Tuesday May 8, 2012
Peculiar terms
By FADZILAH AMIN
Jargon can be used in wonderful ways.
THE first time I saw the legal expression “time is of the essence”, I was fascinated, and raved about its beauty. After all the legal jargon of “hereunder”s and “heretofore”s, here was a sentence that sounded philosophical, evoking the distinction between “essence” and “existence”, and the whole concept of time.
The lawyer I went to see was my former head of department (and a very good one, too), but he didn’t encourage my verbal enthusiasm (“Fadzilah, please pay attention to ALL the words in the agreement!”), so I came down to earth and was told what the expression really meant: that the times and dates specified in the agreement must be strictly adhered to.
Jargon is not always dull. Just because it is language used within someone else’s profession, it doesn’t mean that others can’t be excited by it, even while misunderstanding it. To apply Shakespeare’s phrase from The Tempest to jargon, it can be “rich and strange”.
“Diving” can be good or bad in football – depending on whether it’s the goalie or striker doing it! Take the Latin legal term “in loco parentis”, for example. That term was much bandied about in England in 1969, when the voting age was lowered to 18. It meant that people were considered adults at that age, and students aged 18 and above felt that they should not therefore be subjected to certain irksome hostel restrictions. Since they were no longer under parental authority, the hostel authorities should not act “in loco parentis” or “in place of parents” to them.
While British students were celebrating their new-found freedom, some foreign ones were tickled by the term: Do they mean it’s mad to listen to your parents?” “Loco” is the word for mad in Spanish, and it is used in informal English with that meaning too. In Latin it means “place”.
Another interesting legal term is “in camera”, referring to a trial or part of one that is heard in a judge’s private chambers. “Camera” means “vaulted roof or chamber” in Latin (Concise Oxford English Dictionary), but the term can be easily mistaken for a trial that is photographed, or videoed!
Another term, “ultra vires”, sounds to the uninitiated like a very strong virus, when it actually means “beyond the jurisdiction (of a court)”, for example, a khalwat case would be ultra vires in a civil court in Malaysia.
Speaking of viruses, my maid of 25 years once asked me whether I was not in danger of being infected by the viruses that might be in my computer. I had often told her that I’d left my computer on, so that the virus killer can look for possible viruses in it. I wouldn’t want to tell her about computer bugs and worms, or even cookies!
Another sort of jargon that fascinates me is football talk. I’ve only been watching football on TV since 2004, but love to hear the players, managers, commentators and pundits discuss the game. The jargon was puzzling and intriguing at first, but I understand it now and appreciate its beauty and strangeness.
An intriguing one is when a player is said to be good “in the air”. Surely they are not fighter pilots! Indeed, sometimes a game looks more like headball than football, as the players send the ball flying about. Today I found out that some players call that “head tennis”.
When the ball hits the framework of the goal, it is said to hit “the woodwork”, even though most goal frameworks nowadays are made of metal!
I once heard a player talking about the “pedigree” of another player. I assumed the other player had noble blood, or at least belonged to football nobility – like Chicharito (Javier Hernandez) – with a father and grandfather who have made their mark in the game. But that’s not what he meant. “Pedigree” in football means the player’s own past achievements in the game, such as what club(s) he’s played for etc.
When a goalkeeper is commended for being able to keep a “clean sheet”, what comes to my mind’s eye is a white clean bed sheet. What is meant of course is that he has not let any goals in, which is equivalent to having a report card or driving licence with no offences recorded on it.
Every football enthusiast knows what “diving” is in football, although a layman may wonder where water comes into such a game. “Diving” requires the ability to play-act, which must involve a lot of practice in the art of falling at the slightest contact with an opposing player, and rolling on the ground in seeming agony until your side gets a free kick or a penalty.
Finally, I want to record a beautiful Freudian slip from Arsene Wenger, the French manager of Arsenal. In an interview accessible online a couple of years ago, he used the phrase “footballistically speaking”. I wondered whether he secretly thought of the football as a ballistic missile!
*For comments or inquiries on English usage, the writer can be contacted at fedela7@yahoo.co.uk.
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