English is my Roman Empire 🏛️, sweary parrots 🦜, if a robot uses a word, is it a word? 🤖

Welcome to the latest instalment of English in Progress, the newsletter that keeps you updated on the English language. Fresh in your inbox once a month.

My name is Heddwen Newton. I am a translator and English teacher. I love discovering all the ways English is spoken; the ways in which it is used by different generations and by people from all over the world. (And parrots.)

Swearing

Foul-mouthed parrots are stars at a British zoo

How could I not feature the story of eight parrots, all donated from different places, who have learned colourful swears from their previous owners. The zoo first chose to isolate the first five birds from each other. But when they got three new sweary birds, they decided to let all of them join the big flock in the hopes that the swearing would be drowned out. The result is a ton of media attention, more swearing from human visitors trying to coax the parrots to swear than swearing from the parrots, and probably a pretty good increase in revenue for the zoo. Go parrots!

Reading time: 2 minutes / NPR (USA)

Best f#$*ing swearing of 2023

If you have not heard of the Strong Language blog, check it out. A group of linguists post about swears, it’s exactly as fun as you would expect. On of those linguists is Ben Zimmer, a very respectable academic who does very respectable interviews with the press and writes a very respectable language column in the Wall Street Journal. In this post, he lists the best effing swearing of 2023. There are categories such as best effing swearing in film, best effing swearing in music, and best effing swearing in politics.

Reading time: a lot / Strong Language (USA)

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Best of the month

Generative-AI rubbish online means AI ghost words are now a thing

There are thousands of websites pumping AI-generated articles into the world with vastly different confabulated meanings of the same human typos, such as “lrtsjerk”, “oridzin” and “xatpes”. Nobody is quite sure why this is happening.

Reading time: 6 minutes / English in Progress (UK; this is my own blog, just so you know)

How the Word of the Year vote happens at the American Dialect Society

It’s all pretty informal at the American Dialect Society, it turns out. “Debate topics included: whether there should be a category of words solely dedicated to the “Barbie” movie; whether “rizz” was doing enough to deserve the society’s continued attention; and whether political terms’ meanings could be grouped under the word “context.”” (I also highly recommend Because Language’s amusing interview with Grant Barrett about the same subject. Starts about 1.05 in.)

Reading time: 5 minutes / New York Times (USA; archived version here)

“TikTok voice” might influence everyday spoken English

American linguist Christopher Strelluf has caused a bit of a stir by explaining that the uptalk and creaky voice (vocal fry) we often hear on social media might be markers of the future of English. Young women have always been drivers of language change, and this is the latest thing. Other news outlets took this up with titles such as “Expert warns new 'tiktalk' accent (…) will become normal English speech.” There was no warning involved, just noting, but oh well. I liked the BBC article that noted the reason for the uptalk was probably the fact that talking this way keeps people involved; it sounds as if there is something else coming, so you need to keep paying attention. The article also mentions that women face prejudice due to these linguistic features.

Reading time: 6 minutes / BBC Future (UK)

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Gen Zalpha slang

Slang used by mostly Gen Z (born 1996 to 2010, more or less) and sometimes Gen Alpha (born 2010 to 2024). Click on the word to see where I got it from.

babygirl - a man with energy that’s vulnerable, submissive, and somewhat cutesy (On Urban Dictionary with this definition since 2022)

to be gassed - to be overcome with excitement (on Urban Dictionary since 2004)

to be someone’s Roman Empire - to be perpetually on someone’s mind. Refers to a trend from 2023 where TikTokers discussed how much men think about the Roman Empire (all the time, apparently) (on Urban Dictionary since 2023)

coquette - a fashion style that's flirty, hyper-feminine, and soft with references to the Victorian Regency era (On Urban Dictionary with this definition since 2021)

peng - of a person, thing, or drug: very good quality (London English) (on Urban Dictionary since 2003)

pick me girl/boy - someone who seeks validation by underlining how different they are (on Urban Dictionary since 2020)

White People Shit (WPS) - used in reference to stereotypes or things that are perceived as more popular or common among white people than people of colour (on Urban Dictionary since 2010)

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Accents

There are more than three Australian accents

In the 60s, 70s and 80s there was this idea that Australian English had three varieties: broad (Steve Irwin), general (Bluey’s family in Bluey) and cultivated (Cate Blanchett). Now, linguists see ethnocultural, mainstream and Aboriginal Australian English as the three primary subgroups of the Australian accent. But within these primary groups, there is a lot of variation.

