A motley combination of Anglo-Saxon, Latin, and Germanic dialects, the English language (more or less as we know it) coalesced between the 9th and 13th centuries. Since then, it has continued to import and borrow words and expressions from around the world, and the meanings have mutated. (Awesome and awful once meant nearly the same thing.) Some specimens in the English vocabulary have followed unusually circuitous routes to their place in the contemporary lexicon, and this series, Lexical Investigations, unpacks those words hiding in our midst.鈥淎wk鈥� is an obsolete word meaning 鈥渢urned the wrong way,鈥� and originally awkward just meant 鈥渋n an awk direction,鈥� just as forward means to move to the front and backward means to move to the rear. An awk direction could be back-handed, upside-down, or in reverse of the expected order (though if you compliment a professional tennis player on a great awkward stroke instead of a strong backhand, don鈥檛 expect them to feel flattered). In the sixteenth century, fradulent behavior that was not straightforward was said to be awkward鈥攖hat鈥檚 a far cry from today, when sometimes the most awkward thing a person can do is be too honest.
These days, you might hear groups of teenagers acknowledging awkward silences. Over the last decade, high school and college students have occasionally used a playful hand gesture called 鈥渁wkward turtle鈥� to express a remarkably uncomfortable moment, though this has largely fallen out of use at this point.
Popular References:Awkward, a comedy series on MTV that premiered in 2011 about the life of teenagers. , a documentary of stand-up performances by four comedians. According to the show鈥檚 website, 鈥淚t’s a film to showcase a category of black comedian rarely witnessed: the nerd variety.鈥�
Related Quotations:
鈥淵oung recruits are awkward in their marching, and clumsy in their manual labour.鈥�
鈥擥eorge Crabb, English synonymes explained, in alphabetical order (1816)
鈥淭丑别 awk end here is, of course, the wrong end, that which was not towards 迟丑别尘.鈥�
鈥� Oxford Journals, (1853)
鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe she ever had an awkward age; she was probably graceful at sixteen.鈥�
鈥擟onstance Fenimore Wilson, (1886)
鈥淚n comedy, awkward is king.鈥�
鈥擱obert Lloyd, , March 29, 2009.
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Read our previous post in our on-going series Lexical Investigations about the word labyrinth.
