Photo from http://www.westchesterlibraries.org/node/102.Back in the day, my family spent lots of time consulting the dictionary for correct spelling or precise meanings. But we also liked to make up words. My sister was the best at this. She coined a term for "scout's honor" that all of us use to this day. The term is "lart." If you say, for example, "I have a crush on Ian LaPage," and your sister says, "no way," you can say "lart" to show her how serious you are. If you go against lart, the punishment is two hits in a tender area (in your upper half). The punishment was rarely needed. The sanctity of "lart" was as deep as our loyalty to the family.
For some reason, all us Noels are pretty squeamish about vulgar words. We even have some acronyms that we used in place of bathroomy words: BAF (for "blow a ____") and TAS (for "take a _____"). My mom came up with one she only needed to use a couple times: GAF ("gushing amniotic fluid").
My family is not alone in our prudishness. Jesse Sheidlower wrote an article on slate.com that explores how difficult it's been to get vulgar words in the dictionary ("Can a Woman 'Prong' a Man? Why It's So Hard to Put Sex in the Dictionary"). For dictionary editors, defining a word can mean dealing with stereotypes, in this case about sexual practices.
Perhaps each family or social group should have their own dictionary. It could not only help the outsider decipher the group's lexicon ("I ate All the cookie batter--LART!"), but also reveal their values and priorities. In my family's case, the priorities would be to not utter a bathroom word and to prevent embarrassing gullibility. Worthy causes, I suppose.
For some reason, all us Noels are pretty squeamish about vulgar words. We even have some acronyms that we used in place of bathroomy words: BAF (for "blow a ____") and TAS (for "take a _____"). My mom came up with one she only needed to use a couple times: GAF ("gushing amniotic fluid").
My family is not alone in our prudishness. Jesse Sheidlower wrote an article on slate.com that explores how difficult it's been to get vulgar words in the dictionary ("Can a Woman 'Prong' a Man? Why It's So Hard to Put Sex in the Dictionary"). For dictionary editors, defining a word can mean dealing with stereotypes, in this case about sexual practices.
Perhaps each family or social group should have their own dictionary. It could not only help the outsider decipher the group's lexicon ("I ate All the cookie batter--LART!"), but also reveal their values and priorities. In my family's case, the priorities would be to not utter a bathroom word and to prevent embarrassing gullibility. Worthy causes, I suppose.
No comments:
Post a Comment