Meryl's Notes Blog
Things wordy, geeky, and webbyCreate New Words with Neologisms
Wednesday, October 11th, 2006 at 10:41 AM |Roy Peter Clark talks about neologisms — new words. In the article, he tells a story about a child who referred to something as “ginormous” because “It was bigger than gigantic. It was huger than enormous.” The child didn’t create the word as Clark points to the Urban Dictionary — so it’s not impossible for multiple people to come up with the same word.
Want to create a new word? Try blending multiple words, which are easy for others to figure out after determining words on which they’re based. Clark references Wanted Words, books that list words suggested by listeners and includes tidbits and letters. The book’s web site held contests that gave readers a chance to create new words based on a brief description. Here’s the last contest. Just click Previous to see more.
Protologism also means creating a new word… but unlike neologism, the creator wants to make it an accepted word in the language as it’s based on “prototype” and “neologism.”
WordSpy collects new terms that have appeared in multiple resources — they’re not sniglets.
Other ways to create words:
* daffynitions: Ex: “alarms — What an octopus is. (all arms)”
* sniglets: Ex: cheedle — “The orange residue left on fingers after eating Cheetos or some other cheesy snack.”
* goofinitions: Ex: “balderdash — rapid hair loss.”
I can’t find a clear definition of “stunt words” as referenced in Word Spy. All the searches refer to Word Spy’s description except for one that points to Wordlustitude, a blog that’s “a growing dictionary of ephemeral words — also known as nonce or stunt words. All readers are strongly encouraged to use these terms in their blogs, poems, prophesies, and recipes.” So “stunt words” are word fads, words with a short life.
Collins Word Exchange How to Make a Dictionary is a good read [Link from Language Log]. Still stuck? Try the Random Word Generator.
Or take an existing word and give it a new twist. “Shut up” isn’t always an insult. It can also be a surprise or a shocker that translates to “No way!” Grey’s Anatomy got my friends and me on a “seriously” kick — to mean “Yeah” or “telling the truth.”
Search and archives
Get Updates
-
Categories
Archives
- June 2013
- May 2013
- February 2013
- December 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
-
Other Stops
-
Recommended
Sponsors
Blogroll
All Content © Copyright 1995 - 2013 Meryl.net. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Privacy Policy
10 comments
Just received my issue of Cincom Expert Access and in it, Donkey … err… Steve Kayser interviews Sam Horn, author of POP! Stand Out in Any Crowd and Tongue Fu! who describes another way to create names.
“One of the best ways to make your name or slogan memorable is to use alliteration. Alliteration is when words start with the same sound. It makes your language lyrical, makes you instantly eloquent, and gives peoples’ minds a hook on which to hang a memory.”
She also says, “Write down ten words you frequently use to pitch your project, product, or program. Those are your ‘Core Words.’ Now, run each of those words through the alphabet, changing the sound of the first syllable to match the corresponding letter.”
Send your neologisms to
http://neologisms.us
[...] I wish I had a camera with me when I saw a bus drive by with a huge ad with, “Hungerectomy” emblazoned on it using Snicker’s famous design. Searched for it on the web and plenty of people caught the same ad. Apologies for this cliche, but isn’t this neologism wrong on so many levels? [...]
SNOZZLE = SNOWY DRIZZLE
@Les, that’s funny.
“FIELD GOAT” = A MISSED, POTENTIALLY GAME WINNING, FIELD GOAL RESULTING IN AN ATHLETIC TEAM’S LOSS OF THE GAME. THE KICKER OR SHOOTER BECOMES THE “GOAT” AFTER MISSING THE FIELD GOAL.
Good timing, Les… as we are about to begin football season.
IMBIOT = Imbecilic Idiot
OMNIIMPOTENT = All POWERLESS or ALL WEAK
OMNIMPOTENT, adj. all powerless
Post a comment (or leave a trackback)