Furlough is an odd word, isn’t it? It came to English from Dutch and originally meant to grant leave of absence to a soldier.
It then went to the USA and was barely used in Britain. We call soldiers’ holidays “leave”. Then furlough became used to describe temporary lay-offs for civilian US Army workers. But even in America it wasn’t used to mean laying-off, or temporary suspension, of ordinary staff until 1975.
Now back in widespread UK use, it will henceforth forever remind us of 2020, just as Ground Zero recalls 9/11, or Blitz stirs thoughts of 1940.
There are lots of words that just somehow look or sound strange. Or at least they do to me, you’ll have your own list of words that just jar. Words you probably rarely use.
“Complexion” has always looked a little weird. It’s the X. It is from the same root as “complex”, and used to mean the complicated disposition of body, mind, and temperament. The slight change to include the hue, or blemish-free appearance, of the face is a relatively modern development.
Yacht is also strange. Name another word with the last four letters “acht” that rhymes with yacht? It’s another Dutch word. We should have a word with them.
I also have minor problems with “phoenix” (what is the O for?); and “one” (with that grouping of letters it should surely rhyme with tone); and jeopardy has too many letters.
Loanwords often look odd, especially French ones. I don’t like colonel, with the superfluous O and one of the Ls pronounced as an R. But rendezvous is worse. It looks strange as a noun, but the verb is rendezvouses. I ask you, is that a word you are comfortable using?
Sometimes, if you repeat a word too often, or even stare at it too long, you temporarily lose your grasp of its meaning and begin to question whether it even is a word. The term for this is semantic satiation. Looking at the words semantic satiation gives me semantic satiation.
The word that looks strangest of all, in my opinion, is quinoa, pronounced keen-wa, a grain from the Andes. It’s invaluable if you need to be gluten-free. But is also, seemingly, a “superfood” which has led to it tripling in cost in recent years.
It is eaten by people who want to appear trendy. I wonder how many of them can spell it?
Word of the week
Froideur (noun)
A coolness or reserve between people. EG: “I have a certain froideur towards the French and their language.”
Read the latest Oh my word! every Saturday in The Courier. Contact me at sfinan@dctmedia.co.uk
