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Southport Reporter®

Edition No. 208

Date:- 03  July 2005

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War of the Words

100 Years of Sci-Fi Words.   With The War of the Worlds, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Revenge of the Sith, and The Island packing cinemas, and Doctor Who returning to the small screen, Britain is enjoying a summer of sci-fi. But science fiction hasn’t just been entertaining us since the days of Jules Verne and HG Wells, it’s also been adding to our language, as the new edition of the Collins English Dictionary shows.

Tomorrow’s language today. 


These days, SF writers often maintain that they write speculative fiction, a term that encapsulates one key element of the genre, speculation about the shape of things to come. William Gibson, for instance, coined the term cyberspace in the early 1980s, when the internet was still a gleam in the US military’s eye, while War of the Worlds author HG Wells was the first to use atomic in the sense of "harnessing the power within atoms"

Science fiction to science fact 


"We can see an interesting pattern emerging."
says Jeremy Butterfield, Editor-in-Chief of Collins Dictionaries. "SF writers predict a phenomenon sometimes decades before it becomes a reality, and when it does, there’s a ready-made name for it. So we get the word webcast before the web existed, and robotics decades before the real science appeared." Might we conclude that scientists are keen readers of science fiction?

Here are some examples from the last 100 years:-

airlock  noun 1920s
intergalactic  adjective 1920s
robot noun 1920s
mother ship noun 1930s
hyperspace noun 1930s
mutant noun 1930s
humanoid noun 1940s
robotic adjective 1940s
robotics noun 1940s
stun gun noun 1940s
genetic engineering noun 1940s
cyborg noun 1960s 
bot noun 1960s 
cyberspace noun 1980s 
webcast noun 1980s 
comm badge noun 2000s
bot army noun 2000s
Urban folklore 

Other sci-fi terms haven’t become reality, but have become part of our everyday language as part of our modern urban folklore.
 
While SF literature is seen as the domain of geeks and nerds, takings from this summer’s films show that sci-fi is mainstream on the screen, if not the page. Everyone knows what a Dalek is, while jedi is even a recognised religion in Australia. 
 
Here are some more of the SF words that the little green men at Collins Dictionaries have identified:-
 android  noun  1700s
 Frankenstein  noun  1818 Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
 Martian  noun  1880s Popularized by HG Wells in War of the Worlds
 time machine  noun  1880s HG Wells, The Time Machine
 ray gun  noun  1930s
 triffid  noun  1950s John Wyndham, Day of the Triffids
 Dalek  noun  1960s Dr Who
 jedi  noun 1970s  Star Wars
 Ballardian  adjective  1990s After the noted SF writer JG Ballard
 morph   verb  1990s Terminator 2

Middle (Earth) English 

Science fiction is not the only fantastical genre to have widened our everyday language:- JRR Tolkien has left his mark in the shape of hobbit, which has a new definition in the Collins English Dictionary as the newly discovered Homo floriensis and orc (a word he introduced to modern English from Anglo-Saxon): the England rugby team were recently described by a New Zealand journalist as "white orcs on steroids"

The Dictionary of the Future 


With science fiction dominating cinema box offices a 100 years after Jules Verne’s death, we should be expecting more SF words to be beamed down into dictionaries in the future. In the meantime, the Collins English Dictionary, with its futuristic metallic cover and state-of-the-art design, does its level best to bring you tomorrow’s language today.

MEN TAKE MORE CARE OF CAR THAN THEY DO OF THEMSELVES

DESPITE increased awareness about the importance of looking after ourselves, the average man in North West still takes more care of his car than he does of himself. National research carried out by leading healthcare provider HealthSure revealed that men in Liverpool are among the worst in the UK for looking after themselves. 42% have never had a health screen despite taking their car for an annual maintenance check and service.

The survey indicates that the majority of men underestimate the importance of screening in looking after their health. Concern about cost was the most common excuse with 23% of men in Liverpool citing financial reasons for avoiding a regular check up.

GP Dr Ann Robinson comments:- "It would appear that men place more importance on taking their car for an annual MOT than maintaining and checking their own bodywork. I thought that men had wised up to the need to look after their health and was really shocked by these results. We can't treat something if we don't know about it - and how do these men know if they have high blood pressure or are developing diabetes? 

We know that diseases like testicular cancer are so readily treatable and curable if detected early. Yet most men don't know how to check their testicles and reluctant to seek help even if they do find a lump." 

To encourage more men to be aware of their health, HealthSure has become an official sponsor of Check-em, a new DVD and website project covering men's health and lifestyle issues that launches in July. Check-em is supporting Everyman, the national campaign to raise awareness and fund vital research into male cancers.

Making it easier for men to afford and attend a regular screen, HealthSure has added health screening to its everyday essential healthcare cash plan policy. Now from as little as £9.95 per month, men can claim cash towards the cost of a regular health and wellbeing screen.

An important healthcare habit to make, a regular health screen is a comprehensive medical examination that gives a clear indication of wellbeing. It can help to identify areas of potential future illness and ensure appropriate action is taken to rectify the problems early.

Managing director at HealthSure, Richard Sear commented:- "We really want to encourage more men to take action and get themselves checked on a regular basis. By identifying health issues at an early stage, a health screen is the ideal solution to maintaining and improving future health, providing valuable peace of mind and enhancing day to day wellbeing."

A HealthSure everyday healthcare policy also covers a wide range of other healthcare treatments including dental, optical, physiotherapy, complementary therapies and specialist consultations. For further information on Check-em and the campaign to promote men's health, please visit www.check-em.com.

Stunning DIANA ROSS enraptures the Summer Pops 2005
Hotline 0870 151 4000

YES it realy is... After California and Vegas, it was the turn of Detroit to be transported to the banks of the River Mersey last night as the Princess of Motown Diana Ross played her first show in the city for over 30 years.

The sell-out Big Top Arena crowd were on the feet the instant she walked on stage, and gave her a rapturous standing ovation before she had even sung a note; and it all went uphill from there.

Singing every word of ever song, the audience accompanied her each step of the way as she paraded classic after classic, including 'Where Did Our Love Go?', 'Baby Love', 'Stop In The name of Love, 'Upside Down', 'I Will Survive' and many more.

After four costume changes and nearly two hours on stage, it was finally time to say goodbye and she left to the umpteenth ovation of the night.

After a 30 year absence, however, Liverpool won't have to wait long to see the Queen of Soul's return to Liverpool - she's back for a second sell-out
night on Saturday! 

The Summer Pops continues until July 24. This week's shows also include Will Young, Jools Holland and Wet Wet Wet.

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