I Just Invented a New Word
And no, it’s not “plagiarism”
I like the way language works. In English, words seem to spring up out of nowhere, and before you know it, the Oxford Dictionary people are presenting it as the new “word of the year”.
Here are a few recent innovations. Often a word will gain a new meaning or a new usage, because language. A good example of this is “because”.
- Hashtag: “A thing for nerds” — Twitter
- Truthiness: “a word I pulled right out of my keister” — Stephen Colbert
- Selfie: Nothing to do with one-handed reading.
Sometimes words are created from scratch. Robert Heinlein coined two:
Looking up new words and meanings is a bit of a bunnyhunt, apt to consume hours of pleasant delving. Be warned!
My word!
Credit Facebook and a failure of autokorrect, but this one came from a bird leaving the nest, and I think it works well as “child refugee”.
A fledling.
Thank you, Miriam-Webster, you may send the award and the prize money to my lockdown.
Britni
More wordflay: