100
Years of Sci-Fi Words.
With The War of the Worlds, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Revenge of the Sith, and The Island packing cinemas, and Doctor Who returning to the small screen, Britain is enjoying a summer of sci-fi. But science fiction hasn’t just been entertaining us since the days of Jules Verne and HG Wells, it’s also been adding to our language, as the new edition of the Collins English Dictionary shows.
Tomorrow’s language today.
These days, SF writers often maintain that they write speculative fiction, a term that encapsulates one key element of the genre,
speculation about the shape of things to come. William Gibson, for instance, coined the term cyberspace in the early 1980s, when the internet was still a gleam in the US military’s eye, while War of the Worlds author HG Wells was the first to use atomic in the sense of
"harnessing the power within atoms".
Science fiction to science fact
"We can see an interesting pattern emerging."
says Jeremy Butterfield, Editor-in-Chief of Collins Dictionaries.
"SF writers predict a phenomenon sometimes decades before it becomes a reality, and when it does, there’s a ready-made name for it. So we get the word webcast before the web existed, and robotics decades before the real science
appeared." Might we conclude that scientists are keen readers of science fiction?
Here are some examples from the last 100 years:-
airlock
noun
1920s
intergalactic
adjective
1920s
robot
noun
1920s
mother ship
noun
1930s
hyperspace
noun
1930s
mutant
noun
1930s
humanoid
noun
1940s
robotic
adjective
1940s
robotics
noun
1940s
stun gun
noun
1940s
genetic engineering
noun
1940s
cyborg
noun
1960s
bot
noun
1960s
cyberspace
noun
1980s
webcast
noun
1980s
comm badge
noun
2000s
bot army
noun
2000s
Urban folklore
Other sci-fi terms haven’t become reality, but have become part of our everyday language as part of our modern urban folklore.
While SF literature is seen as the domain of geeks and nerds, takings from this summer’s films show that sci-fi is mainstream on the screen, if not the page. Everyone knows what a Dalek is, while jedi is even a recognised religion in Australia.
Here are some more of the SF words that the little green men at Collins Dictionaries have identified:-
android
noun
1700s
Frankenstein
noun
1818
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Martian
noun
1880s
Popularized by HG Wells in War of the Worlds
time machine
noun
1880s
HG Wells, The Time Machine
ray gun
noun
1930s
triffid
noun
1950s
John Wyndham, Day of the Triffids
Dalek
noun
1960s
Dr Who
jedi
noun
1970s
Star Wars
Ballardian
adjective
1990s
After the noted SF writer JG Ballard
morph
verb
1990s
Terminator 2
Middle (Earth) English
Science fiction is not the only fantastical genre to have widened our everyday language:- JRR Tolkien has left his mark in the shape of hobbit,
which has a new definition in the Collins English Dictionary as the newly discovered Homo floriensis
and orc (a word he introduced to modern English from Anglo-Saxon): the England rugby team were recently described by a New Zealand journalist as
"white orcs on steroids".
The Dictionary of the Future
With science fiction dominating cinema box offices a 100 years after Jules Verne’s death, we should be expecting more SF words to be beamed down into dictionaries in the future. In the meantime, the Collins English Dictionary, with its futuristic metallic cover and state-of-the-art design, does its level best to bring you tomorrow’s language today.
MEN TAKE MORE CARE OF CAR THAN THEY DO OF THEMSELVES
DESPITE increased awareness about the
importance of looking after ourselves, the average man in North West
still takes more care of his car than he does of himself. National
research carried out by leading healthcare provider HealthSure
revealed that men in Liverpool are among the worst in the UK for
looking after themselves. 42% have never had a health screen despite
taking their car for an annual maintenance check and service.
The survey indicates that the majority of men
underestimate the importance of screening in looking after their
health. Concern about cost was the most common excuse with 23% of
men in Liverpool citing financial reasons for avoiding a regular
check up.
GP Dr Ann Robinson comments:- "It
would appear that men place more importance on taking their car for
an annual MOT than maintaining and checking their own bodywork. I
thought that men had wised up to the need to look after their health
and was really shocked by these results. We can't treat something if
we don't know about it - and how do these men know if they have high
blood pressure or are developing diabetes?
We know that diseases like testicular
cancer are so readily treatable and curable if detected early. Yet
most men don't know how to check their testicles and reluctant to
seek help even if they do find a lump."
To encourage more men to be aware of their
health, HealthSure has become an official sponsor of Check-em, a new
DVD and website project covering men's health and lifestyle issues
that launches in July. Check-em is supporting Everyman, the national
campaign to raise awareness and fund vital research into male
cancers.
Making it easier for men to afford and attend
a regular screen, HealthSure has added health screening to its
everyday essential healthcare cash plan policy. Now from as little
as £9.95 per month, men can claim cash towards the cost of a
regular health and wellbeing screen.
An important healthcare habit to make, a
regular health screen is a comprehensive medical examination that
gives a clear indication of wellbeing. It can help to identify areas
of potential future illness and ensure appropriate action is taken
to rectify the problems early.
Managing director at HealthSure, Richard Sear
commented:- "We really want to encourage more men to take
action and get themselves checked on a regular basis. By identifying
health issues at an early stage, a health screen is the ideal
solution to maintaining and improving future health, providing
valuable peace of mind and enhancing day to day wellbeing."
A HealthSure everyday healthcare policy also
covers a wide range of other healthcare treatments including dental,
optical, physiotherapy, complementary therapies and specialist
consultations. For further information on Check-em and the campaign
to promote men's health, please visit www.check-em.com.
Stunning DIANA ROSS enraptures the Summer Pops 2005
Hotline 0870 151 4000
YES it realy is... After California and Vegas, it was
the turn of Detroit to be transported to the banks of the River Mersey last night as the
Princess of Motown Diana Ross played her first show in the city for over 30 years.
The sell-out Big Top Arena crowd were on the feet the instant she walked on
stage, and gave her a rapturous standing ovation before she had even sung a
note; and it all went uphill from there.
Singing every word of ever song, the audience accompanied her each
step of the way as she paraded classic after classic, including 'Where Did Our Love
Go?', 'Baby Love', 'Stop In The name of Love, 'Upside Down', 'I Will
Survive' and many more.
After four costume changes and nearly two hours on stage, it was finally
time to say goodbye and she left to the umpteenth ovation of the night.
After a 30 year absence, however, Liverpool won't have to wait long to see
the Queen of Soul's return to Liverpool - she's back for a second sell-out
night on Saturday!
The Summer Pops continues until July 24. This week's shows also include Will
Young, Jools Holland and Wet Wet Wet.
