Use of English

I’ll start with something unrelated to morris, travelling and beer but it is relevant to writing and the English language:

It struck me today that the short, pithy word “pop” is used a lot at the expense of more suitable words. 

Today, a shop assistant offered to “pop” my purchase into a gift box.  I declined (I mean, who wouldn’t at £2.50 extra) so she said she would “pop” it into a bag for me and would I please “pop” my credit card into the machine.  Three uses of “pop” inside thirty seconds. 

I remember when “pop” was the sound of a cork leaving a grown-up’s wine bottle, the noise of poor-quality fireworks, hydrogen gas being ignited in a test tube in Chemistry lessons and the word of choice to name sugary soft drinks guzzled from big screw-topped bottles or metal cans.  The “psst” of gas release from these vessels was most definitely not a “pop”, but lemonade, Tizer, Orangina and the rest were full of tiny bubbles which, when grown large enough, were known to go “pop”.

In a way it is similar to the encroachment of “like” (following “I’m”, “he’s”, “she’s”, “they’re”) into sentences where people used to say (after “I”, “he”, “she”, “they”) “said”, “shouted”, “argued”, “complained” (and even) “retorted”.

So why not “put” my purchase in a gift box, or “drop” it in a bag and let me “insert” my card?  There are many alternatives to these examples and this is my point.  Let’s not be lazy and use simple, newly generic words at the cost of losing the myriad others with or without favoured onomatopoeic features.

The abuse of “pop” is not new and my theory is it was started years ago by some television chefs who “pop” food into the oven/fridge/pan/processor.  Fortunately Jamie Oliver is helping to roll back this tide with his use of words such as “slam” (it is the oven), “bang” it in the fridge, “chuck” it in the pan, etc.  One syllable will do most of the time, so let’s do it.