The Freedom of Language
Driving to the vet with my cat the other day, I glanced at a billboard
promoting a “real-time traffic cam.” My mind stopped for a moment to
consider that phrase and to honor the amazing permeability of English:
“Real-time traffic cam”
There is only one word in this phrase that my Grandmother (who died at 94 in
1989) would even know the meaning of; the phrase would have been gibberish to
her.
“Real-time” is a retronymn -- a word that needs to be created after another
concept has made a word obsolete or unclear. For example, let’s consider the
word “mail;” that lasted humans for several centuries until we had
“electronic mail,” which became “email.” Then we needed the retronymn “snail
mail” to clarify and re-establish for us the original meaning of mail.
So, first we had “time” -- and that word has lasted awhile too -- but now we
need “real-time.”
Cam is a shortening of camcorder which is a shortening of “camera” used in
conjunction with “recorder” to designate a small hand-held device that
captures or records moving images.
But none of us needs this deconstruction; we all know without thinking what
this phrase means and how what it describes might help us on our morning
commute.
The Academy Francaise monitors and regulates the official use of the French
language. “Le weekend” is not on the approved list, although it is used by
everyone in France. In the US, the personal freedom we all enjoy is
manifested in our language as well. We are constantly inventing new ideas,
new products, new technologies, and new names for these ideas. It’s a
democratic majority of word users that ‘votes’ for and establishes new words
in our vocabulary: “Serial entrepreneur,” “B2B,” “24X7,” “Frankenfood.”
Let’s hear it for the freedom of language!
