In an everchanging world, we are always introducing ‘new words’ or phrases. Of course, we are also seeing some words being deleted, but this usually takes longer. Many of these words are from cultural additions but over the last century, many of them involve military terms and items involving the ever-expanding electrical and computer genres. Here are some words of terms that have been introduced from the first half of the 20th Century.
- Birthday card – (1902) a greeting card sent to someone on their birthday. From the book ‘Little Folks’.
- Garage – (1902) a building for the storage and shelter of motor vehicles. From the French ‘Gare’ – a station.
- Recycle – (1929) originally a technical term used mainly in the oil-refinery industry and later the nuclear industry. The more widespread application to the processing of waste is not recorded until 1960.
- Throw-away – (1928) designed to be thrown away after use (a glib metaphor for 20th century civilisation).
- Bingo – (1936) a game we all are familiar with originally from the USA and when it moved to England, became for a while known as housey-housey.
- Soap opera – (1939) a radio or television serial dealing especially with domestic situations and often characterised by melodrama and sentimentality. Many of the early sponsors (in America) were soap manufacturers. The abbreviated form soap, is first recorded in 1943.
- Jet engine – (1943) an engine utilising ‘jet propulsion’ (a term first recorded in 1867 but the first practical ‘jet engine’ was not developed until the 1930s by Australian, Frank Whittle. The term ‘jet’, referring to a plane, was not recorded in English until 1944.
- Sixty-four dollar question – (1942) originally, the question posed at the climax of a US radio quiz called ‘Take It or Leave It’ (1941-48). When the show transferred to US television in 1955, the top prize inflated spectacularly to ‘Sixty-four thousand dollars’; and this too has entered the language.
- Artificial intelligence – (1956) the term AI was first recorded in 1981. So, who decided that AI is a new thing? It’s been around for years, and we are all duped into thinking that it is a relatively new phenomenon.
- Fast food – (1951) from the US describing food that can be served quickly at a catering outlet or prepared quickly at home.
(from: A Century of New Words by John Ayto)
Bob Marshall