Linguistics

Swedish physician and botanist Carolus Linnaeus (AKA Carl von Linné) would have been 300 years old today.  Known as the father of modern taxonomy, he developed the system of scientific nomenclature we use in one form or another to this day: Kingdom, Class, Order, Genus, Species, Variety.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau said of him: “I know no greater man on earth.” August Strindberg eulogized him as “a poet who happened to become a naturalist.” And Swiss physiologist Albrecht von Haller called him “the second Adam” because, like the first man, he named every living thing.

Here are some fun facts about Carl:

At the time he lived, most Swedes had no family name. When he entered the University of Lund, he invented the surname Linnaeus after the linn ‘linden tree’ that served as his family crest.

He included a variety of mythological creatures (including the troglodyte, satyr, hydra, and phoenix) in his system of classification.

He was the first person to figure out how to grow bananas in Europe.

He made a habit of naming ugly plants after his critics. Hmmm.

A tip of the hat to UC Santa Cruz linguist Geoffrey K. Pullum, posting at Language Log:

“NEVER use a trademark as a verb”, said the International Trademark Association very firmly (in a web page that has now been removed, but they still publish very similar advice in a PDF brochure you can get here); “Trademarks are products or services, never actions.” As I remarked in this post, they barely know what they’re talking about when it comes to grammar (trademarks are never products or services; they are nouns denoting products or services), and most companies, despite paying lip service to the rules, don’t even follow the rules themselves. A spectacular example occurs in The New Yorker this week, on page 67. Under the face of a sheepish-looking young woman is the legend, “OK, so I Zappos at work.” And the advertisment adds, “Check out our outstanding service and massive selection of shoes and apparel and you’ll Zappos, too.” So they can use their trademark as a verb; it’s just you who shouldn’t. Just ignore the trademark prescriptivists; to hell with them. Zappos your shoes, xerox your copies, hoover the floor. Tell them all they can sue you.

When your marketing and legal departments are operating at cross-purposes, common sense should prevail. You want your customer to use your name as a verb; it means your brand owns your category. That’s what’s known as a great problem to have!

The American Dialect Society has selected plutoed as its 2006 Word of the Year. To be plutoed is to be demoted or devalued, as in the case of the late planet Pluto, which has been reclassified by the International Astronomical Union as a dwarf planet.

Plutoed narrowly beat out climate canary for the honor.  A climate canary is defined as “any organism or species whose poor health or declining numbers hint at a larger environmental catastrophe on the horizon.”  Climate canary did receive a consolation prize, being named the Most Useful Wordof the Year.

Other notable new terms include lactard (a person who is lactose-intolerant), to julie (to organize an event, in the manner of The Love Boat’s cruise director Julie McCoy), and snowclone (an expression who’s structure is borrowed to create new, similar expressions, e.g. X is the new Y).  Snowcloning is a favorite technique of copywriters everywhere.

Founded in 1889, the American Dialect Society is dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it.

The American Dialect Society has selected truthiness as its 2005 Word of the Year. Defined as putting those things you wish to be true ahead of what is known to be true, the term was recently popularized by satirist Stephen Colbert on his Comedy Central show The Colbert Report.

The Society also honored podcast as the Most Useful Word of the Year, whale tail (the exposure of the upper portion of a thong) as the Most Creative, K Fed (a nickname for Kevin Federline, the current husband of Britney Spears) as the Most Unnecessary, crotchfruit (a slang term for children, on the analogy of the term ‘fruit of one’s loins) the Most Outrageous, and sudoku (a number puzzle first popularized in Japan) as the Word Most Likely To Succeed.

Founded in 1889, the American Dialect Society is dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it. Another fine group of linguists, talking tirelessly on your behalf! (Reposted)