How many words can you think of that have been banned by a newspaper?
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How about joyride?
In 1993 London’s Daily Mirror announced that it had banned joyride from its columns.
Okay, I know that a newspaper such as the Daily Mirror banning such a word is a bit hard to understand.
It’s a bit like the old Truth banning the word divorce.
If you’re too young to remember Truth, my memory tells me, made its living from news of divorces and horse races, as well as anything sensational, but then some people might dispute that.
“Snedden died on the job” was one of its headings. If you don’t know what that meant, don’t ask me.
Truth eventually died a lonely death and I can still hear the cheering.
But back to joyride.
The word joyride, according to most dictionaries, describes a ride taken in a car. But the word these days represents a ride taken illegally.
In other words, while you were at home reading the paper, somebody was taking your car for a ride without your knowledge.
In 1993 the Daily Mirror had had enough.
It announced: “This is the last time the word joyride will appear in the Daily Mirror”.
I don’t know if succeeding journalists at the Daily Mirror have had a change of heart. They might have deliberately forgotten about the ban, because I could imagine the word was a key element in the Mirror’s coverage.
The word now means almost the exact opposite to the original meaning.
Originally the meaning was simply a pleasant ride in a motor car, or even an aeroplane. Very soon, however, it developed connotations of not having the approval of the vehicle’s owner.
In 1908 the diary of WS Blunt said joyriders were London folk concerned with nothing but their own pleasure.
Then a few years later London City Council passed a law that prevented city officers from taking joyrides.
I don’t know what that meant, either.
Then a few years later London City Council passed a law that prevented city officers from taking joyrides. I don’t know what that meant, either.
In 1973 the Scottish Sunday Express said a man who drove two cars for a joyride -- I presume one at a time – was fined 75 pounds.
The word quickly spread to Australia, but retained its meaning of taking a ride without the owner’s permission. Obviously, it comes from the word joy.
This word has a much longer history.
The first use, in writing, that I could find came in 1225 meaning gladness or delight or, in the words of my big dictionary, bliss.
My big dictionary says joy can also be used as a term of endearment for a sweetheart.
Shakespeare found a use for the word. But then if he couldn’t find a word to convey what he wanted to say, he simply made it up.
