Tuesday June 5, 2012
Are you a “newbie” or “newie”?
By FADZILAH AMIN
Are you a “newbie” or “newie”? And is “behind the scene” an obscenely frequent example of poor grammar?
Some errors in English (and I don’t mean typos) come from little things, like using an “s” when you shouldn’t (and vice versa), using a wrong letter in a word, or leaving out an important word. They are errors nevertheless, and can give the impression that the speaker or writer does not know the finer points of the language.
A reader with the pseudonym “nganclh” noticed the trouble some Malaysians have in using the word “regard”, especially when to use an “s” after it and which prepositions to use after or before it.
“Regard” is a word with many meanings. As a plural noun, “regards” means “best wishes”. We can ask someone to “give my regards” to someone else, or we can end an informal letter or e-mail with “Regards” just before our name.
However, the problems mentioned by nganclh usually come when “regard” is used as part of a few idioms. The idioms are “as regards (somebody/something)”, “in/with regard to (somebody/something)”, “in this/that regard” and “have regard (to something)”.
It is important to remember that only one of these idioms uses “regard” with an “s” and that is “as regards” (the “as” before the word may remind us to use “s” at the end of the word). The rest use “regard” without an “s”.
“As regards” means “in connection with” or “concerning”, and is not followed by any preposition. But the idioms “with regard to” and “in regard to” which both mean “in connection with” contain the preposition “to”. All three idioms are usually used in formal situations, for example at meetings or in formal documents. Here are some examples of their use:
“As regards visa applications outside the Points Based System (e.g. as a visitor), will you accept documents which are not in English?” (in the FAQ section of an online document of the British Embassy in Italy)
“The website of the Information Commissioner’s Office provides information and assistance with regard to your rights under the Data Protection Act 1998 and related legislation ...” (Guardian Jobs: Terms And Conditions For Candidates)
“This petition is to highlight the discrimination that occurs in the workplace in regard to Tattoos and Body Piercing...” (e-petition to the UK government found in a UK government website). However, I don’t think David Beckham need worry about his tattoos in his workplace!
To come back to idioms containing “regard”, the idiom “in this/that regard” is also formal and means “concerning what has just been mentioned” (OALD). Here is an example of usage:
“Falkirk Council area contains nine conservation areas and over 300 listed buildings ... worthy of protection. In this regard the Council approved a Built Heritage Strategy to promote the conservation and enhancement of key built heritage features in January 2006.” (Falkirk Council (Scotland, UK) website)
“In this regard” here would therefore mean “concerning the nine conservation areas and 300 listed buildings worthy of protection within Falkirk Council”.
The last idiom I want to consider is “have regard to (something)” which is often used legally and means “to remember and think carefully about something” (OALD). An example of its legal use can be seen in the following:
“Section 44 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 [UK] provides that ‘Every court in dealing with a child or young person who is brought before it, either as an offender or otherwise, shall have regard to the welfare of the child or young person ...’” (quoted in a letter from the Howard League for Penal Reform).
This idiom can also be used outside the legal field, for example in the following extract from a company’s statement of its corporate responsibility:
“The Company recognises that the Group’s exploration and development activities require it to have regard to the potential impact that it and its subsidiary companies may have on the environment.” (from xtractenergy plc website)
The presence or absence of an “s” in a word is also important in other idioms. For example, “behind the scenes” is an idiom which means “out of public view” (Concise Oxford Dictionary). The “s” after “scene” is a necessary part of that idiom.
Yet night after night I see “Behind the Scene” in an advertisement on Astro Channel 108, also known as Zee Variasi. It is irritating to see the unidiomatic English phrase before or after watching that excellent Hindi series called Hitler Didi!
Speaking of TV, reader “Couch Potato” (who must watch more TV than I do, judging by his pseudonym) noticed how a local TV station informs viewers of its upcoming shows/series by referring to the latter as “newbies”.
As Couch Potato rightly pointed out, a “newbie” is “an inexperienced newcomer”, who is therefore a person and not a show. The word that should have been used is “newie” which means “a new person or thing” (Concise Oxford Dictionary 2004). Both are informal words, but the presence of a “b” in “newbie” gives it a different meaning from “newie”.
The word “newie” may not be in general circulation, since I have seen it only in the COD, OED, the Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary and the online Urban Dictionary (of slang). Merriam-Webster, however, gives 1834 as the date of the first known use of the word, and the OED records its first use in the journal American Speech in 1947.
The word “newie” is therefore not a newie, and ought to be better known for its usefulness when we talk informally about something new. Here is a quotation in the OED using the word:
“... ‘Ah, the new cherry,’ mutters Trevor Bailey with nostalgia in his voice. ‘It’s the newie,’ exclaims Brian Johnston.” (Daily Telegraph, 6 Sept 1975)
I took the title of this article from a name that was suggested by the composer but rejected by the lyricist of the enduring oldie “These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You)”. Here’s a link to the song on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkecMffQjdo) as sung live by Rod Stewart, who’s slightly younger than the song (1936). I just think it wouldn’t be nice to be remembered for our little English mistakes!
■ Mind Our English is published once a week on Tuesdays. For comments or inquiries on English usage, please contact the writer at fedela7@yahoo.co.uk
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