Word for the Wise, February 12

[Uadzit]

Topic: The theory of evolution

200 years after Charles Darwin's birth, a consensus has evolved, emerged, or become established (take your pick) in the scientific community: that the various types of animals and plants have their origin in other pre-existing types, and that the distinguishable differences are due to modifications in successive generations. We are speaking, of course, of the theory of evolution; Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection is the foundation of that well-respected theory. Darwin's work shook the scientific world; its fallout is still felt today.

Today, on the bicentennial of Darwin's birth, we look at one way scientists have applied evolution to words. A group of researchers—Mark Pagel, Quentin Atkinson, and Andrew Meade—investigated linguistic evolution. They hypothesized that, "[o]wing to the ways humans use language, some words will evolve slowly and others more rapidly across all languages." Specifically, they suggested that words in frequent use evolve at slower rates compared with words used infrequently. They offered, as an example, the four very distinct Greek, French, English, and German words for "tail," which contrast with the four very similar seeming words for the number two. Their studies led them to conclude that the "frequency with which specific words are used in everyday language exerts a general and law-like influence on their rates of evolution."

Questions or comments? Write us at wftw@aol.com Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and Web sites including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.  

[chessiejo]

i was just eating a yummy box of valentine chocolates
and it had the names of each kind of sweet in french, spanish and english.

i was interested to see that the words for trufflr,
fruit,
and caramel
were almost identical in each language!
french "beurre" resembles butter although the spanish word does not
and all three disagree about what to call a peanut.  

[Rosenfall]

Lets not forget the wonderful idea of Social Darwin  

[chessiejo]

Rosenfall

Lets not forget the wonderful idea of Social Darwin

oh right, the cause of World War One, then known as the Gereat War.

where each side sent their best young boys out into the trenches to get their lungs eaten away by chemical gas.

because they HAD to win, to prove that as survivors they were the fittest!

yay social darwinism!

NOT