The Oxford Dictionary of New Words

Blitz Jan. 1989, p. 11

They are required to...review their courses and explain how they are going to alter them in the light of the career prospects of their students, the enterprise culture, 1992...and, for all I know, the end of the world.

Modern Painters Autumn 1989, p. 78

enterprise zone (Business World)

An area in which a government seeks to stimulate new enterprise by creating financial incentives (such as tax concessions) for businesses.

Etymology: Formed by compounding: a zone in which enterprise is actively fostered.

History and Usage: Enterprise zones were first discussed in the late seventies, principally as a way of revitalizing economically depressed areas of inner cities, where there tended to be high levels of unemployment and relatively little investment. The idea has been tried in various parts of the world during the past ten years, including the US, the UK, and Australia.

The enterprise zone...development will become the norm in Wales, as more service industries requiring office space move to the area.

Building Today 22 June 1989, p. 26

E number noun (Environment) (Lifestyle and Leisure)

A code number in the form of the letter E followed by a group of digits, used as a standard way of referring to approved food additives when listing ingredients on food or drink labels under EC regulations; by extension, an additive (especially the additive to which a particular code refers). Sometimes abbreviated to E, an additive.

Etymology: The initial letter of Europe(an) in a compound with number.

History and Usage: The European Commission recommended in 1977 that all food additives should be declared by their name or

their E number; by 1986 this was compulsory except in the case of flavourings. As the eighties progressed, and particularly after the publication in 1984 of Maurice Hanssen's book E for Additives, public awareness of E numbers grew steadily in the UK. By the early nineties, E number was often abbreviated to E alone and both terms were popularly used to refer to the additives themselves rather than the codes (a point which was picked up and exploited in a number of food-advertising campaigns). This resulted in labelling and advertising copy which used E-free as a synonym for additive-free.

Apparently the effect of Es on Yuppie kids is dramatic. A simple glass of orange squash or a packet of crisps can bring them out in a rash or drive them barmy.

Today 21 Oct. 1987, p. 36

It's not so long since we learned the link between eating certain 'E' numbers and the behaviour of highly disruptive children.

She Oct. 1989, p. 2

environment°

noun (Environment)

Usually with the definite article, as the environment: the sum of the physical surroundings in which people live; especially, the natural world viewed as a unified whole with a pre-ordained interrelationship and balance among the parts which must be conserved. Hence sometimes used in an extended sense: conservation of the natural world; ecology.

Etymology: A specialized use of environment, which literally means 'surroundings', and had been used in the sense of the particular set of physical features surrounding a person or thing since the early nineteenth century.

History and Usage: This sense of environment, which in the late eighties and early nineties has been the dominant general sense, grew out of the concern about the natural world--particularly the effects upon it of industrialization and pollution--which

was first expressed in any concerted way in the sixties. By the early seventies, some governments were taking enough notice of these concerns to appoint a Minister (or Secretary ) for the Environment (colloquially environment minister, secretary); but the real vogue for this word only came in the second half of the eighties, after green politics took off in Europe and

politicians in general realized that the environment promised to be the central political concern of the nineties. From the late eighties onwards, environment was frequently used in combinations, too, the most important being environment-friendly (see -friendly). The playfully formed opposite of this is environment-unfriendly (see unfriendlyý) or environment-hostile; other combinations include environment-conscious(ness) and environment-minded(ness).

President Bush said that the environment was now on the 'front burner' and that no other subject, except the anti-drugs campaign, had aroused such fervour among his summit colleagues.

Guardian 17 July 1989, p. 20

A campaign is being launched to encourage sustainable development within our cities. The status 'Environment City' will be awarded to the four coming nearest to the ideal.

Natural World Spring/Summer 1990, p. 7

We have to have a government-backed labelling scheme before consumers throw up their hands in horror and revert to their old 'environment-hostile' ways.

She Aug. 1990, p. 122

environmentý

noun (Science and Technology)

In computing jargon, the overall structure (such as an operating system, a collection of software tools, etc.) within which a

user, a computer, or a program operates or through which access can be gained to individual programs.

Etymology: Another specialized use of the sense described above; the environment is still the sum total of the surrounding structure, but limited to the restricted world of the computer system. This metaphor of a restricted world is often extended to refer to the ability of a computer user to communicate only in one programming or operating language while in that language's environment, as if in a foreign country where only that language is spoken.

History and Usage: Computer scientists have spoken of an integrated structure of tools or an operating system as an environment since at least the early sixties. What brought the term into popular use was the rapid development of home and personal computing in the late seventies and eighties.

In Applications-by-Forms, the 4GL development environment, the interface includes a visual catalog for ease of use.

UnixWorld Sept. 1989, p. 142

Designed with the user in mind, the A500 features a friendly WIMP environment and comes supplied with a free mouse.

CU Amiga Apr. 1990, p. 93

environmental

adjective (Environment)

Concerned with the conservation of the environment (see environment°); hence, serving this cause: not harmful to the environment, environment-friendly.

Etymology: A sense development of the adjective which arises directly from the use of environment as a kind of shorthand for 'conservation of the environment'.

