Sawn Off Words Which Have Replaced the Originals!
By Maggiepie
@Maggiepie (7816)
United States
December 17, 2009 3:18am CST
For a long while, most of my life, in fact, I've been loosely monitoring the changes happening in English. One of these--a very natural change--is the shortening of our words in this hurry-up world in which we live. Today, I just want to have a bit of idle fun with it, & invite you to do the same.
What follows is a brief list of words which I've seen shortened in my own lifetime. I'm 62 (well, I will be in a couple of weeks...
). One of them has been in use for so long I had to stop & think of what the older version was, & one of them I don't recall at all--I just know it used to be longer!
Once you see these, try to recall others, AND--if you can--predict other words you believe may be on their way to being snipped! (Not certain if "texting" style "words" should count, as they're not really merely shortened, they're nearly obliterated. Still, confusing as they can be, they are on the rise, in a subcultural way...
). Here goes:
LIB(eral)
CON(fidence) MAN
CON(vict)
LAB(oratory)
LAB(rador)
omni(BUS)
TAXI(cab)
taxi(CAB)
SEMI(tractor-trailer) (Was there a semi-something else before the "Tractor-Trailer part, once?)
STAT(istic)
INFO(rmation)
DIS(sertation)
MORPH(I know this is short for something but I can't recall what...)
(tele)PHONE
DOBIE(from Doberman Pincer)
Now for a few predictions:
CIG(aret--the extra "te" ending is already gone!)
MED(icine)
TECH(nical)
ADDY(from address)
EDDY(from email)
I think that's a fair start. Now. It's your turn! 
Maggiepie (armchair linguist, winner of pun-offs, word maven!)
"SAY 'MERRY CHRISTMAS!'"
). One of them has been in use for so long I had to stop & think of what the older version was, & one of them I don't recall at all--I just know it used to be longer!
Once you see these, try to recall others, AND--if you can--predict other words you believe may be on their way to being snipped! (Not certain if "texting" style "words" should count, as they're not really merely shortened, they're nearly obliterated. Still, confusing as they can be, they are on the rise, in a subcultural way...). Here goes:
LIB(eral)
CON(fidence) MAN
CON(vict)
LAB(oratory)
LAB(rador)
omni(BUS)
TAXI(cab)
taxi(CAB)
SEMI(tractor-trailer) (Was there a semi-something else before the "Tractor-Trailer part, once?)
STAT(istic)
INFO(rmation)
DIS(sertation)
MORPH(I know this is short for something but I can't recall what...)
(tele)PHONE
DOBIE(from Doberman Pincer)
Now for a few predictions:
CIG(aret--the extra "te" ending is already gone!)
MED(icine)
TECH(nical)
ADDY(from address)
EDDY(from email)
I think that's a fair start. Now. It's your turn!
Maggiepie (armchair linguist, winner of pun-offs, word maven!)
"SAY 'MERRY CHRISTMAS!'"1 person likes this
2 responses
@dawnald (85137)
• Shingle Springs, California
18 Dec 09
Only flat, hard ones in combination with pecs.... 
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
20 Dec 09
Med and tech are already used here. My Mom used to go crazy with donut because it was doughnut when she was a kid. Also, maintainance became maintenance at some point. Shortening didn't bother her, it was the spelling changes of some syllables entirely.
In my time, toilet tissue became toilet paper and now t. p. is said by almost everyone or at least written. I went to buy stuff for someone one time and they had tp on their list. I had to call and ask what they wanted.
I'm trying to think of some others, but you covered quite a few. semiconductor for electricity maybe, but probably stretching it.
Morphs used to be body types, mesomorph, endomorph, and ectomorph. Now it means to change into something. Reminds me of a Bible joke where some kid came home talking about how someone morphed into a pillar of salt.
1 person likes this
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
23 Dec 09
Thank you very much for best response. I had fun reading your response. Yeah, when someone sent that to me, I got a kick out of it. I love it when kids give their version of things. Thanks again and take care.
@Maggiepie (7816)
• United States
23 Dec 09
Yes, the donut/doughnut bothers me, as well. I wonder myself when "maintainance" mutated! My spell check confused me, insisting it was wrong! (At least it doesn't accept donut! Yet...)
T.P. was begun, I'm pretty sure, as a prudish attempt to avoid using the entire term in case anyone glanced at your shopping list & was shocked--SHOCKED--that people had bodily functions! 
Think of it as "proto-texting." Incidentally, the very word "texting" sounds so wrong, to me; when exactly did "text" become a verb...?
Ha! I love it! "Morphing" into a pillar of salt! That's priceless!
Maggiepie
"I pray to heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that hereafter inhabit it." --Carved into the stone fireplace in the White House Dining Room, under President John Adams
)
T.P. was begun, I'm pretty sure, as a prudish attempt to avoid using the entire term in case anyone glanced at your shopping list & was shocked--SHOCKED--that people had bodily functions! Think of it as "proto-texting." Incidentally, the very word "texting" sounds so wrong, to me; when exactly did "text" become a verb...?
Ha! I love it! "Morphing" into a pillar of salt! That's priceless!
Maggiepie
"I pray to heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that hereafter inhabit it." --Carved into the stone fireplace in the White House Dining Room, under President John Adams1 person likes this
