exterminating a language lesson

[rivendellrose]

Today, I learned a new word from one of my favorite blogs, 'Separated by a Common Language'. That word is invigilate. Apparently it is the (slightly daunting-sounding) British equivalent of the (equally appalling, but for more scatological reasons) American verb "proctor." In the sense of proctoring (/ invigilating, apparently) an exam.

Fascinating new vocabulary, right, and a nifty linguistic lesson to get over one's lunch break. I love new words.

...Unfortunately, as with any new verb ending with -ate, my first reaction is not "cool, new word!" but rather "wait for it... *pictures Daleks* INVIGILATE!!!"

Because everything is funnier with Daleks. ♥

Comments

[paranoidangel]

Oh, I definitely need to read that blog. I've never heard the word proctor before (except as someone's last name, which makes it really weird that it has a meaning).

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that's an interesting point - I'd definitely heard it as a last name before hearing the word as a word... I wonder what the derivation / source of it as a last name is?

(Drat, now you've got me thinking of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. John Proctor, wasn't that his name?)

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, as with any new verb ending with -ate, my first reaction is not "cool, new word!" but rather "wait for it... *pictures Daleks* INVIGILATE!!!"

In your defense, that is a truly excellent mental image. I'm especially picturing the Daleks invigilating exams at Cambridge, because everyone doing that has to wear their academic gowns. XD

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Daleks in academic gowns! With the little hats! Oh, that is just fantastic. And the way they glide around in formation, waving their little eye-pieces and plungers... it's just too perfect. ♥

[cirakaite.livejournal.com]

-blinks- The word invigilate is British-only? I . . . never knew that. And I'd never heard the word proctor.


-bookmarks blog-

[ex_mrs260625]

We use it in Canada, too.

[cirakaite.livejournal.com]

I'm in Canada :D Canadian English tends to be a fairly liberal mix of both British English and American English, so my British-isms don't stand out nearly as much here. More British here on the West Coast, I've found.

[ex_mrs260625]

Yeah, from what I hear, Victoria is particularly British-influenced. (Haven't been there for a few decades myself. I was born there, but we moved after six months.)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

After reading all this, I'm guessing now that it's only not used in the U.S.... alas. yet another way in which we're weird. ;)

[beam-oflight.livejournal.com]

Wow, I thought that word wasn't just used over here, I've never heard of proctor - new word for me too!

Though invigilators, not that daunting, mostly just annoying. Our GCSEs were invigilated by mostly retired folk, who walked around wheezing and generally just pissing people off. One guy I swear walked around with his hands down his pants all exam! He was the worst of the worst though.

I'm not going to be able to sit another exam without imagining the invigilators gliding up and down teh rows going 'IN-VIG-I-L-ATE' :D

Also that blog sounds interesting.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Invigilate? It's definitely not used here - from comments above I guess it's used in Canada, so probably in Australia and the rest of the former colonies, too. Another case where the U.S. is just weird. ;)

The only time we had serious invigilators in my schooling experience was for standardized tests (the SATs, and the state exam, the WASL (hilariously funny to my geek friends and I, as we discovered the term "wassail," pronounced similarly, around the same time as that exam), and then for the college-credit exams we could take in our last few years of high school. Basically you take an intensive class in the high school, and then have the option at the end of taking a standardized test where if you get a good enough score, you get university credit for that subject. I took three, and all three times the invigilators were seemingly-random volunteers from gods-knew-where. No hands down pants, though, thank goodness - that sounds absolutely disgusting. I hope he got reported!

That is such a perfect mental image. Oh, Daleks.

[caeline.livejournal.com]

I just spent 5+ hours reading that blog, thanks to you! But really, language fascinates me so it's a good thing. Reading it is a sort of indicator of how confused my own English is; having been born in Nigeria and spent the first 10 years of life between there and England and then finally settling in America... no matter what country I'm in, I talk funny!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

It really is fascinating, isn't it? I like how she weaves the cultural stuff in with the linguistics (as it should be - they're so closely connected!).

I've pretty much always lived here in Seattle, but I read and listen to and watch so much British media that I've picked up a lot of bits... and then have huge gaps where I know absolutely nothing at all. So it's fun to read something like that blog and try to fill in the gaps. XD

[lovelies.livejournal.com]

Heh, I've always kind of liked "proctor". I like most -or ending Indo-European words, for some reason. I don't even really associate it with proctology or related things, because I just pronounce πρωκτος very differently. It's just now I only got what the joke was in Police Academy with the dweeb cop's name!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

It's a good-sounding word, until you get that association into your head - unfortunately, once the association is in it's hard to get rid of it. XD