Of course most lingua francas are pidgins anyway. It’s not clear to me that the English used by most international verbal transactions is anymore than a subset of that which educated native English speakers use.

You refer to English being the “lingua franca of politics and diplomacy” but the term lingua franca is more often applied to ordinary communication in trade and other common exchanges between people of different languages – diplomats are assumed to already be fluent in the appropriate language.

For a stark example of where inner city language is headed, one has only to view the documentary film “The Boys of Baraka” (2005), filmed in Baltimore and at an alternative school in Kenya. The inner city portions were subtitled in English, so that one could understand what was being said.

Unfortunately for African Americans, it’s considered racist to even raise this concern. For generations immigrants have come to the US and while the first generation might struggle with English, by the second generation the kids are speaking English well enough to start climbing the ladder of success. The African American community is the only example of a population where the younger generations speak English more poorly than their parents! The effect on their prospects is predictable.

Language must evolve. I applaud the work of the editors and compilers of the next edition of the O.E.D. But it has to be more than an archive. Both a print edition and an online resource would be ideal. And I hope against hope that the spoken word will not descend to a series of monosylabic utterances.

Please enunciate and speak clearly as you rattle off these obscure words you are attempting teach us.

Thanks team, you guys are superb.

Steve

“Do you know your acnestis from your petrichor? ”

For the current high school/college students there is no need to get that esoteric. From a show that I enjoyed on CBC news – there was this quote:
“A few months ago, I had occasion to ride down six floors in an elevator with seven or eight new federal government officers. I would estimate their ages to have been between 22 and 24 years. Bearing in mind that these individuals were required to have degrees in post secondary education, the conversations between them were absolutely incredible. I heard the word “like” at least 50 times. I don’t believe I heard a single word beyond three syllables. It was as if I was listening to a group of 12-year-olds.”

I seriously doubt that 99% of the current young generation would use a dictionary, nevermind BUY one( unless it is for a report that might be graded by someone who DOES know how to spell.)

Did your guest come across any of these entries? or is this story apocryphal?

What does Ammon think of acronyms that are common vernacular but might not enter the dictionary?

I expect “laser” (Light Ampplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation) to be in the dictionary but maybe not NATO?

Scuba? SQL pronounced “sequel”, Interpol?

Thanks,
~tim