THE DURABILITY OF “OBSOLETE” WORDS

Recently I wrote about the startling news regarding some familiar words which someone has decided to dump into the “obsolete” or “archaic” bucket. Some of those words I still use in my own speech and writing. I guess that means I, too, am becoming antique. Oh, well.

Of the words listed by David Ouellet for the  puzzle Wonderword using the theme “Words Going Extinct” are some I only call on when working crossword puzzles. Yet, many of these words carry with them special memories for me. Like Penelope Lively says in the Moon Tiger, “our language is the language of everything we have read. Shakespeare and the Authorised Version surface in supermarkets, on buses, chatter on radio and television.”

One of the words slated for obsolescence is “jetsam.”  Its companion, “flotsam” is also on the list. These two words became names of characters in the recent musical, The Little Mermaid which may extend their life for a bit. Quoting Penelope Lively again, “I never cease to wonder…. that words are more durable than anything, that they blow with wind, hibernate and reawaken, shelter parasitic on the most unlikely hosts, survive and survive and survive.”

The memory which comes to me when I see or hear “jetsam” is a televised production of Archy and Mehitabel starring Tammy Grimes. It was my introduction to this actress. She was wonderful and every time I see or hear that word I remember her singing the song “Flotsam and Jetsam.” Such is the power of “obsolete” and “archaic” words.