When youth was in Vogue
QUESTION Labour claim they coined the word youthquake. Is this true?
‘YOUTHQUAKE’ was coined by Diana Vreeland (1903-89), the charismatic former editor of Vogue magazine.
Joining Vogue in 1963, she transformed it to reflect the Swinging Sixties, and youthful models replaced the prim society figures of the Fifties, wearing the latest fashions, exemplified by Mary Quant’s mini-skirt and hotpants.
Vreeland’s January 1965 editorial, entitled Youthquake, celebrated the freedom experienced by American youth inspired by pop’s British Invasion:
‘First hit by the surprise wave, England and France already accept the new jumpoff age as one of the exhilarating realities of life today. The same exuberant tremor is now coursing through America — which practically invented this century’s youth in the first place.
‘The year’s in its youth, the youth in its year. Under 24 and over 90,000,000 strong in the U.S. alone. More dreamers. More doers. Here. Now. Youthquake 1965.’
Vreeland put Mick Jagger, the model Veruschka, Twiggy and Cher on the front cover of the magazine and sent her photographers to exotic locations all over the world.
She was famous for her creative mind and razor wit. Along with coining youthquake, ‘I loathe narcissism, but I adore vanity’, ‘the best thing about London is Paris’ and ‘pink is the navy blue of India’ are some of her one-liners.
Five decades later, the word youthquake was resurrected with a new meaning: the political awakening of the millennial generation. It gained momentum in the wake of last June’s General Election when the youth vote threatened to carry the Labour Party to an unlikely victory.
It was selected as the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year, which was controversial because most people had never heard of it, though according to the OED, usage of the term in the UK had increased fivefold in 2017.
Others in contention for the 2017 word of the year included ‘antifa’, a short form of ‘anti-fascist’; and ‘broflake’ for a man who is offended by progressive attitudes that conflict with his conservative views.
Charles Carrington, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks.
QUESTION Why is the Jerusalem artichoke so-called as it’s not native to that city?
JERUSALEM artichokes (helianthus tuberosus) are neither artichokes nor anything to do with Jerusalem. They are native to North America and are a close relative of the sunflower (helianthus annuus). They are unrelated to the artichoke (cynara scolymus). Jerusalem is a corruption of the Italian
girasole (turns with the sun), which shows its connection to the sunflower.
Many gardeners avoid growing Jersualem artichokes, partly because they are invasive and difficult to deal with, but also because when eaten, like beans, they can cause unfortunate digestive effects.
However, it seems that tolerance increases with exposure, and since Jerusalem artichokes add a beautiful silkiness to soups, frequent consumption may prove rewarding.
John Harfield, Harlington, Beds.
QUESTION Was the word robot coined by a science fiction writer? What other words have been introduced via sci-fi?
FURTHER to the earlier answer, the name California is derived from science fiction and fantasy.
It comes from the 16th-century novel The Exploits Of The Very Powerful Cavalier Esplandian, Son Of The Excellent King Amadis Of Gaul, written by Spanish author Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo.
He writes: ‘Know that, on the right hand of the Indies was an island called California, very near to the region of the Terrestrial Paradise, which was populated by black women, without there being any men among them, that almost like the Amazons was their style of living . . .
‘On this island, called California, there were many griffins . . . and in the time that they had young these women would... take them to their caves and there raise them. And . . . they fattened them on those men and the boys that they had born . . .’
When Francisco de Ulloa was exploring the western coast of North America, his surveys of the Baja California peninsula led him to believe it was an island, so he dubbed it California after the mythical one in Montalvo’s writing.
California was drawn on maps as an island until as late as the 18th century.
Jerry Marsh, Sheffield.
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