Didn’t Know Our Seat From a Buckboard

It had to happen. No sooner had I finished a column indulging my pet interest in words and their evolution--and in particular defending the use of the slang term “diss”--than I opened my mail and was reminded that, sometimes, words fail me.

Or rather, I fail words.

Bob Barnes of La Crescenta caught the error in a column about Alexander Ross, the self-taught artist from North Hollywood whose works are now on display at Glendale’s Brand Library and Art Center.

“In the second paragraph,” Barnes wrote, “you did surprise me. ‘A small boy sits on the buckboard of a horse-drawn wagon. . . ‘

“A buckboard is a small wagon without springs. The floorboards are thin enough to be springy. The seat is attached to the floor halfway between the axles . . . “

Bob Barnes knows buckboards. But haven’t we all written something and said to ourselves, gee, I better look that up . . . only to forget? That’s what happened here. I was 98% sure but, as Barnes noted (and a big, fat edition of the Random House Unabridged Dictionary confirmed), I was 100% wrong. Inasmuch as I made the error, and various editors failed to catch it, I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, “buckboard” had evolved like “podium.” But more about that later.

“Diss” is a more contentious matter. This slang term for disrespect originated with America’s urban black youth, particularly in gang culture. To me it seems whimsically apropos for a story about a different kind of turf battle--the creation of the newly christened “West Toluca Lake” from an old part of North Hollywood.

I was half expecting a letter from the reader who called to object. Instead I got one from another reader who considers “diss” a fightin’ word.

To George C. Palmer of Saugus, my use of such slang represents a “deterioration” of the English language, reflecting a general decline in civilized life, with the media as a prime offender. He wrote, for example, “The urban ‘cosmopolitan’ view of the world as expressed in Editorial and Lifestyle sections seems, increasingly, to advocate pluralistic, ‘anything goes’ social, political, ethical values and structures. Loose linguistics seems to follow from that agenda.

“To defend the deterioration and misuse of the English (or American) language. . . asserts that our society (and hence, our language) is ‘bound’ to some self-evolving and seemingly natural cycle of change.”

Well, I’d certainly agree society can’t help but evolve and change. And the writer’s perceptions are always important.

Palmer goes on at some length. He adds: “I do not suggest that change is bad for society, but all change must be evaluated for its healthy impact. Change for change’s sake is merely whim. Authoritative, editorial legitimization of whimsical ideas projects a lack of substance and responsibility on the part of a respected newspaper.”

Moral questions abound, Palmer suggests, and the slippery slope is no place for whimsy. For me to indulge in “diss” is, to Palmer, like doing unto the English (or American) language what Chaka would to a freeway sign. It’s like wearing baggy clothes and expressing your allegiance with red or blue shoelaces.

Palmer was no less articulate over the phone. “We’ve become a dangerous societal example for the rest of the world,” he said. Part of the reason is the tolerance of gang slang.

Hmmm. “Tag,” “tagging” and “taggers” are street terms that have attained wide usage, yet they annoy me because they make vandalism sound like a game. (“Tagger” is, however, more specific than “vandal” and not as clunky as “graffiti vandal.”)

So why do I like “diss?” Palmer noted that even I wondered in print that it might just be “a desperate, subconscious attempt at sounding young and hip.”

Perhaps there are a few other reasons. Unlike “tag,” “diss” isn’t specific in what it describes; nor does it lighten the meaning. In the previous column, I noted that “diss” may even phonetically enhance the meaning, with its angry hiss on the end. Another virtue is that it is primarily used as a verb, while “disrespect” is primarily a noun and sounds artificial as a verb.

An angry worker wouldn’t say, “I disrespect my boss.” He’d say, “I don’t respect my boss.” I doubt even a gang member would say, “I diss the cops,” but the rules of usage evolve along with everything else.

The use of “diss” may glimmer away, but in context it has weight and meaning whether people like or not.

A couple of other readers offered more favorable responses.

Chuck Bullock, a 66-year-old Glendale resident, expressed delight in our evolving language.

“Street talk upstages the technocratic-politically correct hyperbole of smart speak,” he declared. For techno slang, he cited “morph.” (The computer term is actually an adaptation from Greek.)

“We are not locution-disadvantaged,” Bullock added. “We’re right next door to the Speak Easy, where that neologist hangs out. Don’t drone him out.”

And Robert E. Green of Sherman Oaks pleaded for help “in stamping out the misuse of the word ‘podium.’ Almost everyone thinks this is what you stand AT, rather than stand ON.”

Historically speaking, Green is right. But he’ll be distressed to know that Random House Unabridged Dictionary notes it as a synonym for lectern as meaning No. 3. Good luck stamping it out now.

So you never know. My misuse of “buckboard” slipped past a few editors. Maybe someday it will slip into a dictionary.

* A few more words about another word: “idiotic.” In a letter to the editor today, Irv Rubin misrepresents my criticism of his protest of David Duke’s appearance at Cal State Northridge. Rubin suggests that I considered his support of Proposition 209 or his right to express his views idiotic. In fact, what was idiotic was Rubin’s idea of bringing a white robe as shtick [his word], to mock the former klan leader. This seems about as smart as bringing a swastika to protest a neo-Nazi rally.

Scott Harris’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Readers may write to Harris at the Times Valley Edition, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, CA 91311. Please include a phone number.