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ALL WIRED UP
by menhir @ 08 May. 2008 - 22:12:48

Words are interesting; the way vocabulary develops, how it changes in practice and use and how communication evolves in time, all these features are fascinating.  Language is certainly a dynamic force.  Language use can identify a cultural shift and an epoch in which a style might have been in use. Even a little  phrase can indicate so many things.

For example, today a foreign student asked if I could help with her English, an interpretation of a phrase. The dictionary was not providing any kind of useful insight with the context in question. The text was about celebrating mothers' day.  A man had visited a flower shop and decided to ... wire his mother some flowers.

It is no surprise to me that the student could not find a contextual interpretation.

I thought more about the question afterwards.  It is a terminology of its time, moved out of its time and its original context,like so much of our vocabulary is.  In addition, the term used is American English.

Our vocabulary is rich in meanings. It's what gives our language the subtlety and varied nuances that it has. The noun, 'wire', is no different. Just to add to the richness, let us not forget that it has also been turned into an infinitive of a verb, 'to wire' which, takes us back to where the problem of comprehension started.

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skip2468skip2468 [Member]
08/05/08 @ 23:08

How sad that our beautiful language has degraded to lazy and disrespectful text chatter with many of today's smarty pants.

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menhirmenhir [Member]
09/05/08 @ 08:41

'Wiring' of course, in the context given, has developed out of the old use of telegraphy.

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PompadourPompadour [Member]
09/05/08 @ 02:14

words are great things.

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menhirmenhir [Member]
09/05/08 @ 10:15

Hi P,

Nearly missed your comment. I'm glad I found it. How are you?

Yes, words are great things, you, more than most people, at the present time, will be well aware of their dynamism.

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loiswakemanloiswakeman [Member]
http://lois.co.uk
09/05/08 @ 08:39

Gosh - I haven't heard that usage for years.

We still talk about "wiring" cash to our gap year students in extremis of course: although the wire (a telegraph wire) has long been replaced by optical fibre cables and electronic communications!

(And hot wiring cars, of course - another verbal use.)

The evolution of language is fascinating - especially the fossils of past habits of life that are retained as in the example you suggest.

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menhirmenhir [Member]
09/05/08 @ 08:52

It is an old term. It rang memory bells when the student read me the phrase.

It's interesting that you mention 'wiring' cash; I would have used the verb 'to send'. That's a local variation again. You and I were both raised within reach of London, so I can't call it a regional variation.

Indeed, as you say, telegraphy wires have now been superceded by a whole range of speedy cables, almost able to transmit material at the speed of light.

Although we introduce new vocabulary to work with the developed and developing technologies,we still resort to the known language and introduce elements of the old in to present spoken forms, in order to create a descriptive representation. Even that varies between English speaking countries.

I enjoyed your comment Lois, it stimulated more thinking on the subject.

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MunzlyMunzly pro
http://poppycock.blog.co.uk/
09/05/08 @ 09:43

Interesting points. There is now a growing use of un-wired, with various meanings, from the use of an acoustic guitar instead of electric, to using wi-fi for computer and other electronic networks. c/f "unplugged" etc.

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menhirmenhir [Member]
09/05/08 @ 10:12

Goodness me - there's quite a spawning of uses.

Now, you mention it, 'un-wired' has been used in the same colloquial context as someone being described as "a slice short of a sandwich". Hmm.

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tylluanpenrytylluanpenry pro
09/05/08 @ 14:45

And in Wenglish you often hear something that sounds like 'wire' but is in fact 'Why-a???' delivered at full volume with the second syllable pitched a perfect fourth above the first.....:roll:

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menhirmenhir [Member]
09/05/08 @ 15:01

A bit like cum bu y-ear with an upward inflection to the end of the 'ear'. ;)

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tylluanpenrytylluanpenry pro
09/05/08 @ 15:03

Very similar, :yes:

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MoonBunnyMoonBunny [Member]
24/05/08 @ 00:03

i find this post particularly interesting because i wanted to study psychology of language this year but there were no spaces left. maybe next year. i wish we still spoke the way they did in the 19th century! (says the girl who doesn't bother with capital 'i's in blog comments). i suppose we'll have to do with our jane austen books :)

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menhirmenhir [Member]
02/06/08 @ 23:56

Erm, it is with enormous pleasure that I receive your delicate missive through these wiry channels MB :)

Might I suggest you consider Mrs E Gaskell, a near contemporary of Austen. Language broadens out in her books, creating, in my humble view, additional dynamism to female authorial writings of the time.

