by Jacqueline Alexander

MOST people have a favourite word or two. For me, rapscallion is a delight. It captures the nature of its meaning in a way that its more popular counterpart, rascal, fails to do. It has a sense of mischief and playfulness that is perfect when applied to a naughty child or an errant pet.

Sadly, it is seldom heard these days. Such is the evolution of words — we win some, we lose some — but it is sometimes difficult to appreciate the newcomers when we are losing so many old friends.

Without any desire to stem the flow of lexicological progress, welcoming words such as “twonk” is a challenge when “foppotee” does not get to enjoy any exposure. Twonk, by the way, is a stupid person while foppotee is a simple person — the difference in meaning is subtle but the latter just sounds kinder, doesn’t it?

One website that is making a valiant attempt to prevent a thinning of dictionaries is Savethewords.org but, unlike many sites devoted to words and their meanings, it is indulging in some rather neat design techniques too.

A mass of words fills the screen in pictorial form — the page looks like hundreds of words have been cut from newspapers, magazines, books and comics and then pasted together to create a word mural. As you click on each word, the definition is revealed, together with the opportunity to sign a pledge: “I hereby promise to use this word, in conversation and correspondence, as frequently as possible to the very best of my ability”.

A few months ago, Web Watch reported that the English language had passed the million-word mark so it is shocking to find out that, 90 per cent of the time, we only use 7,000 of them. To save the other 993,000, we have to use them, particularly in the written form, as this provides evidence of use which allows the word to retain its place in the Oxford English Dictionary.

When clicking on the formerly hardworking potential casualties featured on this site, it is almost unbearable to even think of losing some of them. How could we stop using “quibbleist” — a person who beats around the bush? We all do it on occasions and, as it replaces the several required in its absence, it’s a very efficient word too.

“Tetanothrum” is apparently a cosmetic for removing wrinkles. As we are bombarded with these products via every medium on a daily basis, it seems odd that we are on the edge of losing the very word that offers a generic method of describing the products collectively. We need this word to use in our protests against looking stretched, puffed up or artificial, don’t we?

Although I haven’t heard the word “rapscallion” since my dear father passed away, and therefore stopped pointing it in my direction, it is not in evidence at savetheword.org. Fortunately, I can recommend it and if you have a favourite word that is an endangered species, you can too.

The word will be researched to confirm it is a deserving cause and then added to the site. If enough people care about your word, then it will live to fight another day.

To increase your word’s chances of survival even further, why not submit it to our website at www.henleystandard.co.uk. We’ll print the best ones in the newspaper next week, thus offering the additional benefit of helping it to avoid the same fate as the dodo.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Many of us can relate to the phrase taking the top spot on the search engines this week. As we read reports of huge increases in cases of swine flu and experts tell us that we could still be facing a winter pandemic, searches for “soothe a sore throat” have increased by more than 40,000 per cent. Let’s just hope that this number isn’t matched by the number of sufferers.

Loosely related to the category of sport, Mike Tyson’s appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show has caused a flurry of activity online. Searches for Tyson have increased by more than a 1,000 per cent as he told of his grief at losing his young daughter in a tragic accident earlier this year.

It is more difficult to work out why Northern Ireland is riding high in the search engines. Searches have increased by more than 30,000 per cent, which is incredible. Could it be Hillary Clinton’s recent visit to show her commitment to the peace process or perhaps it is the imminent World Cup qualifier between Northern Ireland and Czech Republic. Who knows?

By Jacqueline Alexander