January 09 2012
Two Words?
Two letters over the week – the first a quest for an elusive word that may not exist. While the second is an opinion poll of sorts. Let’s go to the word-search first, with an email from Evan:
I’ve always wanted to know if there is a word to specifically describe the scintillating effect of sunlight upon the sea? I’m referring to a specific sparkly effect that you might see at the beach, on a sunny/hazy day, looking at the water as seen from a raised position, a clifftop or hill. It probably only occurs at distances of no more than half a mile.
You know what I’m talking about? – that effect of sunlight on the water, a million little reflections, firing independantly, like a mirror ball? It’s a common enough Aussie sight, but I’ve never heard of any specific word to describe it. I’m an ex-Melbournite, so I guess that sight particularly characterises Sydney to me.
Coruscation? That’s a start. What else?
Now to Email 2, the so-called opinion poll, again with a splash of Sydney to it. This comes from a Wordplay reader called Martin:
There is a large Coke billboard in Neutral Bay which is around the idea of putting a name on a Coke bottle. Anyway the words go something like “xxx is in the military….”. I cant imagine any Australian saying this – surely this is an American saying this. We would say the Army, Navy etc, and the Brits may use the phrase “forces”.
However I can’t think Coke would have used the phrase without knowing that it is now in the Australian vernacular. Maybe this language is being used in Coke’s target market – ie people a lot younger than me. Don’t know why it puzzles me really, but every time i pass it, I get this sense of American colonisation.
Whose side are you on? What terms do you enlist?
Comments
SK — 09 January at 04:01PM
As a seaside Sydneysider I have always associated "shimmer" with the effect that Evan describes. Not sue if there is a technically more appropriate word.
Ah yes, the Americanisation (or is that spelt with a zee?) of our youth. My 12 yo daughter has long been convinced that she would call 911 in the event of emergency. We are holidaying in the US at the moment so I guess we are safe for the next couple of weeks anyway...
....but the one the really bugs me is the spread of American sporting lingo. I'm thinking specifically of the term "assist", which has always been used in basketball, American football etc. Real football (ie the round ball variety...sorry if I'm insulting anybody's individual preferences) survived happily for centuries without adopting this term. But it now pops up regularly in the English Premier League commentaries, and player stats are now including their number of "assists". Really?
DA — 09 January at 04:10PM
Americanizaiton [sic] is hard to stem, or modify at least, with sport seeming to be the tallest trash pile:
endzone
de-fence & offence (for attack)
A-game
dugout
freeze/ice the clock
(Monday) quarterback
MVP, etc
RobT — 09 January at 04:37PM
Grand Final rings a la Superbowl. What was wrong with medals.
'Done' instead of 'finished'.
However, at least we seem to have got rid of 'Xerox'.
PRS — 09 January at 07:00PM
I'd use scintillating.
And as for "Grand" Final - why Grand? Final is Final. I assume it's our need to make things sound "grander" than they really are - if you removed all the superlatives from a 30-second ad, it would run 8-10 seconds!
I agree with Martin re 'military' - if we had to use a generic term it would be 'armed forces' or 'services.'