vernacular
noun

- the form of a language that a regional or other group of speakers use naturally, especially in informal situations

Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

The adjective “vernacular” meaning “native to a country” appeared around 1600 and is derived from the Latin vernaculus “domestic, native, indigenous; pertaining to home-born slaves born in the house rather than abroad”.

Vernacular as a noun meaning “the native speech or language of a place”, is from 1706.

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BORN-IN-JAPAN VERNACULAR

One day in 1946, Akio Morita sat down with his business partner Masaru Ibuka in search of a name for their nascent company. He wanted a name recognizable everywhere: creative, Roman letters, short and catchy. Morita and Ibuka pored over dictionaries and found the word sonus, which in Latin means sound. In addition, the word sonny was part of the pop vernacular in America at the time, and they thought it suggested a company made up of young people with abundant energy. The combination of the two formed Sony.

Against Morita’s wishes, Sony America insisted on calling the Walkman a “Soundabout” in the United States, a “Freestyle” in Sweden, and a “Stowaway” in Britain. “Walkman,” they said, was bad English. Ironically, foreign sales slumped until the name was changed back — whereupon the product’s international success led to the inclusion of the word “Walkman” in every major dictionary.

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SYNONYMS

- the language or dialect spoken by a particular group of people

argot, colloquialism(s), colloquial speech, common parlance, dialect, home language, idiolect, informal language (speech), jargon, lingo, lingua franca, local idiom (lingo/parlance/slang/tongue/usage), manner of speaking, mother tongue, native language (speech/tongue), palaver, parlance, patois, provincialism(s), regionalism(s), street talk, VERNACULAR, way of speaking

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“Sorry for the consultant VERNACULAR, but we really need to look for low-hanging fruit.”

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THANKS to David for suggesting today’s word.

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HERZLICHEN DANK to all readers helping me keep OWAD alive with single or monthly donations at:

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and,

Paul Smith, IBAN: DE75 7316 0000 0002 5477 40