Reading time: 5 minutes (plus 7-minute video at the end) / ABC (Australia)

The Lebanese-Australian accent from western Sydney is one of them

26-year-old TikToker Mahmoud Ismail has a way of speaking where his English is influenced by Arabic, even though he was born and raised in Australia and learned English as his first language. The Lebanese-Australian ethnolect has also been adopted by many people in the suburbs of western Sydney who have no Lebanese heritage.

Reading time: 4 minutes / The Guardian (Australia)

Eric Dier’s “fake” German accent

English footballer Eric Dier, who is currently playing for German team Bayern Munich, has had an interview clip go viral because of his accent. In an interview with German television, Dier, who is from the west of England but who spent much of his youth in Portugal, speaks with what might be called a German accent. So many sports’ news outlets did nothing other than parrot the remarks on social media, but The Athletic from the New York Times actually bothered to ask two linguists about it. As Rob Drummond explains: “He’s naturally, subconsciously speaking in a way that he thinks will make him understood.” Clips, also of other footballers with adapted accents, in the article.

Reading time: 5 minutes / The Athletic (UK; it should give you one free article, if not, archived version here.)

Holding on to accents via anecdotes

Newfoundland English features are going through periods of decline, but speakers are holding on to them through quoted voices in anecdotes. For example, when someone copies the way their grandparents used to speak while telling an anecdote.

Reading time: 4 minutes / CBC (Canada)

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Neologisms

The neologisms below were sourced from the Cambridge Dictionary New Words blog, “field X buzzwords”-type lists, and stuff I noticed myself. My admittedly subjective criterion for words to make the list is that they seemed new and interesting to me. Click on the word for my source.

almond mom - a mother who is obsessed with food and diet culture, and fosters this obsession in her children

climate mobility - internal and international movement of people, whether forced or voluntary, temporary or permanent, due to climate change

enregisterment - when one or more linguistic features are linked in people’s minds with a stereotyped speaker of a linguistic variety

friendlord - someone who rents out a room in their house to a friend

honey badger generation - another term for generation Alpha (born after 2010), named after a viral clip of a honey badger fighting three jaguars. According to the originator of the term, generation Alpha stays strong and doesn’t back down.

loud budgeting - a financial strategy where you share your money aspirations directly and not so quietly with the people in your life

resenteeism - when you hate your job, but stay in it even though you should probably leave (funny article, worth the click)

superdodger - a person who remains uninfected or asymptomatic even after repeated exposure to a contagious virus

thera-posing - when a person you’re dating overuses (or misuses) therapy-speak; when they pose as a therapist

tour tourism - the activity of travelling abroad to see a singer or band live in concert

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The changing meaning of words

How dictionaries choose which words to include and which not

A list of 30 words that weren’t in use before the 1990s but are now commonly used

Popular UK linguist Susie Dent writes about some new additions to the English language

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Newbie reads

These articles give good explanations for those who are new to English linguistics.

Young girls are more innovative with language than any other group

When people think of word innovators throughout history, male writers likely come to mind. Shakespeare is credited with inventing more than 1,700 words, including “bedroom,” “courtship,” and “swagger.” Charles Dickens is said to have first used the words “butterfingers” and “doormat,” and Dr. Seuss reportedly came up with “nerd.” But despite contributions from famous writers, historians say another group has an even greater impact on the development of language: teenage girls.

