Monday (n., slang):used by whites or other non-blacks as a hostile term of abuse or contempt for a black person. A black Boston Red Sox outfielder recently alleged that an off-duty police officer had called him “Monday.” An investigation ensued, and the officer was soon dismissed for making racist comments. This, of course, left sports media confused about how Monday, a seemingly innocuous day of the week, had become covert racial abuse. Language guru Ben Zimmer did his own investigation and traced the usage back to at least 2004, explaining that comedian Russell Peters later “put ‘Monday’ on the map” in a comedy routine about how “white people are getting real…clever with their racism.” The comedian’s reasoning: “Nobody likes Mondays.” Perhaps “Friday”seemed a bit too high-brow for their purposes.
Interview on WFAE’s “Charlotte Talks” about the history of English idioms (July 31, 2012).
Actors tell each other to “break a leg” before going on stage. Here at Charlotte Talks we like to do shows that are “a horse of a different color” and we certainly strive to spend time “off the beaten path.” So today, we explore the history behind some of the most well-known phrases in the English language. Some histories may be known but others will be “brand spanking new.” And, along the way, our experts will debunk some phrase origins to help you take them “with a grain of salt.” So, don’t “bust our chops,” “if you can’t beat us, join us” for a history of idioms.
Guests:
Ralf Thiede – Associate Professor for Applied Linguistics, UNC Charlotte
Ben Zimmer – Executive Producer, Visual Thesaurus and Vocabulary.com
Interview on the WGBH show Boston Public Radio about the increasing casualness of political communication. (July 9, 2012)
FDR’s fireside chats are among the earliest examples of a president speaking directly to the people. But what if he had been texting, and tweeting instead? What kind of persona would he have? And how much folksy charm would he be able to get away with?
Linguist Ben Zimmer looks at how today’s politicians, particularly Mitt Romney and President Obama, are getting extremely casual and faux-familiar when it comes to communicating with us in email and out there in cyberspace.
Interviewed by Sarah Fishko for the WNYC show “Fishko Files” about the origins of the title “Ms.” (June 28, 2012)
Ben Zimmer – a language columnist, linguist and lexicographer – traced the earliest origins of “Ms.” to a November 1901 edition of The Sunday Republican of Springfield, Massachusetts. In the article the writer called for “a more comprehensive term which does homage to the sex without expressing any views to their domestic situation.”
A recent article in The Washington Post points out that most members of congress are actually avoiding the term “congress” in their campaign ads, since the institution is so unpopular right now. What other buzzwords are politicians avoiding in 2012? And which ones are they emphasizing? We talk to Ben Zimmer about trends in campaign rhetoric in 2012.
Interviewed on the CBC Radio Show “Q with Jian Ghomeshi” over how dictionaries get caught in the crossfire in debates over the meaning of “marriage” (at 16:30 in the audio). (June 15, 2012)
Ground zero originated at the end of World War II as a military term for the detonation site of atomic bombs, then came to be used more broadly to mean a center of activity, according to linguist Ben Zimmer, who has written on the subject. News organizations began using the term for the destroyed World Trade Center within just hours of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack.
“It served as a very useful label in the same way that ‘9/11’ became a shorthand,” Zimmer says.
But “as the building has risen, using that term ground zero seems inappropriate because it is the site of construction and not destruction,” he says. “If you’re going to work in that building, you wouldn’t say you work at ground zero. That wouldn’t make any sense at all.”
He says ground zero could remain common usage in discussing such things as illnesses suffered by those who cleaned up the site, since “that’s specifically anchored to that time and place, what they experienced.”
Interview on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” about the debates over defining “marriage.” (June 14, 2012)
In a recent column, Ben Zimmer wrote, “Is there any word currently more contested in our culture than marriage?” As the debate about same-sex marriage continues, he examines the definition of marriage and the ways advocates and opponents of same-sex unions use language to advance their positions.
Interview with Patt Morrison on Southern California Public Radio about a report on the “grade level” of Congressional speech. (May 23, 2012)
Is there something to be said for speaking simply? Do tests like the Flesch-Kincaid undervalue conciseness? Do these ratings have anything do with actual smarts? What do you think of the level of dialogue in Congress? How do you want your politicians to communicate with you?
Guests:
Lee Drutnam, senior fellow, Sunlight Foundation; member of the team responsible for the study; adjunct professor, political science, John Hopkins University
Ben Zimmer, language columnist, Boston Globe; executive producer, Visual Thesaurus and Vocabulary.com