language – Page 7 – Rob Mansfield: Content-ment

Quantum of Solace

So the title of the new Bond film has been announced and, inevitably, criticised immediately for being impossible to understand.

OK, so the Quantum of Solace isn’t as immediately understandable as You Only Live Twice or The Man With The Golden Gun, for example, but it does have a certain mystery about it.

In fact it has echoes of a Philip Pullmann novel, an adaptation of which Daniel Craig has recently starred in.

The title actually comes from an Ian Fleming short story, published as part of the For Your Eyes Only collection back in 1960, so it’s genuine enough.

And for all the doom-mongerers out there who think it’s too esoteric, just be thankful the producers didn’t go for one of the other titles from the same collection

Can you imagine hearing about James Bond’s latest adventures in The Hildebrand Rarity?

From albedo to zugunruhe

There was one of the most enjoyable articles I have read in a long time in yesterday’s Review section of the Guardian.

It was one man’s (James Meek) quest to look up and learn every obscure word that he encountered over the past few years.

Meek mentioned a few words that I have come across myself, such as ‘litotes’ and ‘arÃªte’, which briefly made me feel good, but most of them were as much a mystery to me as they were Meek.

The title of the article includes two that surely show how diverse and bottomless the English language is.

One point that the writer made, and one I wholly concur with, is that these words should not be lost and need to be remembered and used elsewhere.

I’ve long been of the view that we should use ‘different’ words and not the same, short, boring words to describe things. ‘Hirsute’ has long been one of my favourite words and is much more evocative and enjoyable than hairy.

Equally, I think more people should talk about the ‘antebellum’ period of history, rather than pre-war.

It’s not being posh, arrogant or a snob, simply wanting to keep words alive and not let them die out. Long live the English language!

Just be (a) patient

I was reminded of the irony of the way words have double meanings the other day, when a work colleague regaled me with a typical hospital horror.

She went for a simple endoscopy, but having changed into one of those horrible polyester gowns, then had to wait for 3 hours before the procedure went ahead – with nothing to do, but stare at a wall and avoid slightly potty old men wandering around in similarly disgusting gowns.

Anyway, my point is that she ended up being a ‘patient’ in more ways than one. Sure, the word’s derivation means ‘to undergo’ or ‘endure’ something, but that’s meant to be actual complaint, not the waiting time on top.

OK, so the NHS is underfunded and understaffed, but almost everyone I know who has been for some hospital appointment, whether it’s a scan or something more serious such as chemotherapy, ends up having to endure a wait that would test the ‘patience’ of a saint.