More than 60 Seconds with Paul McFedries

McFedries: In a big event you will see new language because you always need new language to describe new things. A good example was Enron, which generated tons of new words: Enron as a verb, Enronista, En-ron-around, tons of new words. Another one that threw up lots of new words was the second Gulf war. Most of those were just military speak--military jargon--that people just let go unless they could find some way of incorporating it into a broader context. But how do you really use "decapitation strike" in a broader context? But you would see things like a "target-rich environment"--so you can see how that might be used in business.

FC: "Post-crash realism" is a phrase in your book. Is that where language is now?

McFedries: New words are so broad based that you can't put them under one umbrella. In terms of the dotcom world, you're certainly not seeing the hyped-up language. The tech sector has always been one of the big generators of new words, and that hasn't slowed down, even though the whole sector itself in the doldrums. What you're seeing less of is the real jargony speech of the press releases--there seems to be a bit of a backlash against stuff like that. One of the consulting firms put out a bullshit meter--a little software application that you run over your memo and it would flag all the meaningless buzzwords like "paradigm shift." The words you're seeing now coming from that sector are focusing more and more on the technology--and I think a big part of the tech language is on security and viruses and hackers and privacy. Spam is an example. People are getting very concerned about it, so you're starting to see lots of words come out. I just came across Spam Rage this morning.

FC: What's the outlook for language in 2004?

McFedries: It's always hard to predict, and that's part of the fun. Though I think one of the driving forces in the culture in general and therefore in the language in particular, is what the baby boom does. We're getting to the point now where the oldest boomers are 56 this year. They're getting older, and they're getting into retirement age. So we've had recent words such as boomeritis, which is injuries caused by an aging body doing things it could do in its youth that it can't do anymore. You'll probably see more words [about "downshifting"] because more people are realizing that working 80 hours a week to get whatever you think you might need in life is not really the recipe for happiness.

FC: Is there an all-time most popular word on your Word Spy Web site?

McFedries: "Metrosexual" is number one. Second is "flashmob." And third is Google as a verb. It's one of the most interesting words I've come across in the past eight years. Someone told me that he told his daughter to hurry up and get ready to leave, and she said, "Hang on, I'm googling my other sock." It's become this all-purpose synonym for searching, not just searching on the web.

FC: It's a dream come true for marketing... to be synonymous with the very act that people are using it for.

McFedries: Well, yeah, but they're really litigious when it comes to people using it. "Google" has been on the site since April 2001, and last spring, the company contacted me and said Google is a trademark and that they didn't like me using it. So I sent a note to the American Dialect Society. A bunch of people responded, and they basically all said the same thing: you can't trademark a verb. My definition is for the verb. The definition is still there, but in my notes I say that Google as a noun is a trademark of Google Inc. It is obviously great in a marketing sense, but they are concerned about it as a trademark holder. Some trademarks have been deemed generic now. There are certain ones that the courts have decided are generic--that have lost their trademark. That is one of the reasons why so many companies are vigilant about their brands.

FC: Jeez. You make a word, it's a huge success, and you lose control of your own invention.

McFedries: A lot of words we use today are like that. Zipper was once a trademarked term. Aspirin. Escalator. Yo-yo. Linoleum. That's called "genericide," by the way, if you lose your trademark.

FC: Here's something that needs a word: You get spam in your inbox, and the subject line is disguised to keep you from filtering it out. How about a McFedries original?

McFedries: "Spamouflage." Camouflaging the spam. More than half of all the email traffic now is spam.

FC: I just Googled "spamouflage" and got 106 listings...

McFedries: There you go. That's something I call "self-coinage"--a phenomenon where you make up a word and find out later that it already exists.