:
Anne Curzan's TED Talk, "What makes a word 'real'?" discusses just that; what defines a word as being real and who decides if they are or are not. This talk was interesting because Curzan's point of view made this article easier to relate to through the ways she set up the argument and gave examples.
She started with an opening and explained a little about herself about how she is an english professor and where she got her start with learning about this topic of words and where they come from. Cruzan then brought up the first scenario to start the whole talk off when she discussed how she first came across the word "defriended" which sparked her interest into the idea of what makes words real or not. Many people believe that if a word is really real, then it must be in the dictionary. Cruzan then raises an interesting question which even I myself was wondering, "Who writes these dictionaries?". She challenges these ideas throughout the article to give a reader the feeling of being on the same side.
This article mainly talks about how societies words have changed and many people still go agaisnt the idea that these new formations of words are real. However, Anne Cruzan points out how widely accepted they are and their inevitability to stick in society and stay. She mentions that the dictionary is trying to stay "cutting edge" and "up to date" with the most recent influx of new words. She closes with the fact that in a way we are writing the dictionary, we are writing the rules. The people who write are paying attention to us, so when a community of people use the same word it has to be real. If an overall population of people widely accept a word and consistently use it then it must be real.
This TED Talk raised a few questions for me, although it also answered some. I too wondered if we are questioning if words are real then who decides if they are or are not, who has the final say. Anne Cruzan helped me understand that we as a society have the decision to determine if a word is real or not. The people who write the dictionaries are listening to us, because we are helping them. Another question this talk raised for me is if there is any extent to a word being real. One of her last statement was, "If a community of speakers is using a word and knows what it means, it's real" but to that I would say, if only certain groups of people know about the word then is it real to them but not everyone else?
"Dictionaries are a wonderful guide and resource, but there is no objective dictionary authority out there that is the final arbiter about what words mean. If a community of speakers is using a word and knows what it means, it's real. That word might be slangy,that word might be informal, that word might be a word that you think is illogical or unnecessary, but that word that we're using, that word is real."
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Key Words/Phrases:
- Hangry: An example of a slang word that Anne Cruzan mentioned that has a widely accepted meaning of being hungry and angry at the same time.
- American Dialect Society: An annual meeting where a group of researchers come together to decide on a word of the year.
- Usage Notes: Notes included in the American Heritage Dictionaries to tell you how to properly use a word.
- Usage Panel: Trusted body of language authorities who deicde on words to be placed in the dictionary and how they should be used.