Deracinate

Deracinate

Sometimes regardless of a word’s actual meaning, it can have appeal simply from the way it sounds. Deracinate is one of those words. I just like the sound of it. Maybe it helps that its origin is French, and French is my second language of choice. In deracinate or as the French would say deraciner, I get two words for the price of one. Once you learn the structure and how to use a language it is all about vocabulary acquisition. Since there is very little difference between the English and French versions in either spelling or pronunciation, it’s easier to remember. It appears to be what is known as a regular – er verb, so the conjugation is relatively simple as well.

Wanheda is another word I kind of like the sound of, probably all the more because until a year or so ago I don’t think it actually existed. It sounds like it should mean something, and could easily be a part of our language. Like frak from Battlestar Galactica, Wanheda is a word made up specifically for a television series, in this instance, the CW’s, The 100. There is an entire made up ‘grounder’ language for the groups of people represented on the show as the left behinds, on a post nuclear holocaust earth. Although, I am interested in language and have an affinity for the sound of this particular word, I don’t feel the need to actually learn the entire made up language. Nor do I know any words in Klingon or Esperanto for that matter, or any Tatooine languages if such a thing exists. I have my hands full trying to become fully fluent in French, but the idea of achieving polyglot status (in real languages) is appealing.

The Wanheda: Clark Griffin

The Polyglot: Alex Rawlings

Ten Language Interview with the UK’s Most Multilingual Student

Desuetude

Desuetude

So the non-prediction was a bit of a prediction. I am obviously happy for Moonlight’s Oscar win, although the snafu surrounding the announcement overshadowed its moment and the importance of the moment. That said the beauty of naming your blog Tedium! is that when you are didactic, readers have been forewarned. So here goes.

I hope one of the positive takeaways from Moonlight’s historic win is increased greenlighting of more quality, mainstream, contemporary films featuring the traditionally underrepresented. Contemporary is the key word. I will assume 12 Years A Slave is a fine film, or at least a decent film. I haven not seen it, and probably never will. It also won an Oscar, and it also illustrates a problem. Often in the quest to meet the uproar for good films with diverse representation, the history of a group is mined for stories. This produces your Selmas, Stonewalls, Cesar Chavez, Dances With Wolves and so on. There is nothing wrong with that, except the underrepresented are more than their history, tragedy or most visible characteristics.

I would also like to see the slurs that often are prevalent in these works fall into desuetude. Although film is a visual medium, it’s as though filmmakers are operating out of a kind of self-consciousness that audiences will fail to notice diverse characters are in the film without calling attention to them in this way. I enjoyed Hell or High Water because it’s a heist film. It also features a character that is both Native and Latino, played by Gil Birmingham, a nice bonus. Except for the fact the majority of jibes against the character are based on his ethnicity. We get it, there’s a native actor/character in the film! Thank you for making sure we noticed!

Full desuetude is unlikely since an argument could be made for authenticity, but by and large when traditional racial,ethnic, orientation etc… slurs are used on film, they add little to the story. Think, The Hateful Eight, and the scene between Walt Goggins and Samuel L. Jackson in the cabin. Although the use of slurs here is, let’s say historically accurate, the volume in the scene…It was more like aversion therapy. Screenplays are created, so the how and why of everything in them is a choice. The language used is a choice. Sometimes the choices are less representative of authenticity and more indicative of laziness.

English is a rich and flexible language. We make up words and transform as we need them. Google, for example, has only been used as a verb for about twenty years. Desuetude, on the other hand, is a noun that has fallen out of common usage. Would that that were true with certain slurs in popular culture as well, instead of the normalization.