History and Usage: The use of environmental in this sense seems to have begun in the US towards the end of the seventies, when advertisers first attempted to climb on to the bandwagon of concerns about the environment. In its more general sense 'to do with the conservation of the environment' it is used in a great variety of grammatical constructions; one of the recent ones, environmental labelling, is even more elliptical than most, contracting 'to do with the effects of the thing labelled on the conservation of the environment' to a single word. In local government and also in the private sector the term environmental services (first used as long ago as the late sixties) seems to

have become the fashionable way to refer to the upkeep of the local environment, such as parks and public gardens, waste disposal (including the management of hazardous wastes), and street cleaning. See also environmental friendliness (under -friendly).

Right Guard spray deodorant...now directs itself toward ecological armpits with the epithet 'new environmental Right Guard'.

American Speech Spring 1983, p. 94

The Labour Party is planning to issue a 'Green Bill' later this year, setting out its plans for tackling atmospheric pollution, and its proposals for environmental labelling, litter control, handling hazardous waste, and improving water quality.

Guardian Weekly 30 July 1989, p. 4

An environmental meeting in Bergen at which ministers from ECE's member countries discussed practical steps to promote 'sustainable growth', the catch-phrase...for economic growth that does not destroy the environment.

EuroBusiness June 1990, p. 64

environmentalism

noun (Environment)

Concern with, or support for, the preservation of the environment (see environment°); green politics or consumerism.

environment°); used especially to qualify an adjective, as in:

environmentally aware, of a person or group: informed about contemporary concerns for the environment; sensitive to the effect upon the environment of a product, activity, etc.;

environmentally friendly, environment-friendly (see -friendly);

environmentally sensitive, of a geographical area: officially recognized as containing a habitat for rare species or some other natural feature which should be protected from destruction;

environmentally sound, of a product: having no harmful effects on the environment; environment-friendly.

Etymology: Most of these formations use environmentally in a way which can be predicted from the developments in the use of environment (see above); the exception is environmentally friendly, which involves a grammatical development as well. The original term environment-friendly, modelled on user-friendly in computing, implies a dative construction: 'friendly to the environment'. Once the hyphen was dropped and the free-standing adjective friendly also acquired the meaning 'harmless', it had

to be qualified by an adverb--hence environmentally friendly.

History and Usage: Work on environmentally sensitive areas (abbreviation ESA) began in Canada in the mid seventies and soon spread to other industrialized countries; government regulations ensured that economic development, agricultural practices, etc. were not allowed to destroy the natural beauty of these areas. Environmentally friendly, by far the commonest of the other combinations, was first used in the US during the mid eighties;

it owes its popularity in part to the enthusiasm with which manufacturers began labelling their products with it, sometimes with little foundation--a practice which in the UK led to calls

for government regulation of eco-labelling. New formations with environmentally are cropping up all the time: the ones mentioned here are some of the more important and lasting.

One has to be reasonable. The factory means jobs. There is no factory without emissions. It just has to be as environmentally friendly as possible.

Christian Science Monitor 6 Apr. 1984, p. 9

Under new proposals from the European Commission, member states are empowered to pay farmers to continue with or

revert to traditional farming methods in environmentally sensitive areas.

New Scientist 15 May 1986, p. 30

Nobody can deny that there are occasions on which the careful guiding of a river along its course requires some bank reinforcement. However, there are plenty of

sensible materials to hand for the environmentally aware river engineer.

Jeremy Purseglove Taming the Flood (1989), p. 191

Environmentally friendly household products are big news on the shopping front.

Health Shopper Jan./Feb. 1990, p. 7

5.10 EPOS

History and Usage: The demand for ethical investment began in the US in the early eighties and was a natural consequence of the drive to involve ordinary people in capital investment; clearly some customers would not feel happy about handing over their portfolios only to find that they were unwittingly

supporting companies whose principles they were unable to agree with. Investments which customers have wanted to avoid have included the politically questionable (notably companies with South African connections), the armaments industry, and companies making 'unhealthy' products (especially tobacco and alcohol). Ethical investment became fashionable in the UK and Australia during the second half of the eighties.

The latest craze to be imported from America is for 'ethical investment'. Almost every week, there seems to be a new unit trust launched which promises to invest your money only in 'socially screened' firms.

Daily Telegraph 25 Sept. 1987, p. 20

Labor backbencher Mr Hayward told Parliament last night that Queensland should legislate to attract 'ethical investment' by superannuation and other funds.

Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 29 Sept. 1988, p. 26

ethnic adjective (Music) (Youth Culture)

Of pop and rock music: inspired by, or incorporating elements of, the native music of a particular ethnic group. Especially in ethnic pop or ethnic rock, pop or rock music which fuses native musical traditions with Western rock styles.

Etymology: A development of the adjective ethnic in the sense 'of or pertaining to (a particular) race'; by the mid sixties

the adjective was already being used in the more general sense of 'foreign', and this development is simply an application of that sense in a particular context.

History and Usage: The adjective ethnic has been applied to folk and modern music for some decades, but the fashion for ethnic elements in pop and rock music dates from the late