Random 14 Dec 2004 12:46 pm
Words…
Isn’t it funny how a new word you learn suddenly starts to pop up everywhere after the first time you see it?
Not being a native English speaker, I pay attention to new words I see, and even (occasionally) look them up. Because of that, I see this phenomenon on a regular basis. For example: about a year ago, I first saw the verb gallivant in a “word a day” calendar someone gave me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the word used before this. Within two weeks, I saw the word used twice in the book I was reading at the time (it was Silicon Boys, by the way), and I’ve heard or read it occasionally since.
And, being in Australia and being mostly used to the US brand of English, I’m exposed to new words quite frequently. One of those is “bowser”, which here is the word that refers to what Americans would call a gas pump (and “gas” in the sense of “car fuel” is called “petrol” here, by the way). The word was in most news reports about a week ago due to a government problem not really worth mentioning and, despite it referring to a somewhat common object, I didn’t know what it meant at the time (it was very easy to guess from the usage, of course). Within two days the same word showed up in a mailing list I subscribe to, in a completely different context.
I know that this happens, probably, because you are more “tuned” to new words you’ve just learned, and you tend to notice it more when they are used again. It is still a very strange feeling when it happens, though.
