Sometimes things seem to pop up in nice thematic clusters.
For instance, I saw an interesting article on Cajun English at PBS (link via Brad Parker) that I found very interesting.
Despite being subjected to abuse and stigmatization for many years, Cajun English speakers abound. Why would this be? Why would a dialect which was considered a mark of ignorance until very recently be heard on the lips of Cajuns young and old? The explanation most applicable to Cajun English is that the language is seen as a marker of being an insider to the community. This is seen most clearly when the French language ability of Cajuns is assessed: that language is dying, and is now only used among the older folks in the community. However, Cajun English use has been documented among even the youngest Cajun descendants, a fact that is easy to verify simply by going to any café in any small town in south Louisiana. To be a Cajun these days, the necessary and sufficient condition seems to be that you must speak Cajun English.
I’ve always found dialects, patois, pidgins, etc., very interesting, and the notion of a special language that binds a community is also very interesting (and harkens back to the notions of a special cant used by thieves, or the more modern use of slang as a communal marker) but in this case my interest is primarily because Cajuns came from Nova Scotia (or rather from Acadia, which is what Nova Scotia was called when it was a French settlement before the British came and drove out the French).
There’s some very interesting history there, which the article covers in a very short form:
The Acadians were allowed to live in peace for a period of time, but because of their friendship with the Native Americans living in the area, and also because of an influx of British settlers, the British crown decreed that all persons of French ancestry must pledge allegiance to the British government. Beginning in 1755, those who refused to do so were deported and scattered across various coastlines in the American colonies in what their descendants still refer to as le grand derangement.
If you drive into the Annapolis Valley (a little more than an hour from here) you can see where the Acadians, driven inland from the coast by the British built a cross to mark their losses. The “French Cross” at Morden doesn’t look like much on the side of the road, but there’s a lot of history there. (I first heard of the cross in Christy Ann Conlin‘s excellent book Heave, a work I would call “Maritime gothic”.)
On to other linguistic / lexographical links.
Have you seen the Urban Dictionary? It’s like the Wikipedia of online dictionaries–definitions are entered, and voted on, by the users. The Baltimore Sun has an article with more details if you are new to the concept.
Urban Dictionary at its best is a compendium of the vernacular, Peckham says, and the speed with which words and definitions are added is a measure of how fast language is changing.
Ever use the expression “let’s hook up later” in front of your mortified teen-ager?
Urban Dictionary can tell you what that phrase means to your kids: “A term used to refer to cheap, meaningless, no-strings-attached sex.”
Urban Dictionary offers a glimpse of the political, as well. For example, “You forgot Poland” has made its way into the language as a hip retort.
I found the site with a link to this entry, which is thematically related to the “You forgot Poland” entry mentioned in the Sun article.
I am both amused and saddened by the number of entries that are a person’s full name, which were apparently entered as a way of publicly mocking / insulting the person. For example, see this, this, or this. (Note to self: kids==mean.)
And, while we’re talking about dictionary entries inspired by Dubya, it would be remiss to not metion The George W. Bush Administration Dictionary, where you can read such entertaining entries as:
Casus Belli n. Cause for war. Obsolete.
Environmental Policy n. Variation of Energy Policy.
Safe Sex n. A low risk sexual activity from which teenage Americans are taught to abstain and of which they are to remain ignorant.
Ambrose Bierce would approve. As would Edward Young.
