The Lost Words of Nature

The removal of words such as bluebell, wren and conker from the Oxford Junior Dictionary will impact on children’s relationship with the countryside, says Sally Welbourn of Dorset Wildlife Trust

The 2007 and 2012 edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary (OJD) caused much anger and frustration amongst writers, educators and nature campaigners when everyday nature-related words such as - acorn, bluebell and kingfisher - were removed. Over a decade later, in 2019, the Oxford Dictionary declared climate emergency as the ‘word of the year’, with a hundred-fold increase in usage. The disappearance of these wild words, followed by the introduction of negative words that reflect the alarming decline of nature globally, is a sad state of affairs. But how much does the language we use shape our understanding and desire to do something about it? A spokesperson from the Oxford

Dictionary said: “All our dictionaries are designed to reflect language as it is used, rather than seeking to prescribe certain words or word usages.”

So, there’s a bigger problem we must deal with. Young people - the next generation who are familiar with words such as blogging and selfie – just aren’t engaging with the natural world in a meaningful way.

What comes first: words or experiences? It’s fair to say that the evolution of our culture shapes the language we use. But the words we use to express ourselves are powerful. They create feelings, express opinions and ideas. It happens every day on social media where the use of a single word can cause offence, outrage or laughter.