View from the North 40: English speakers unite - for a better vocabulary tomorrow

Earlier this week a friend of mine was puzzling over why English speakers use the word “disgruntled” all the time, but we never drop the “dis” prefix and say “gruntled.”

A “disgruntled” customer can file a complaint, but why don’t we ever hear of “gruntled” people being satisfied with, well, anything? “Gruntled” is actually an official word.

I think we don’t use “gruntled” because it doesn’t sound like what it means: pleased, contented, satisfied. Words like “dreary” and “silly” sound like what they mean. Gruntled? That sounds like a description of the crabby guy down the street who wants you and those little brats to stay off his lawn.

That “dis” prefix has some issues of its own, too.

If I use the word “cuss,” it’s probably for something at least a little bit negative. So I can cuss a problem or I can “discuss” it like a rational human being. That makes sense because if I’m cussing something I’m not really in the mood for discussing it.

Why is it, though, that you can “arm” someone by giving them weapons and “disarm” them by taking the weapons away, but when you have an “arm” that’s a limb connected to your shoulder and you take that arm away, you’re “amputating” the arm rather than “disarming” the person.

And why is it that “gust” is not the opposite of “disgust”?

In further query about words ending in “T,” what’s up with “burnt”? The “ed” ending of “burned” is replaced with a “T,” which is OK with me, but then why don’t we say “turnt” or “learnt”?

Of course, those “NT” endings aren’t the same as the contraction for “not,” as in “could” plus “not” equals “couldn’t” and “should” becomes “shouldn’t.”

“Are” becomes “aren’t” like “have” becomes “haven’t.” Why, then, does “will” become “won’t” instead of “willn’t”? Who was in charge of word creation that day?

Plus, why is it not correct to use the word “amn’t” as in “I amn’t going to work today because I am sick.”

Actually, I get why “amn’t” isn’t a thing. It’s a lot easier to put the contraction where we normally do. “I am not” becomes “I’m not” instead of “I amn’t” and I don’t see a need for change.

That said, though, Merriam-Webster Dictionary offers some hope that we can institute real change in our language.

The word “prepone,” which is “pre” plus “postpone,” is listed on the dictionary’s webpage “Words We’re Watching” because of historical usage and its popularity around the Indian subcontinent.

“Postpone” means to delay something and “prepone” means to move it to an earlier time. Used widely by India’s English speakers, “prepone” is almost unheard of outside the subcontinent. The website goes on to say that “it may well catch on in the rest of the English-speaking world.”

We could start a whole thing for a new word, or better yet, a new word-thing.

I want to advocate the official, dictionary-wide acceptance of “good” used as a contraction.

We say and write “g’night” all the time — “g’morning,” too. Neither usage is in the dictionary. Australians say “g’day” constantly. You don’t even have to hear my ugly-American’s Aussie accent to know who I’m referring to if I say “g’day, mate.” Right? It’s that common. Still not in the dictionary.

Here’s the thing that I really want to see in the dictionary: “G’luck.” Huh? What do you think? “Good” plus “luck.”

G’night, g’morning, g’day, g’luck. I really think that with the support of this community we could make a modern language miracle happen. Grassroots involvement is how most significant change is made.

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Thank you for your support, and g’luck with the new word usage at http://www.facebook.com/viewfromthenorth40/.