Where do all the old words go?

Category: Ramblings | Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:08 pm

I talked to an old farmer earlier this week. During the conversation he used words I haven't heard since my grandmother passed away, and words I didn't understand the meaning of at all. I was curious enough to ask him to explain them, and he had to use many words to replace the one he had used before. The words described bear cubs at different ages, the feel of dry hay, the amount of hay given to a cow, the quality of the wind blowing and the texture of melting snow, amongst other things.

As we talked, I realized that the words he used are needless these days. They're of no use to us anymore. Nobody has seen a bear cub in our area for nigh on 100 years, and their age-describing words are only used in place names. The names were probably given because there once was a bear den, and one shouldn't venture too near it. As for hay, well, no farmer will put poles in the ground, thread three heights of wire between them and hang grass to dry. It's too time consuming, it has to be done by hand, and the silage bales are easier to do, easier to store and easier to move with the tractor. If they want dry hay, they invest in a hay dryer and install it in their barns. The cows get to eat all the silage they want in order to keep the milk production up, and there's never a question of having to ration the hay to make it last all winter. The winds are measured and named according to Beaufort, and whether it's a cold one, chilly one, mild one or warm one is irrelevant information. We won't die from exposure in our heated cars anyway. As far as snow is concerned, we've either got too little, too much or too heavy. We don't need to know the texture, because we don't need to ski on it in order to get anywhere anymore.

I felt very sad when I realized that lots and lots of words that were crucial to our forefathers are now becoming obsolete. Of course, we've got new words that are crucial to us now, but I still can't help feeling sorry for all those old, well-worn words that are going out of use and into oblivion. Some of those words have been needed for hundreds of years. They've got places named after them, but we've forgotten what the words mean, and now they're just place names. And I started wondering where they all end up.

I'm picturing an old words' home somewhere, an ancient landscape where the words are gathering one after the other when people forget about them. There they are, all in a jumble, making sounds that are meaningless to our ears. We'll never find them there and get them back into everyday use. At least not until they're needed again.

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toni wrote on Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:16 pm:

What an interesting thought. Hopefully there is a dictionary of old words and phrases somewhere to keep them from becoming lost forever.

CritterPainter wrote on Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:34 pm:

One old word I wouldn't miss, "outhouse"
Seriously though, a very poignant entry. Wonder how many are already lost to us.

Sjoerd wrote on Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:01 am:

What a nice article you wrote, Droopy. I think that this subject is one that would strike a familiar cord with many people there. Perhaps you should submit it to a newspaper. I would be willing it bet that you would get a large number of responces (depending upon the circulation of the newspaper). Even if you did not get alot of responces, your article would set a large number of readers to thinking...and remembering.
This was a good posting, many thanks.

eileen wrote on Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:31 am:

I've actually bought a Scottish dictionary which contains all the old Scots words and phrases. Strangely enough, although I haven't heard a lot of them for years, I still know the meanings of many of them. The dictionary will be passed on to my children as I'd hate them to lose such a vital part of their heritage.

glendann wrote on Fri Mar 14, 2008 2:44 am:

What a great great thought .What come to mind was my grandad .He would say things like smidgin for a small amount and if you ask him haw he was he would say tolarably well.
That is someting I haven't thought of in a while.

Palm Tree wrote on Fri Mar 14, 2008 7:26 am:

What you wrote about here also got me thinking of the many words that are lost as the generations grow.
On the other hand - words being lost is not really lost, it can also be viewed as a language evolving, a language that is growing a language that is not dead - not spoken (like Latin which is used in the same way that it was used for centuries and only referred to for scientific purposes and legal matters.) I am sure that as some words got lost, new ones were added to the language.
One such example that I am thinking of is the word "kieriegeld" which means (literally translated to English - cane and money) This particular word grew over many decades into the word pension. There are so many more of these words - too numerous and frightening to think that they will not be used again by future generations. Eileen is right to say that one should consider placing all these "obsolete" words with their meanings in a dictionary.

Droopy wrote on Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:07 am:

Like CP there are some words I won't miss, and like Palm I also see them evolving into more modern versions. I hear there are people gathering words like crazy now, and I hope it's not too late. Even if they're not needed, they're an important part of history.

Frank wrote on Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:56 am:

I'm with Sjoerd on the submitting to a newspaper idea, this blog entry was very thought-provoking. Occasionally I'll heard the odd strange word come from my parents and I always brush it off as a word I don't know. It never occurred to me that they may be 'words on the way out'.