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The Author of this post is Kel Richards, known in OZ as the Wordsmith. What are Swifties? Generation Z? Generation 0.00?

OZWORD OF THE DAY: Swifties

As a Baby Boomer all I know about Taylor Swift is what I read in the newspapers. To the best of my knowledge, I have never heard a Taylor Swift song—although I suppose as I walk though Coles that background music they pipe in might contain a bit of Taylor Swift (not that I would have recognised it). 

So, all I know is that her ‘Eras’ tour attracted millions of people and made billions of dollars (well, a lot anyway) and that she is the leading pop star of this era (the Elvis and Beatles of today). 

Taylor Swift is, it appears, a songwriter as well as a singer and performer. And it’s her songwriting that might be interesting. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary people tell me that there are words being looked up by young people just because they appear in Taylor Swift song lyrics. 

And the words she is introducing the kids to are slightly out-of-the-way words that would baffle the average 13 or 14-year-old. Here is a sample (you’ll know all these, but look at them from the kids’ point of view): 

Clandestine— “And that’s the thing about illicit affairs / And clandestine meetings and longing stares”; meaning done in a secret or private way, from the song ‘Clandestine Affairs.’ 

Machiavellian— “I’m only cryptic and Machiavellian ‘cause I care”; means being secretive and deceptive, from the name of the Italian political philosopher Nicolo Machiavelli (song: ‘Mastermind’) 

Incandescent— “In from the snow / Your touch brought forth an incandescent glow”; means bright and radiant (song ‘Ivy’) 

Altruism— “Did you hear my covert narcissism / I disguise as altruism”; means lack of selfishness (song ‘Anti-Hero’). The kids probably also looked up ‘covert’ and ‘narcissism’ as well! 

Antithetical— “Bet I could still melt your world / Argumentative, antithetical dream girl”; means being opposed (song ‘Hits Different’) 

Mercurial— “Take the words for what they are / A dwindling, mercurial high”, meaning quick and lively, from the name of the ancient Roman god Mercury, the messenger to the gods (song ‘Illicit Affairs’) 

Elegy— “Is it romantic how all my elegies eulogize me?”; an elegy is a sad song or poem, just as a eulogy is a about someone who has just died (song ‘The Lakes’) 

Cardigan— “… I felt like I was an old cardigan / Under someone’s bed…”; do the kids really not know this? It means, of course, a knitted jacket open down the front, and is named after the 7th Early of Cardigan who provided jackets of this type for his miliary regiment (song ‘Cardigan’) 

Albatross—meaning a problem that hangs around your neck, and you can’t get away from; from the song ‘The Albatross’. This is a reference to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in which the storyteller kills an Albatross, which is seen by his fellow sailors as something that brings bad luck, so they hang it around his neck, 

I don’t know what the music is like, but I am impressed that these enthusiastic young fans are having their vocabularies extended (and are having to consult a dictionary!) That can’t be a bad thing! (Meanwhile, I’ll stick to the songs of Paul McCartney and Paul Simon.) 

I will be a panellist on ‘The Media Show’ tonight on Sky News (9:30pm AEST, with a repeat screening tomorrow night at 8pm)

contact Kel at ozwords.com.au unsubscribe