¹ The word punk has been smoldering in English for hundreds of years, undergoing drastic changes of meaning from century to century. It began as a kind of overcooked corn, explained in a 1618 account of certain Indians in Virginia. Around that time, also, punk was a word for 'ashes' in the Delaware Indian language.
A couple of centuries later, punk had become a word for the slow-burning sticks used in kindling fireworks. By 1889 it was a slang term for a cigarette, and by the end of the century punk had a sense 'worthless' as in a story by George Ade.
Today's first meaning of punk, a small-time hoodlum, developed in the period between the World Wars. And in the late 1970s punk was assiociated with music.
06/2006 Newspaper:
A study on the development of the English language, tracing 22 root words and their derivations. Charting the date on which they were officially adopted into the Oxford English Dictionary. Besides showing how those words/word families are growing, it also exposes our history and the conversion of history into language.
Tabloid (43 x 28 cm)
24 pages
500 copies
Available at: Art Metropole, Boekie Woekie, Printed Matter
A study on the development of the English language, tracing 22 root words and their derivations. Charting the date on which they were officially adopted into the Oxford English Dictionary. Besides showing how those words/word families are growing, it also exposes our history and the conversion of history into language.
Tabloid (43 x 28 cm)
24 pages
500 copies
Available at: Art Metropole, Boekie Woekie, Printed Matter
¹ The word punk has been smoldering in English for hundreds of years, undergoing drastic changes of meaning from century to century. It began as a kind of overcooked corn, explained in a 1618 account of certain Indians in Virginia. Around that time, also, punk was a word for 'ashes' in the Delaware Indian language.
A couple of centuries later, punk had become a word for the slow-burning sticks used in kindling fireworks. By 1889 it was a slang term for a cigarette, and by the end of the century punk had a sense 'worthless' as in a story by George Ade.
Today's first meaning of punk, a small-time hoodlum, developed in the period between the World Wars. And in the late 1970s punk was assiociated with music.