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MoonBunnyMoonBunny [Member]
03/06/08 @ 00:42

very very nicely phrased reply menhir! funny you should mention gaskell because i happen to have chosen it from my mother's bookcase this afternoon! it is fourth in my list of books to get through! thanks for the recommendation, i'll look forward to it even more now! (Cranford in case you're curious :) )

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menhirmenhir [Member]
03/06/08 @ 11:08

Cranford is a good one to start with - I am intending to do a bit of 'Gaskell' reading when space allows. She is a grittier writer in terms of her times. Mrs Gaskell gives a different social and societal perspective, in general, unaddressed in Austen's works, apart from some genteel and prejudicial mentions as part of a love plot.

It is possible to reflect in numerous ways on the genteel aspect of Austen's books, but one thing seemed clear to me, and that was, she was deeply constrained by her status as a spinster. She was, also a constrained women's suffragist. Mrs Gaskell seems to me, to demonstrate a more free spirit.

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MoonBunnyMoonBunny [Member]
04/06/08 @ 00:38

it's funny you should describe austen that way because despite her being my favourite author, i did often find that her characters (aside from being very well observed within their own context) seemed 'constrained' as you put it by HER living situation and place in society. so it will be very interesting to observe the difference between her work and gaskell's.

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menhirmenhir [Member]
04/06/08 @ 19:51

That's fascinting - because I have little doubt, that The context in which Austen placed her characters, very much reflected her own contexts at different phases of her life. Her life was not so long, so her contexts would not, I think have varied that much.

Mrs Gaskell would have observed and used her contexts too, but from what little I know of her work, she was able to broaden out her dynamic.

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MoonBunnyMoonBunny [Member]
04/06/08 @ 23:27

I like the way you described austen as a 'constrained suffragist' - I totally agree because there is some very feminist stuff in her books! You could say 'but Lizzy still saw marriage as a goal' but that was just the option that society presented you with (get married, or don't and work but not be respected so much) and you had to fit in with it - to survive really. So within those options, Lizzy really was a feminist refusing to marry unless she loved him, willing to end up a 'spinster' and work. But the 'constraint' that Austen suffered was reflected in the fact that she let her most independently minded character accept marriage as the only other option. If she had lived longer, I wonder would she have started express her desire for other options in her character.

You've made me rather excited about reading Gaskell now! It couldn't be in bigger contrast to the book I'm reading now - a 'chick lit' called Frankie Says Relapse!

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menhirmenhir [Member]
05/06/08 @ 11:07

"a 'chick lit' called Frankie Says Relapse!" I might venture to say, MB, that this 'lit' piece must be for sheer relaxation of the brain cells, a type of wind-down?

I'll bet there are comparisons that can be made with Austen's writings, who goes where and gets what in the end; why they get what they get and do what they do. There will be differences in style and modus operandi, reflecting the times and the society we live in today.

Regarding Lizzie; sure marriage was a goal, one that eluded Jane herself. Why do you think Austen arranged all her heroines to evolve in the way they did?

Austen could never be my favourite author, she is not compelling ehough for me. She is certainly an observant writer, good writer's should be and she is a stylised writer, styled of her time and society. It has to be remembered that all observers, observe, within their own prejudices and are likely to write accordingly. The same comment can be levelled at historians.

It is sad though that women's literature barely existed, remained unacknolwedged, except for a handful of authors, till well into the 20th century. It was a slow chipping process of those early female authors that started the breakthrough.

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MoonBunnyMoonBunny [Member]
05/06/08 @ 16:19

"It has to be remembered that all observers, observe, within their own prejudices and are likely to write accordingly. The same comment can be levelled at historians."

very true

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