Image source: Merlina McGovern
It’s that time where I reach into the fuddy-duddy top hat of Fowler’s Modern English Usage, Second Edition and pull out a new word. Today, that word is:
Howbeit
Gesundheit! Oh, it’s not a sneeze. Rather, howbeit is:
“According to the OED [Oxford English Dictionary] archaic in one of its senses (nevertheless) and obsolete in the other (although). The archaic has its place in modern writing, the obsolete has not.” —Sir Ernest Gowers, Fowler’s Modern English Usage, Second Edition
We’ll dig into the distinction that Sir Gowers makes between the archaic and the obsolete in a bit, but let’s look at the word itself, shall we. It is an actual contraction of the words “how be it.” Etymonline notes that “albeit” is a similar contraction (of “although it be that”) and that Chaucer used a past tense version of that word: alwereit. Isn’t the history of language wonderful?
I read the word howbeit in my head as HowBeIt, which is pretty much how Merriam-Webster says you should pronounce it, hau̇-bē-ǝt. I also picture some distinguished gentleman with a top hat saying it after a sentence that begins with “Quite, quite, and all that.” The more that I type howbeit and say it in my head, the funnier it feels. It looks even stranger in all caps: HOWBEIT. And, in my mind, it always ends in a question mark: howbeit?
Howbeit I could go on writing about how strange the word is, I’ve just realized that I have used the obsolete version of the term in this very sentence. Sir Gowers writes that he thinks the OED got this distinction between archaic and obsolete right:
“Those who, without much knowledge of the kind of literature in which archaism is in place, are tempted to use this word should carefully note the distinction. It is often a delicate matter to draw it aright.”—Sir Ernest Gowers, Fowler’s Modern English Usage, Second Edition
I suppose that I am one of those ignoramuses that doesn’t have much knowledge of writing that would smoothly fit in the archaic versus its obsolete use, so I’ve attempted to plot out two examples here:
Archaic: Despite what you may think about my limited vocabulary, I am howbeit able to communicate my thoughts quite clearly to you.
Obsolete: Howbeit I’ve been shopping twice today, I’ve forgotten to pick up the jar of pickles you asked for, yet again.
Now feel free to never use the second example and to use the first example in your next novella, where the main character is an insufferable pedant who is plotting the murder of his dog walker.
I will admit, that after seeing it written so many times, I think that I am pretty over using it in any instance; did you know that Merriam-Webster has 28 synonyms for this archaic word?
This research into words that are no longer used made me want to check in with my Gen Z daughter to take the pulse of the slang that she and her friends are using. After she got over this cringe request of mine (to which she responded: “Eww, mom, no one says cringe anymore”), she gave me the following (before immediately running back to her room and shutting the door).
Cap: a lie. “We watched The Shining 15 times, no cap.”
Bussin: It’s so good. “This boba tea is so bussin.”
Mid: Not good, not bad, it’s just mid. "No one really wants something that’s mid."
Rizz: Courtship skills. “Justin over here has W rizz.” trans. Justin is very good at courting.
You can find a ton more at this Wikipedia entry for Generation Z slang, many of which my daughter assures me that she and her friends never use. What I found fascinating about this list and the origins of these terms was how much had been taken from African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Buzzfeed has an eye-opening article about how so much of social media spreads the appropriation of AAVE with no sense of the cultural origins of any of these terms or phrases. The worst of this is the current weaponization of the term woke.
Of course, the beauty of language and words and the Internet is that you can research word origins; you can see how language has the power to unite people (and, unfortunately, to divide them). I hope that this little exploration into “modern English usage” inspires you to explore the wonders of our evolving language and all of its cultural facets.
Comments