Suffix '-ese' when speaking of jargon
Raymond S. Wise
alt.english.usage . The following is a list in which that suffix is used to
indicate a jargon or style of writing which I made with the use of the
online *Merriam-Webster's Collegiate* at www.m-w.com . The dates given come
from that dictionary. It's possible that the Collegiate contains some "-ese"
words referring to jargon which I missed.
1843 Johnsonese
1882 journalese
1884 officialese
1885 telegraphese
1914 legalese
1944 governmentese
(also governmentalese in the dictionary at Infoplease.com)
1949 bureaucratese
1951 sociologese
1954 educationese
The Collegiate treated many of these as identifying a given jargon, without
indicating that there was something undesirable with the jargon in question.
It does define "officialese" as "the characteristic language of official
statements : wordy, pompous, or obscure language." But where it defines
"Johnsonese" as "a literary style characterized by balanced phraseology and
Latinate diction" the dictionary at Infoplease.com defines it as "a literary
style characterized by rhetorically balanced, often pompous phraseology and
an excessively Latinate vocabulary: so called from the style of writing
practiced by Samuel Johnson." Where the Collegiate defines "journalese" as
"a style of writing held to be characteristic of newspapers." the dictionary
at Infoplease.com defines it as "a manner of writing or speaking
characterized by clichés, occasional neologism, archness, sensationalizing
adjectives, unusual or faulty syntax, etc., used by some journalists, esp.
certain columnists, and regarded as typical journalistic style."
I also took a look at some of these words in *The Century Dictionary* of
1895 and its Supplement of 1909. Of "Johnsonese," the Century says the
following:
[quote, with pronunciation symbols replaced by ASCII IPA]
*Johnsonese* /dZAns@n'is/ or -/'iz/, _n._ [< _Johnson_ (see def.) + _-ese._
The surname _Johnson_ is also written _Jonson,_ ME. _Jonson,_ i.e. John's
son : see _John._] The style or language of Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-84), or
an imitation of it ; a pompous, inflated style, characterized by words of
classical origin (often manufactured).
When he wrote for publication, he [Johnson] did his sentences out of
English into _Johnsonese._
_Macaulay,_ Boswell's Johnson.
If the Easy Chair may speak in _Johnsonese,_ laughter is a condiment, not
a comestible.
_G. W. Curtis,_ Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 637.
[end quote]
The Collegiate defines "telegraphese" as "language characterized by the
terseness and ellipses that are common in telegrams." The Century Supplement
defines it as follows:
[quote, with pronunciation symbols replaced by ASCII IPA]
*telegraphese* /,tEl@gr&fis/, _n._ [_telegraph_ + _-ese._] A very terse
style, such as that in which telegrams are commonly written ; a style marked
by very short sentences. [Rare.]
We rather relish the leisurely semicolons and sentences of the eighteenth
century after being confronted with the "_telegraphese_" of many a modern
stylist.
_Athenćum,_ Oct. 7, 1905, p. 469.
[end quote]
--
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com
Raymond S. Wise
> The subject of the suffix "-ese" was discussed in the newsgroup
> alt.english.usage . The following is a list in which that suffix is used to
> indicate a jargon or style of writing which I made with the use of the
> online *Merriam-Webster's Collegiate* at www.m-w.com . The dates given come
> from that dictionary. It's possible that the Collegiate contains some "-ese"
> words referring to jargon which I missed.
>
>
> 1843 Johnsonese
> 1882 journalese
> 1884 officialese
> 1885 telegraphese
> 1914 legalese
Well, here's one I failed to post although I did have it in my notes:
1944 federalese
> 1944 governmentese
> (also governmentalese in the dictionary at Infoplease.com)
> 1949 bureaucratese
> 1951 sociologese
> 1954 educationese
[...]
Ben Zimmer
OED adds:
1876 stagese
1888 Barnumese
1889 newspaperese
1895 cablegramese
1898 Carlylese
1899 Kiplingese
1899 golfese
1900 novelese
1906 guide-bookese
1907 Carrollese
1910 commercialese
1915 translatorese
1927 headlinese
1935 officese
1948 poetese
1951 Washingtonese
1951 Pentagonese
1952 cablese
1955 initialese
1955 mobese
1957 translationese
1958 Time-ese
1959 acadamese
1960 computerese
1961 psychologese
1967 translatese