An evolving language is a living one

The Associated Press reported this week that McDonald’s, the fast-food chain, is unhappy with the editors of the Merriam-Webster dictionary for their definition of the word “McJob” in the dictionary’s 11th edition, published in June. Merriam-Webster defines a “McJob” as “a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement.”

A McDonald’s spokesman had his own definition of the dictionary’s definition. “A slap in the face” to the 12 million people employed in the restaurant business is how he put it, in demanding that the dictionary people come up with something more palatable. But, as you might expect, the dictionary publisher said his firm stands by the “accuracy and appropriateness” of the definition and it will be a cold day in McHell before it is reworked.

“Words qualify for inclusion in the dictionary because they are widely and commonly used in a broad range of carefully edited sources,” said Arthur Bicknell, a spokesman for the Springfield, Mass., dictionary publisher. He pointed out that “McJob” has been used for 17 years, as the dictionary defines it, in a “broad range of publications,” including The New York Times, which, as everyone knows, makes it officially socially acceptable. So there.

When it comes to the lexicon business and the acceptance through common usage of new words as the language evolves, McDonald’s seemingly is a victim of its own great corporate success. One might argue that this McInization of the language could, in many cases, be construed as a sincere form of flattery.

The “Mc” prefix tacked on to the word “job” to create the word that has McDonald’s stopping just short of hinting about filing a McLawsuit is only one of numerous McWords that have cropped up since the people who gave us the golden arches and the Big Mac changed America’s eating habits forever.

“McPaper,” for example, came into widespread usage on college campuses some time ago to define a term paper written at the last minute, and without much research or thought. University of Maine kids by the score have routinely cranked them out over the years and then repaired to Pat’s Pizza to swill beer and bemoan their tough lot in life.

In the newspaper business, “McPaper” is often a reference to the glitzy national newspaper USA Today, which – with its random splotches of color for color’s sake and its surfeit of graphs, boxes, bells and whistles – has always appeared to me to have been designed by a paint-pot wielding chimpanzee on amphetamines. Many a (formerly) ink-stained wretch has used the term “McPaper” in reference to the national newspaper’s lack of depth in its three-paragraph stories that are a hit with busy readers with little time to spend wading through the details. McPaper, like fast food, is often digested on the run. And is about as nourishing.

The “McJob” flap is a reminder that keeping up with the English language is a job that never ends. As life keeps changing, the language continually goes through a reshaping process that produces a fresh vocabulary to keep abreast of developments in science, technology, politics and the like. Good thing that it does, too, or we might all be running around speaking Olde English like a nation of 11th century yokels uttering words such as “axode” for “asked,” and “geferan” for “companions.”

To forestall that possibility, there are any number of latter-day dictionaries available to keep us ahead of the curve wherein it pertains to slang, street language, precious regional linguistic concoctions and the like that often become established and subsequently recorded in standard lexicons.

From such works do we learn that “bullcrit,” for example, is “discussion or criticism of a book, play, film, or other artistic undertaking without the experience of having read or seen it,” and “pubcaster” is a public broadcasting station or network. I don’t know if those coinages have yet caught on with the Merriam-Webster crowd, but they certainly should.

As should many of the Yankee-isms defined by Maine’s late Gerry Lewis in his time-tested “How to Talk Yankee,” illustrated by Tim Sample and first published in 1979 by Thorndike Press and, later, North Country Press of Unity as a primer for tourists, migrants and summer complaints. Sensible words such as “gaffle” (to snatch or seize) and “glom” (to grasp); “toost” (to lift), and “tunk” (a light blow).

And, of course, the ever-popular test phrase “kahdboo-ud kaht’n” (cardboard carton), which, if it can be said right by someone from away, is a good indication that the interloper is well on his way to acceptable speech, Lewis suggested.

NEWS columnist Kent Ward’s e-mail address is olddawg@bangordailynews.net.