Humanising Language Teaching
Year 4; Issue 1; January 2002

A recent newspaper headline went like this: "Universally speaking, pale green is the new black". As the article explained, a team of astronomers had somehow worked out the "average" colour of the universe, and concluded that "Space is not really black at all, but an elegant shade of pale green". But why is this said to be "the new black"? Following this up, we find ourselves on a fascinating trail that is still unfolding before us. To begin with, there is a reference here to the world of fashion writers, who regularly say things like this:

Last year, designers changed course, declaring that "brown is the new black"
and filling stores with shades of chocolate and cinnamon and toffee.

At some point during the late 80s and early 90s, black clothes had been the height of chic, and since then pundits have been telling us which colours are tipped to take its place next season. Inevitably, after going through the gamut of alternatives, we are now being told that "black is the new black":

We've all heard it before: 'brown is the new black', 'white is the new black', 'grey is the new black'. What the fashion gurus have known all along is that black always was, always is, and always will be the new black.

This is a familiar progression: the rash of "-gate" words spawned by the Watergate scandal (Irangate, Contragate and so on) finally reached its logical conclusion when Oliver North faced allegations of using public money to pay for a security gate at his own home – a cause célèbre that became known as "Gategate".

Still within the world of fashion, we notice a slight variation on the original formula:

The Diesel "fashion expert" tells us that denim is the new black.

It is only a short step from this to describing the latest styles in furniture design in similar terms:

The style gurus tell us round is the new black. If it's curved and sensual, it'll be in this year.

And when the chairman of Apple Computers announced a new range of hardware featuring flat LCD screens, the story was headed:

Steve Jobs says flat is the new black at Macworld.

So far, we are still recognizably in the domain of fashion and design. But now it seems that anything (or anyone) perceived as fashionable and desirable can be "the new black":

The Irish might once have been the blacks of Europe – but now, being Irish is the new black.

The historically downtrodden and frumpy breed of chemists are cleverer and more beddable than mathematicians, biologists and physicists put together. Chemistry is the new black.

In a common variation on this pattern, we find some activities described – with varying degrees of plausibility – as "the new rock 'n' roll":

Once you have heard Wark questioning architects about the size of their balustrades and the thrust of their skyscrapers, you too will be convinced that architecture is the new rock 'n' roll.

For the drinks companies, art is the new rock and roll, and bankrolling the exploits of Hirst, Lucas, Emin et al. provides good PR and a crucial credibility with that difficult 18-30 marketing group.

Sir Terence Conran, the design guru, said: 'There is a passion about gardening in this country. It is the new rock 'n' roll among the young'.

It may be overstating it to say that politics is the new rock'n'roll over there, but prime minister Koizumi is certainly getting to parts of the electorate that other politicians can't reach. (note by the way the other cliché here, based on the old Heineken ad)

And most bizarrely:

Depression is the new rock and roll. It is the new black in fact. Loads of people – if that term can be applied to journalists – now seem to have it, and unfortunately far too many of them are telling us about it.

It can only be a matter of time before we hear that English language teaching is the new rock 'n' roll. Variations in the slot filled by "black" or "rock 'n' roll" are occasionally seen (for example, shopping is the new religion, food is the new sex, golf is the new chic), but – in the latest mutation of the formula – the favoured pattern now is "A is the new Z", where A and Z are as opposite as possible. Take for example this comment on the state of modern romance in the world of "prenups" (the prenuptial agreements favoured by the rich and famous):

These are tough, mercenary times, and bank statements and full medicals are the new wine and roses.

Or again:

According to a new marketing campaign designed to encourage sales of ready-made dishes, "staying in is the new going out".

Best of all (at least for the "Saga louts" among us), we now learn that "old is the new young". (I recently heard, too, that "fifty is the new forty".) The baby boomer generation, which has dominated the social and cultural landscape since the early 1960s, now finds itself heading towards late middle age – and has suddenly discovered (surprise surprise) that being old is really cool. This phenomenon is likely to have all sorts of linguistic spin-offs in the years to come.

The evolution of this formula, from the quite stable (any colour) is the new black to the open-ended (anything) is the new (anything), is a nice example of the linguistic inventiveness of a certain type of journalism and marketing-speak – ironic, knowing, and quintessentially British – whose practitioners seem mainly concerned with outdoing and impressing each other.

Michael Rundell (michael.rundell@dial.pipex.com) is a lexicographer, and has been using corpora since the early 1980s and has been involved in the design and development of corpora of various types. As Managing Editor of Longman Dictionaries for ten years (1984-94) he edited the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and the Longman Language Activator. He is now an independent consultant, and (with the lexicographer Sue Atkins and computational linguist Adam Kilgarriff) runs the "Lexicography MasterClass", whose training activities include workshops in corpus lexicography at the University of Brighton (www.itri.brighton.ac.uk/lexicom). He is also Editor-in-Chief of the newly published Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners.