EDITOR – The English language boasts the Oxford and many other dictionaries and the Afrikaans has the WAT and HAT.
All the wordsmiths of these dictionaries would like to believe that they are in step with the dynamics of the languages. We have slang eventually taken up in dictionaries becoming accepted words on every tongue.
What they omit is to attend to is the reverse dynamics where accepted words become slang. If you are streetwise you should have picked it up already. A phrase used in some churches during Easter services when declaring the resurrection is when the minister would call out “Jesus is come” and the congregation in chorus repeats the words, just to see the teenagers giggling during a somber moment.
The existing alternative would be ‘He is risen’. Then there is a hymn that includes the words ‘Morning Glory’. They must also find another word for ‘stab’ or ‘stabbed’ in Afrikaans. On the radio news this morning they announced the following: “Radio omroeper word beskuldig van die moord van sy vriendin deurdat hy haar dood gesteek het”. You may say I’m double minded but knowing that makes you equally minded. All people cherish their language and some get quite neurotic about its correct use yet we omit to attend to the onslaught of slang on any language.
Most car manufacturers when deciding on a name for a new model vehicle the chosen designation is firstly circulated throughout the world to ensure the name for the product is not offensive and does not have an embarrassing meaning in another language. Maybe the academics reading this can whisper in the right persons’ ears.
