Word wonderment

 

In cleaning up my desk the other day, I found a scrap of paper on which I’d written three words – mimesis, semiosis and synecdoche – as you do. They were words I’d come across more than once and didn’t know their meaning. Now, I love words. I’ve been reading virtually non-stop since I was four so I’ve accumulated a lot of them. I possess several dictionaries and use them frequently to find out the meaning of words and their pronunciation, particularly the shorter Oxford in a book and the absolutely enormous Oxford online. So I’ve looked up the meanings of my three words and lay them out here for your delectation!

Mimesis:

 *The way in which the real world and human behaviour is represented in art or literature.

*The fact of a particular social group changing their behaviour by copying the behaviour of another social group.

*In biology the fact of a plant or animal developing a similar appearance to another plant or animal

*In medicine the fact of a set of symptoms suggesting that somebody has a particular disease, when in fact that person has a different disease or none

Semiosis

The study of signs and symbols and of their meaning and use. (This sounds approachable, but if you look up semiotics you find a spew of words illustrating an idea which for me is incomprehensible including the difference between semiotics and semantics. I wish you better luck in working it out!)

Synecdoche

A word or phrase in which a part of something is used to represent a whole, or a whole is used to represent a part of something. For example, in “Australia lost by two goals”, Australia here is used to represent the Australian team.

By the way, the second point under mimesis (which the Oxford tells me can be pronounced mi-mesis or mai-mesis) makes a lot of sense. It’s precisely what Jews in Australia’s early European history did to become accepted. Jews became seen as ordinary people who just went to church on Saturdays (the word synagogue was a bridge too far). Provided they didn’t frighten the horses they did just fine. The Jewish “gentry” of The Great Synagogue with their top hats and frock coats epitomised this mimesis.

A word which came my way recently and which I love and have since used is gallimaufry. A peculiar word but with a simple meaning: a heterogeneous mixture; a jumble or medley.

When I was growing up, the longest word in the dictionary was antidisestablishmentarianism which is opposition to a breaking away from an established church. Antidisestablishmentarianism is used to specifically refer to people who opposed withdrawing support of the Anglican Church of England during the 1800s. I just sense you need to know this.

Today it’s pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a technical word referring to the lung disease more commonly known as silicosis. Try slipping that into a conversation …

And then there’s the fraught issue of pronunciation – not pronOUNciation, dear. Australians don’t work hard at getting the pronunciation right. Just take the fact that a football team called the Maroons is pronounced Mar-OWNS, or that lots of people still call the cinema the pitchers.

For the absolutely final word on pronunciation, I bring to you the totally fabulous song from My Fair Lady, written by Alan Jay Lerner, where Professor Henry Higgins had this wonderful spew.

Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?

This verbal class distinction, by now,

Should be antique. If you spoke as she does, sir,

Instead of the way you do,

Why, you might be selling flowers, too!

Hear a Yorkshireman, or worse,

Hear a Cornishman converse,

I'd rather hear a choir singing flat.

Chickens cackling in a barn Just like this one!

Garn! I ask you, sir, what sort of word is that?

It's "Aoooow" and "Garn" that keep her in her place.

Not her wretched clothes and dirty face.

An Englishman's way of speaking absolutely classifies him,

The moment he talks he makes some other

Englishman despise him.

One common language I'm afraid we'll never get.

Oh, why can't the English learn to set

A good example to people whose

English is painful to your ears?

The Scotch and the Irish leave you close to tears.

There even are places where English completely

Disappears. In America, they haven't used it for years!

Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?

Norwegians learn Norwegian; the Greeks have taught their

Greek. In France every Frenchman knows

His language from "A" to "Zed"

The French never care what they do, actually,

As long as they pronounce in properly.

Arabians learn Arabian with the speed of summer lightning.

And Hebrews learn it backwards,

Which is absolutely frightening.

But use proper English you're regarded as a freak.

Oh, why can't the English learn to speak?

 

 

Quote of the week from Chambers Dictionary of Modern Quotations:

British lawyer Lord Denning: “When a diplomat says yes, he means perhaps. When he says perhaps, he means no. When he says no, he is not a diplomat. When a lady says no, she means perhaps. When she says perhaps, she means yes. But when she says yes, she is no lady.” (Based on a possibly apocryphal saying of Bismark’s)