Oxford University Press revealed a list of the entries it no longer felt to be relevant to a modern-day childhood. The deletions included acorn, adder, ash, beech, bluebell, buttercup, catkin, conker, cowslip, cygnet, dandelion, fern, hazel, heather, heron, ivy, kingfisher, lark, mistletoe, nectar, newt, otter, pasture and willow. Read more at: The word-hoard: Robert Macfarlane on rewilding our language of landscape
This is a long, well written interesting article. It quickly moves beyond the dismay about Oxford U Press to a discussion of the relationship between language and landscape. The subtitle is "For decades the leading nature writer has been collecting unusual words for landscapes and natural phenomena – from aquabob to zawn. It’s a lexicon we need to cherish in an age when a junior dictionary finds room for ‘broadband’ but has no place for ‘bluebell’." But no need for the word "dandelion"? It's certainly not because they have disappeared. I can understand, though. I'm not a kid by several decades, but not much about nature was pointed out to me when I was growing up. Of those words, I knew acorn, buttercup, dandelion, fern (not sure about that), ivy, mistletoe (from Christmas songs) and willow (from the book Wind in the Willows).
Yes, and in Wikipedia you might look up "Nature Deficit Disorder". Gardeners, too, divide roughly between those who love nature, cherishing their own roots of privilege to be on this planet awhile, very much versus those who are simply controllers, exerting their controlling whims upon any and all life forms not to their own liking. Both types of people might know some scientific names, but only one would cut down a tree because he didn't approve of its individualistic lean.
