Both Oars In Kharmadharaya: Words made One

May 29, 2009

“Kharmadharaya” is a grammatical term taken from Sanskrit which refers to a particular type of compound word.   Albeit a bit obscure, it is an actual English term.  It’s even permissible in the game of hangman for those who really like to torture their opponent.  I would suggest looking it up, but only a dictionary heavy enough to keep a vault door open will have the entry.  

It is not an accident that English borrows ancient Indian grammatical terms for defining compound words like blackbird or mailman. Sanskrit is replete with compounds. Whole sentences can be combined into one complex compound word.  Sanskrit’s modern language equivalent is German—the compound-friendly language that provided advertisers with the “fahvregnugen” and psychologists with “Schadenfreude.”

If you are from a large family, you might want to look up that second word, which you will find in a normal size dictionary. Schadenfreude explains why your siblings still tell stories well into your adulthood about missing penny collections, BB’s lodged between windows, and how you used all your mom’s baking soda and vinegar to make bombs in the backyard.  This perfect combination of the German words for “damage” and “joy” makes sense out of our siblings’ otherwise unexplainable penchant for mining humor from our embarrassment. 

As it happens, I am both from a large family and a former Sanskrit student.  I know you might be tempted to stop reading this column if you’ve never heard of Sanskrit, which is likely since U.S.  Sanskrit majors could hold their national convention in a phone booth—if there were still phone booths.  But, stay with me. We all have a vested interest in compound words. They are just so convenient.

Therefore, on behalf of us all, I am championing two new compound words for modern U.S. English: “afterall” and “alot!”  One of the beauties of our country is that we don’t have language police like France. We can adapt. It is time to take these words into acceptable usage.  Afterall, compounds are natural and should be made by the people for the people.  And, there are alot of people who use alot alot.

It is time to recognize that it is just downright mean to continue to torture school children for naturally compounding a and lot when referring to “alot” of something.  There is no confusion caused whatsoever caused by this compounding; nevertheless, it is discouraged by red slash marks made on papers by quarrelsome teachers.  Enough already! When “alot” is meant to convey something more specific than “many,” such as a lot of land, as in a parcel, it can remain two words just like everyday should be two words when it means “quotidian” rather than “common”. However, when alot means beaucoup, let it be one word.

I have been working on afterall for years. I cannot understand how “albeit,” “nevertheless,” and “however” have made it into usage but afterall is left out.  It just makes sense to compound these two words.  We say it that way—why can’t we write it that way?  I am going to stick to this one to the death.  I slip it into articles whenever I can and stamp my feet when editors try to divide it back into two words.

It is not completely clear what it takes for a compound word to gain acceptance. One may wonder why magazine rack is still waiting to be joined in bliss while newsstand has been accepted for years. Given their own compound name and desire to economize on space, one would think newspapers would be the natural creator of new compounds. But, it’s going to take a lot of courage to be the first to start spelling a lot as alot in daily print. There is such a social stigma built up around this word. Stodgy purists hold the threat of the label “illiterate” over the heads of those who would dare spell a lot as alot.  Editors no doubt have painful memories of losing five points for the careless error, so they remain obedient to the rule.    

Historically, word creation has been left to great writers like Shakespeare, Johnson and Twain. Sources vary on this point, but many experts on Shakespeare claim he created thousands of new words making him king of the word mill. My favorite word accredited to Mr. Shakespeare is “besmirched.”  Therefore, I will not besmirch his good name by suggesting that I might have the same prolific ability to expand our national lexicon, but I do humbly hope that afterall is said and done, a lot will be spelled alot more often than not.