What do the members of the Justice League, Link from “The Legend of Zelda,” characters from anime and manga, and Ghostface from the “Scream” franchise have in common?
On Tuesday, they could all be found in the Greenfield High School Library for the school’s seventh annual Comic Con, listening to Emily Brewster, known as the “Word Nerd,” give a keynote presentation on the history of the English language. Brewster is a lexicographer and a senior editor for Merriam-Webster, writing definitions for the words that populate the dictionary.
According to Brewster, the Old English that people spoke 1,000 years ago sounds nothing like the English that’s spoken today. English started forming into its modern variation after William the Conqueror wrested control of Great Britain from its Anglo-Saxon rulers, introducing French to the island.
This is the reason, she says, why different words in English have a similar definition, as some words in modern English are derived from medieval French. Some examples include thought and conception, and house and mansion.
“For the most part, English is just a product of these different groups,” Brewster said. “We have the Anglos, the Saxons and the Jutes, and they’re on this island of Great Britain. They’re taking a few Roman words and they’re just completely ignoring the Celts, kind of steeping in this language for a long time.”
Throughout her tenure at Merriam-Webster, Brewster said she’s written definitions for words that she never would have envisioned adding early in her career, with Greenfield High School Librarian Jessica Pollock adding that she believes this generation is creating more slang words than ever before. Brewster said slang is often created by the youth, or more specifically, those who are not in positions of power. These words exist, she said, so that people in marginalized communities can communicate with each other without those in power recognizing what they’re saying.
Similarly, the television show “RuPaul’s Drag Race” inspired “so much vocabulary,” Brewster said, involving “a subculture that historically needed to keep its language secret.”
“There’s safety in keeping the language secret,” Brewster continued. “[It’s] the same thing with African-American Black English.”
Asking attendees for some of their favorite slang words, students responded with answers such as lowkey, lock-in, baller, twin, banger, cringe and lowkenuinely, the last of which is the amalgamation of the words lowkey and genuinely.
One student asked Brewster how she defines words that are slang, such as the slang phrase six-seven, which Merriam-Webster defines as an interjection “used as a nonsensical expression especially by children and young teenagers (as upon hearing or seeing the numbers six and seven in succession) and often accompanied by up-and-down hand gestures as if weighing two options.”
Brewster noted other websites such as Urban Dictionary or Tumblr often have definitions for these slang words before Merriam-Webster. The dictionary updates its website twice a year, with Brewster adding that some words take much longer to define than others.
Longer words are easier to define, as more often than not they’re complicated words related to medicine. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, for example, is a 45-letter word that refers to a type of lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silicate or quartz dust. Shorter words, such as “do” or “to,” are much harder to define because the words don’t really have a definition, instead of serving a function.
“It doesn’t really have meaning; it’s a function,” Brewster said or shorter words. “So, sometimes you define the word by its function.”
Brewster’s favorite word that she wrote the definition for is bada**. That word has two definitions, one being “ready to cause or get into trouble,” while the other is “of formidable strength or skill.” While she said her favorite word changes by the day, on Tuesday it was snaw, a Scottish variant of the word snow.
Ultimately, Brewster said her job is a labor of love.
“If you want to get rich, don’t write dictionaries,” Brewster said.
Following Brewster’s presentation, a cosplay contest, featuring the students, was held. The winners are as follows:
- Best Hero/Protagonist — Nox Noyes from Mohawk Trail Regional School as Boombox from the video game “PHIGHTING!”
- Best Villain/Antagonist — Ellie Gleason from Greenfield High School as Ghostface from the “Scream” film franchise.
- Best Sidekick/Miscellaneous — Hawley Lord from Greenfield High School as Pitaya Dragon Cookie from the video game “CookieRun: Kingdom.”
- Best Overall — Ace Lowther from Mohawk Trail Regional School as Azure from the video game “Forsaken.”
