A Century of Change

From plastic (1909) to podcasting (2004), A Century of New Words creates a vivid picture of the last 105 years through the words that defined each decade; it provides a unique journey though the history of the 20th century.

The following tasters from A Century of New Words give an insight into this fascinating book.

Do words shape an age or are they defined by it? Are our actions and modes of thought channelled by the vocabulary available to us for giving expression to them, or do we continually create our lexicon anew to reflect a changing world? The two propositions are far from mutually exclusive, but no doubt the rationalist would wish to emphasize the second of them. Every year that passes throws up new ideas, experiences, and inventions for which no name has hitherto existed, and since names are indispensable cogs in the machinery of communication, our natural human propensity for coining them soon plugs most gaps.

So, at a purely practical level, words are a language's response to circumstances. But - certainly when viewed in retrospect - can we not see the words of an era as giving shape to and summing up their time? They can be our terms of reference for a period - a decade, a crucial year, a whole century, perhaps a less definable stretch of history - which we constantly reinforce by usage, and which unfailingly conjure up their temporal origins. There are some words that possess that power to a high degree, and it is those lexical touchstones that form the subject matter of this collection.

Below is a small selection of some of the choicer 20th century neologisms. Enjoy!

napoo, napooh inter, adj, v (1915) originally an exclamation meaning 'done, finished, no more', but subsequently used adjectivally in the sense 'finished', and also 'dead', and as a verb, 'to finish or kill'. It represents a British soldiers' version of French (il n'y e)n a plus 'there's no more', picked up during war service in France.

health farm n (1927) a residential centre to which people go to improve their health or fitness (e.g. by exercise or dieting). The term, which originated in the US, is early evidence of the Western middle classes' increasing obsession with their bodies as the century progressed.

colour supplement n (1939) a supplement in a newspaper etc. containing coloured illustrations. By the 1960s the term had acquired the connotation 'sophisticated lifestyle'.

snog v (1945) to kiss and cuddle. The usage is a British colloquialism, also used as a noun. Its origins are obscure, although it may have something to do with dialectal snug 'to lie close together, cuddle'. It has maintained a remarkable consistency of usage among adolescents over the decades, and in the 1990s enjoyed a new lease of life as a transitive verb.

Parkinson's law n (1955) a principle enunciated by the British historian and journalist Cyril Northcote Parkinson (1909-93); work expands to fill the time available for its completion. He used the term as the title of a book, first published in 1957.

Dalek n (1963) a type of evil robot appearing in 'Doctor Who', a BBC television science-fiction programme. Its mobile-dustbin appearance and tinny voice intoning 'Exterminate! Exterminate!' made it a cult figure in the 1960s and 1970s.

have a nice day (1971) used as a conventional formula on parting. It originated in the US, and is considered (and in some quarters reviled) as the archetypical American parting shot.

anorak n (1984) a boring, studious, or socially inept young person (caricatures as typically wearing an anorak); especially, one who pursues an unfashionable and solitary interest with obsessive dedication.

bling n, adj (1999) originally, ostentatious or flashy jewellery. The word emerged, apparently as a verbal realization of the visual effect of light being reflected off gems or precious metals, in the slang of rappers and hip-hopsters. It rapidly broadened out in application to denote ostentatious and usually tasteless displays of wealth.

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