Jihadismo, Pimpaggio, & Zapaterizzazione - Neologisms

A new report from England, on the effects of texting on literacy, will be of some comfort to Italy's cultural guardians. The study, conducted at the the department of communication and science at City University in London, found that there were no significant differences in the instances of grammar and spelling mistakes between two groups of children, mobile phone users familiar with txt messaging and those without, aged between 11 & 12. The children, according to speech and language therapist Veenal Raval, were able to 'code-switch', or slip between different modes of communication - just as they do between playground slang and formal speech. Italy has some 62.7 million mobile phones in a population of 58 million.

Text messaging had developed its own lingo in Italian as well as English, with abbreviations like
perchè (why) = xkè
comunque (anyway) =cmq
come (how) = cm
non = nn
ti voglio bene (I love you) = tvb
ti voglio tanto bene (I love you a lot) = tvtb
qualcosa (something) = qlc
quando (when) = qnd

The English report takes as its subject 11&12 year olds, mainly to see whether the use of texting shortcuts has limited their literacy. It doesn't concern itself with another interesting phenomena: the deliberate and proud deployment of these shortcuts outside of the context of text-messaging by 'bloggista's, or blog writers, who often are well aware of the rules of language, but choose to flaunt them. Blog posts throughout the Italian sphere of the internet include these shortcuts, not necessitated by tiny screens and time constraints. In often complex arguments which have no doubt taken some time to write, one comes across the abbreviations like a secret code or badge of honour. To write 'x' instead of 'per' [per means for. In Italian mathematics 2x4 is read due per quattro] is to identify oneself with a modern outlook, comfortable to interact in an increasingly globalized world.

In a world where English, Spanish, and Chinese(for simplicity's sake) are increasingly dominant, the Italian language is often the subject of a defensive policy, with people railing against neologisms that depend heavily on other languages.

Language, though, is never still, and whether you embrace new forms or are on the defensive, they occur anyway. Some integrate terms from other languages, while others are simply imaginative combinations of the existing language. The newly published dictionary of neologisms (2006 Parole Nuove. Un dizionario di neologismi dai giornali) presents some great terms coined over the last couple of years (as reported by Antonella Barina in Venerdì di Repubblica):

1)Zapaterizzazione
The imposition of a political/social model similar to that of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Coined, not surprisingly, by arch conservatives who one might think would be opposed to neologisms. Not, it would seem, when searching for a handy catch-all phrase to label those gay-loving, church-baiting, pinko liberals!

2)Pixellato
To describe a face in a digital photo that has been made unrecognisable by the enlargement of pixels.

3)Jihadismo
The fundamentalist Islamic movement advocating a holy war against the infidels. A blunt term that doesn't take into account the diverse meanings of jihad for Muslims, but then again, who ever said that neologisms had to be either fair or theologically correct?

4)Filaro
Intriguingly, a person who queues in public offices for payment to save others the trouble. This Monkey will be searching for a dependable Filaro as soon as possible, estimating that it may save him a couple of entire days queueing per annum.

Time will tell whether MTV Italia manage to create a neologism with their imported and customised show Pimp my Wheels. Based on the US show Pimp my Ride, the Italian version presents the desperate owners of decrepit Vespas and out of shape Apes [the Ape, which means bee, is that super cool three wheel covered mini-van seen around Italy] seeking the opportunity to have them 'pimpate'. The two/three wheel vehicles are taken into the 'sala di pimpaggio' to be reconstructed. The dream of any decent cocacolista*, one imagines.

Hmm. Maybe there is something to be said for defending the language from neologisms...

*Cocacolista
Someone who regularly drinks coca-cola. By extension, someone who embraces wholeheartedly the American life-style.

Posted by 3Monkeys at

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