Fubsy and a frugalista?

At this time of the year a lot of time is spent trying to find the “whatever” of the year. For “whatever” insert “word”, “sportsman”, “newspaper”, or “businessman”. If you can use it, watch it, buy it or hire it, there’s probably an “of the year award” for it.

The publisher of the Collins English Dictionary has decided to go the opposite way. Instead of looking for the most memorable “whatever”, it has decided to look for the most forgettable word. The publisher is proposing to get rid of 24 words in the next edition of the dictionary, which is due to be published next year. Collins will be looking at its own corpus, which is a database of word usage in print and online media, to decide which words should be included in the dictionary, and which should not. The publisher argues that the 24 words can go because they are no longer used.

The lexicographers will make a final decision in January. If, by then, some of the words are being used again in a regular manner — and not only to talk about them as I am here — the words can stay. A few celebrities have started a campaign to save the words. Writer and comedian Stephen Fry is trying to rescue “fubsy”. (Even though I had never heard of the word before I’ve decided to use it in future, too, as in: “Have you seen Gordon Brown? He’s fubsy.” It’s so much nicer than saying he’s “short and fat”.)

The announcement and the whole campaign are all about drumming up interest in the new dictionary. It’s great PR. But if Collins really does drop “fubsy” you can still look it up in the Oxford English Dictionary. You’ll find the full list of endangered words with definitions here.

So, you may think, there could soon be 24 fewer words in the English language to worry about. Wrong! For one thing, the words are so outdated that you wouldn’t have worried about them in the past anyway. And just because a publisher decides the words won’t appear in a dictionary, it doesn’t mean they won’t be used. More importantly, however, Collins is only leaving them out to help make room for new words — some 2,000. That’s the beauty of English — there are always words to learn, both old and new.

Instead of learning an old word that describes a lot of people, but belongs in the past, wouldn’t it be more useful to learn a word that could describe a lot of people, and belongs in the future?

Last week, William Safire, who writes a regular language column for The New York Times, chose “frugalista” as his favourite word of 2008. It’s not new, but it has staying power. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a frugalista as someone “who lives a frugal lifestyle but stays fashionable and healthy by swapping clothes, buying secondhand, growing own produce, etc”. As the recession is likely to be a long one, the word is bound to turn up a lot in 2009.

Even if you don't become one, learn it. But I'd rather be a frugalista, than fubsy.

Wise Words: frugalista

“She’s become a frugalista. I heard she’s no longer a member of the gym, but goes running in the park. She still looks good!”