Why punk is 'trash'

The RobWords Newsletter

Welcome to another RobWords Newsletter. Coming up:

• ETYMOLOGY ROULETTE – punk

• VOCABULARY EXPANDER – suppedaneous

• DEFINITIONS QUIZ

• And more.

In the mood for some word facts and language fun? Well then, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya…

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PUNK

Lousy music

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The musical genre was originally called punk rock, with punk serving as an adjective meaning “inferior” or “lousy”. It was a label imposed by people who didn’t like the music, and embraced by people who did.

Punk has had an array of colourful (to say the least) meanings down the centuries.

The earliest recorded sense was “a female sex worker” (or “prostitute” to use a less anachronistic term). This meaning was still current in Shakespeare’s day.

In fact, he used it in act 5, scene 1 of Measure for Measure. Here’s Lucio invoking punk in reference to poor Mariana (though, he doesn’t know it’s her):

William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure (from Bodleian First Folio)

The term continued on its sexual journey. By the end of the 17th century it had switched genders and come to mean a boy or man kept by an older man as a sexual partner. This usage later found a place in US prison slang, where a punk was essentially a male sex slave.

In parallel with these developments (and probably influenced by them) punk became a term for a contemptible person, a petty criminal, or a hoodlum.

When, in the 1960s and 70s, a style of music took hold that sounded amateurish, with its simple chord structures and basic strumming patterns, punk gained yet another new usage. Punk rock was the kind of rock played by society’s dregs: the punks.

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SUPPEDANEOUS

sup-uh-DAY-nee-uss

Meaning: Placed under the foot

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We’ve all been there: scrabbling around for an adjective to describe a footstool.

Don’t worry, I’ve found one. Suppedaneous is built from three Latin components:

• sup- “under” (as in suppress; equivalent to sub-)

• ped- “foot” (as in pedal, pedestrian, sesquipedalian)

• -aneous, an adjective ending.

It can therefore apply to anything positioned ‘neath the tootsies.

Hamon L’Estrange, The alliance of divine offices (1659)

My flat has neither footstool nor pedestal, so I have to make do with a suppedaneous coffee table.

USE IT TODAY

Can you pick out the correct definition of the word below?

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TOGED

In unison

Fastened shut

Wearing a robe

Having partaken of marijuana

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I’ll reveal the answer at the end of the newsletter.

Where are your “fives”, “lights” and “belly eggs”?

Our body parts have weird names.

For my latest YouTube video, I set about translating our anatomy into normal English.

Ever wondered how your naughty bits got their names, or why your insides appear to speak Latin? Wonder no more:

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TOGED

Wearing a robe

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It’s an obsolete word meaning “clad in a toga”. It’s from the French toge rather than directly from its Latin ancestor, toga. The Latin-based alternative was togated. Again, our pal Shakespeare used it (this time in Othello).

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Thanks for reading! It’s a slightly shorter edition than usual because I’m on my hols. Hopefully, you barely noticed.