Sunday Rest: Ded. Word Not To Use Today.

English is always stealing words and then, by misunderstanding or misapplying them, making them its own. At which point a word becomes truly English is sometimes difficult to pin-point.

Ded, which is pronounced in English, well, ded, is a Russian word, though in Russian it's pronounced d'YED. Perhaps it's the change in pronunciation that gives the word some claim to English nationality.

The trouble with the word ded is, of course that it sounds like dead, and so it's more or less impossible to use.

The other trouble with ded is that it describes a Russian army soldier with two or three years' experience. In English that makes the word a particularly bitter joke.


photo by Offspring 18 87 

Word Not To Use Today: ded. This is a joke in Russian, too, though perhaps not such a bitter one. Дϵд means grandfather.