Words, Words, Words — Aren’t They Just Wonderful?

May 16, 2012

I’m a writer, but even if I wasn’t, I think I’d still have a fondness for words. They intrigue me and when I find a word I’ve never come across before or one that simply sounds interesting, I need to find out more.

Where has it come from? What did it used to mean? Why do we use it today? Are we using it correctly?

I’ve talked a bit about this in the past and we’ve looked at some of my favourite words before, such as ampersand and ubiquitous, but recently I’ve come across two more that have really stood out and made me look a little deeper. Neither are rare or ones you won’t have heard of before, but lately I’ve used them a few times and after digging around, have become even more fascinated with them than I was before.

And silhouette is the first of the two words.

Unlike many other words we use today which have derived from two or three words joining together, the word silhouette is taken from the French finance minister in 1759, Étienne de Silhouette. Essentially needing to boost the economy, he put in place a lot of new rules and restrictions, many of which were considered to be low quality, unnecessary and were described as ‘poor’ or ‘shoddily’ put together laws.

As language has it, silhouette came to be used as a phrase to describe something that was of a poor quality or that was particularly cheap to produce. Therefore, before the development of photography, the cheapest way to define someone’s profile was to cut out their shape on black card — today known as a silhouette.

And just as fascinating is the word boycott. Used to describe the process of interrupting and attempting to completely stop something, it again comes from a person — Charles Boycott.

An Estate Agent working in Ireland, after harvests were poor in 1880, a 10% reduction in rent offered by a landowner, Lord Erne, was declined and a 25% reduction was requested. Not accepting the requests, Lord Erne sent Charles Boycott in to evict the tenants — but they simply ignored him.

Rather than fighting, they made sure everyone, from the baker right through to the postman, ignored him, something we’d today suggest was a ‘boycott of his life’.

I don’t think words will ever stop fascinating me — they’re far too intriguing!

I hope these little gems help you through your Wednesday.

PS — for those wondering where the second part of ‘How To Succeed As A Part-Time Freelance Writer’ is, it’s coming next week!