Evolving language - Banjaxed by sleeveens

THE evolution of vocabulary and language is one of reliable fault lines between generations and cultures.

A new phrase, or using a noun as a verb, may be entirely acceptable to some but, as any pedant worth his split infinitive or apostrophe will undoubtedly insist, it is an affront to his version of what is correct.

So many of these arguments seem pointless because, just as Canute found he could not stop the flowing tide, we cannot pretend that the ideals that shaped the great writings of Swift or Hardy can withstand the force of the sometimes equally wonderful writing on The Wire or The Sopranos. This has been recognised in the new edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) which has been launched online.

And though neither Swift nor Hardy used words like sleeveen or banjaxed they might today because it is where the never-ending and wonderful evolution of language has brought us.