Dictionary Removes Beaver, Replaces With Blog and Blackberry

Out with the beaver!

Beaver is out and Blog is in. Another loss for team nature was the decision this year by the publisher of the Oxford Junior Dictionary to replace dozens of nature-related words like "beaver" and "dandelion" with more relevant words like "blog" and "MP3 player." As noted wildlife artist and conservationist Robert Bateman observed, "If you can't name things, how can you love them? And if you don't love them, then you're not going to care a hoot about protecting them."

I like words. I'd hate to be the editor who had to choose which words get the pink slip this year. But come on, dandelion?

That same dictionary removed other obsolete words including heron, otter, acorn, clover, ivy, sycamore, willow and blackberry. Of course, Blackberry (the device) makes the cut for new words to add.

Let me tell you the story of the Alien Test. A teacher I know invented a way to test kids' vocabulary for things in their own back yards. The basic premise was: if you live somewhere, you probably have lots of words to describe that "where." He asked his class what to call the test. Tourist test? Visitor test? The class decided if you couldn't name at least half of the plants, animals, rocks, and other objects found in your back yard, you must be an alien. Thus, the alien test was born.

In addition to the standard definitions of alien as an immigrant or an extraterrestrial, we also find this definition: "a person who has been estranged or excluded." Education expert David Sobel says it's not so good for kids to be alienated from nature. He writes about ecophobia, a phenomenon by which the weight of the world's environmental problems turns the natural world into something to fear and avoid. Sobel says "If we want children to flourish, we need to give them time to connect with nature and love the Earth before we ask them to save it." By the way, I hope they kept flourish in the dictionary: to prosper, grow luxuriantly, thrive. I want my kid to do that.

What does all of this have to do with our friends over at the Oxford Junior Dictionary-land? Does it matter if they trade in words from nature with words from the net?

It does.

Language has power. Throughout history, philosophers have reflected on the importance of language. It's old news: language shapes thoughts and emotions. It determines our perception of reality. The French practically had a revolution when the word "walkman" was proposed as an addition to the official language, reckoning that this move would have radical implications for their culture.

So what about those kids and their alien test? They all failed. I took the test, too, and failed. I've always considered language acquisition to be one of my talents, so here I go. I'm trying to learn the names of things in my back yard -- Epilobium, Black Phoebe, Coyote Brush, Cape Honeysuckle, Sticky-Monkey Flower, Old Man Sage. I've discovered the adrenaline rush that comes from seeing a bird in the back yard, looking it up, and actually being able to match the real bird to the book bird. (Do try this at home, but don't get discouraged, it's hard to get the bird to hold still while you try to match it up to its mug shot.)

Once I identified the happy sounding tufty-headed fellow frequenting my front yard as a Black Phoebe, they were everywhere. I took a walk on the beach- there was a Black Phoebe! At school! At the park!

Fortunately for me, I have a secret weapon in learning the language of the landscape: at work I'm surrounded by some really savvy naturalists. I asked one of them about the veritable invasion of Black Phoebes. He laughed at me, but nicely. Turns out, they're not new in town. They've always been here. I just didn't see them until I knew their name.

Bateman was right about what happens when children love nature. They want it to stick around. Thanks to piles of research, we now know that two primary factors influenced people who grew up to be noted conservationists: "Many hours spent outdoors in a keenly remembered wild or semi-wild place in childhood or adolescence, and an adult who taught respect for nature."

I have another word for you: Naturalize. From the Latin naturalis, and from nasci, "to come into existence, being." It's what you do to stop being an alien and become a resident. Give it a try this week-end. You can start your own naturalization right in your own back yard.

Follow Michelle Howard on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MCNaturally

Comments

[toesacrossthefloor]

I totally agree in principal, but no edition of the Oxford Dictionary (or any other dictionary for that matter) has ever taught a child that the yellow flowers they found out in the grass are called dandelions. I mean, that's not how dictionaries work.

The inclusion of words in the dictionary has (and should have) more to do with the likelihood that someone will need a definition for that word when they encounter it in print. Not that I would imagine too many people are searching for "Blackberry", but historically the bulk of searches for "beaver" in the dictionary were likely performed by 3rd graders trying find more technical descriptions of dirty words.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's bad for someone to fail the alien test, but the fact that they did has nothing to do with the dictionary.

[Cleo Lynx]

Thanks for writing such a great article. Balances out the disturbing news.

[slickrockpete]

This slide has been happening since the dawn of the industrial age. Maybe even the dawn of agriculture!
As our lives become less dependent on knowledge about the rock and trees and birds and things and more specialized we know less about those outdoor things and more about the contrived things we have created.
We all need to fight back by taking our kids outside. Don't tell them to go outside; go outside with them.

A note on the alien test. It all depends on your level of detail. If I don't focus too hard I can name everything. Rock. Tree. Grass. Flower. Dirt. Add some more detail and it becomes harder to pass. Eventually you are crawling on your knees with a magnifying glass and realizing we all can discover something new.

[Owen Dell]

This is a very perceptive and well-written piece. I wasn't aware of this latest bellwether of the ongoing alienation from nature that our poor species is suffering from. Paul Hawken once wrote that the average modern American can instantly recognize over 1,000 corporate logos and fewer than 10 native plants. I'm not sure where he got those statistics, but it doesn't surprise me that this would be true. We who love nature must continuously speak out on its behalf and work to keep the flame of love for wild things alive in the human spirit. I believe, as I think you do, that this will be essential to our success as a species and to the well-being of the earth and all its inhabitants.

[Anne West]

Nicely written article, Michelle. I was fortunate to have a nature loving mother and learned the names of almost everything in my backyard. We caught gopher snakes, alligator lizards, and picked Meyer lemons. We grew radishes and carrots. And we saw raccoons, opossums, mocking birds, and coyotes. Oxford's decision, unfortunately, is just another symptom of our times - we embrace technology to the detriment of nature. Most children don't even know that their 'food' (if you can call Cheerios food) comes originally from a farm. I wouldn't want to be in the editor's shoes and have to throw away perfectly good words for brevity's sake, however, there are probably hundreds of thousands of more results on Google for 'MP3' than there are for 'muskrat.' I say forget the print anyway it just kills trees, and let's agree that the best place for information is online, regardless of language or area of interest. Keep up the great writing!

[Joan Stevens]

This is dire! Language is the context for how we see the world (even what we see, as your article points out). This is a symptom of a bigger problem - how can we care for things when we don't even notice them and they are right next to us? I just read a great article in Edutopia about Waldkindergarten in Scandinavia where the entire day is spent outside. Kids automatically start sorting pine cones by size and investigating the world around them. The article opened with an anecdote of the author picking her son up from school as he gleefully tells her he made a snowman. Mom asks him how his snow pants held up and he says, "No Mom, we made them on the computer". E.O. Wilson discusses this in a great National Geographic video called, "Never Say Goodbye" about endangered species. He's in Vegas looking at a projected sky with a projected Eagle flying overhead. At what cost is all this technology and what will the consequences be when our planet stops being able to provide the resources for this overstuffed world we live in? Who will remember how to grow food? Or which beautiful wild edibles are food and medicine? At least the dandelions will still know who they are.

[cindyw]

How can they consider certain words obsolete when they represent things that still exist? There are still otters, acorns, sycamores, etc. Is there a finite number of words that are allowed in the dictionary so that when a few new words are added, some old ones have to go?