Reading time: 4 minutes / National Geographic (USA)

The Oxford Dictionary’s World Englishes project

A Q&A with Dr Danica Salazar, the World English Editor for the Oxford English Dictionary, who takes care of projects relating to the varieties of English around the world. “We document the vocabulary of countries where English is spoken as a majority first language, such as Canada, New Zealand, and Ireland, but also that of postcolonial nations where English is generally spoken as a second language and/or has some official status, like Nigeria, Singapore, and Sri Lanka. We look at varieties that characterize specific countries, but also wider regions such as the Caribbean and East Africa.” Resources in text.

Reading time: 4 minutes / OUP blog (UK)

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English in society

Korean rapper comes under fire for appropriating African-American culture

Right-leaning British press decide to be angry about a 2019 EU document on inclusive language, despite it being 2024 and the UK not being in the EU

The future of “inclusive x” in words like “latinx” “folx” and “womxn”

Online backlash for teacher who gave students a list of banned words and phrases, including many African-American terms

Why AI software ‘softening’ accents is problematic

In the UK, more northern dialects and accents are making it into literature

In India, many English teachers still see a British accent as the ideal

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English words around the world

The different varieties of English as spoken all around the world are known to academics as “World Englishes”. In this section, I highlight some words and terms from the richness of the English-speaking world that came to my attention in the past month. Click on the word to get more information. Tip: see if you can find your own English variety below. Find out which words seem normal to you, but strange to others!

aggrupation - Philippine English for an association linked by a common interest

to bag up - Delaware (USA) English for laughing heartily

to bring a plate - Australian English for bringing some food to share at a communal meal

dunny - Australian and New Zealand English for a toilet

to have a shufti - UK colloquial English for to take a look (introduced to the UK by British troops who had been in contact with Arabic)

if I’m honest - UK English for “to be honest”, now also being used in the US. Lynne Murphy’s UK-to-US word of the year.

to go off the rod - Leicestershire (UK) coal miners’ English for having a falling out

grand - Irish English for good, acceptable, tolerable, or just okay

no gree - Nigerian English for I don’t agree (for further linguistic discussion of “gree” or “gri”, go here. Then come back and explain it to me, because I didn’t understand any of it. (Note the comments below that don’t give a further explanation, but are just commenting to let everyone know that they understand perfectly. G(r)ee, thanks.))

OK - American English for “right”, now also being used in the UK . Lynne Murphy’s UK-to-US word of the year.

to prepone - Indian English for moving an appointment to an earlier date (opposite of “to postpone”)

to wee - informal UK English for to urinate

zami – Caribbean English for a lesbian or homosexual woman

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Linguists take note:

LingComm grants

If you have, or are thinking about starting, a linguistics communication project that brings pop linguistics to a broader audience in an engaging way, you can apply for a LingComm Grant. Deadline 30 April.

The Global Anglicism Database needs Fins

The GLAD database concerns itself with Anglicisms; English words that get used within other languages. It’s a fantastic open source resource, and it currently has a few languages that could use a little extra love, namely Greek, Ukrainian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Catalan, Bulgarian, Galician and, as mentioned, Finnish.

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Teachers take note:

Free book: New Directions: Language Diversity research and resource pack

Designed for teachers and students of A Level English Language in the UK, this book aims to bring some of the most up to date research on linguistic variation to the classroom. Free download!

AI resources to practice a foreign language

I checked out chatbots designed to help people practice a second language. Conclusion: there’s a lot of promise, but we’re not there yet, and the best bots cost money.

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And finally…

Rob Brydon is a pretty famous comedian in the UK. He’s from Wales, so obviously he speaks with a Welsh accent. Here he is telling the story (and doing the accent) of the time he was in the Swansea camp society. Swansea is a city in Wales, and “camp”, in this sense, has nothing to do with tents. Keep watching until he does the song, it’s marvellous.

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The number of mistakes in this newsletter is directly proportionate to the number of times my three-year-old woke me up last night. If you want to give me any feedback, you can use the comment button below, or hit reply to send me an email.

I didn’t use any AI to create this newsletter this month. (Sometimes I use it to help me find the right phrasing, but I’ve just had a think, and I didn’t open it once this time.) All articles were chosen, read and summarised by a human being, namely me :-)

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