Today is International Make Up a Word Day
Posted on February 26, 2008 Posted by John Scalzi 115 Comments
I have an amazing number of things to deal with today that do not involve writing here. So I’m off for the rest of the day. However I know that your lives will be a meaningless shell without something to do here. For that reason I am declaring today International Make Up a Word Day, in which you, yes, make up a word that has not existed before. Yes, others have done this before. I don’t claim it’s original, just amusing.
How to know if it’s a new word? If a Google search comes up with nothing, you’re golden.
My contribution to IMaWD:
Straternization: Hanging out socially with people not because you like them, but for their strategic benefits (i.e., helping you get ahead in work, getting you closer to that cute young thing, raising your social status in the lunchroom, etc). Usually doesn’t work nearly as well as people hope.
Your turn.
Extragoogularity – the property of existence outwith the realm of that which can be succesfully googled.
Etymologophobia – the fear of making up new words.
Jellojerky: the tough, rubbery, blubbery Jello at the bottom of the bowl. Bounces if dropped from a height of three feet or so. Served in hospitals and school cafeterias, usually in cube form.
Doalyation: The intentional act of performing your work in a manner that creates more work for others, and knowingly causing irritation, tension, and annoyance among co-workers in the process, while not caring about the consequences.
Multifacetious – Shallow on many different levels.
(Eidetic) Memeory: the ability to recall an internet meme appropriate to any discussion. Will annoy others immensely.
N.B. Google has 271K links on “memeory”, but they first few pages all look like misspellings.
Starvacious – Starvingly voracious.
Corganometry – the shape or form of bombastic and/or overly melodramatic music lyrics
Sigoggle: /sie*gog*el/ Act of moving to a parallel street and heading the same compass direction as your original movement – Ie, you are heading north on 1st, but you want to be heading north on 2nd, so you sigoggle over.
‘Though, I can’t claim I made this one up, as my pop used it in my youth.
Frouknobulaxe: to make things unnecessarily complicated by being a know-it-all or too helpy.
“Everything was fine until James frouknobulaxed the whole thing by suggesting a chart like a dartboard.”
Obliterify – The act of obliterating something with such extreme prejudice that it becomes a liquid.
Thaumatology: The study of magic. A field of scientific study regarding the phenomenon of magic and the theory of.
Not my invention, and an upcoming GURPS book from Steve Jackson Games
Ratfinkism – In general being a rat fink.
Syndicoma: the state one falls into around 12:30 am on a weeknight, from having continued to watch TV after the 10:00 news ended.
Sitquandary: a personal conundrum resulting from doing something socially and morally dubious, such as straternization. Unfortunately, it’s not likely to end with everyone learning their lesson and hugging it out.
degifting – throwing a bad present away instead of passing it along to some other sap.
lolegag – wasting time looking at cute cat pictures with funny captions when you should be working.
Laconometry: The branch of science that analyzes things forgotten (from “lacunae” – latin for “gap”).
Lacaboogitism: The condition of having a head cold and being just sick enough to feel like mucus will come pouring out of the nostrils at any moment, but it just does not happen.
“Matt was having a hard time concentrating on work because his lacaboogitism was flaring up and he was afraid there would be drips on his keyboard.”
These are great, but I particular love (and am guilty of being a) lolegag.
Blorp: The act of pouring something with low viscosity and/or pseudo fluid structure into another container, like orange juice concentrate into a pitcher.
Alan at 12: I thought that was thaumaturgy? (a la Pratchett.)
Congratillusion– an expression of joy in someone who is decieved by their percieved success or good fortune.
Bellicab: an aggressively driven taxi. You look for one when you need to get somewhere in a hurry and don’t care about life and limb, and you look out for them when you’re crossing the street. Usually found in high-stress driving environments, like DC, Boston, Florence, etc.
FEBLUEOUS – The feeling you get when you realize it’s still February and spring is still a long way off.
“He looked at the fallng snow with an audible feblueous sigh”.
I still think the word for palindromes should be a palindrome itself, so I suggest: enone.
Also, from 10th grade English class when my friends and I would slosh prefixes and suffixes together:
Doxipelliphobia – Fear of Drivers Ed Teachers. Leads directly to Doxipellicide.
Pectobarophobia – Fear of large breasts.
re: Jon Hansen @ 22
Kamacabbie: The pilot of a bellicab, the agressively driven taxi.
Lazifficient: A lazifficient individual has determined the most time-efficient way possible to perform work-related tasks, not because of any desire to be efficient and productive, but because sheer laziness makes him or her unwilling to spend any more time than necessary working.
I am *extremely* lazifficient.
blogification–the trend for everybody who has an internet connection to start a blog whether they actually have something to say or not
Scandor (n.) A smear in the guise of honesty and openness. The characteristic of a concern troll.
It’s already listed elsewhere, but it could use some love.
Pseushi:
Low-grade sushi from a convenience store or a supermarket; often made from undefined “fish” and crab. Examples: I’m Jonesing for sushi, but all I can afford is pseushi. This pseushi lists “fish” as an ingredient: what kind of fish?
Retrieved from “http://www.langmaker.com/db/Pseushi”
Hmmm… they don’t attribute me anymore. *annoyed*
mikealikeaism: caring deeply for someone named mike and being unable to express your feeling to mike
annoypid-We made this one up at work for an employee who excels at being annoyingly stupid
Endarken (en·dark’·en) — To remove knowledge, or willfully obfuscate. To reduce the sum total of understanding. Antonym: Enlighten.
See also: Fuliginate.
This isn’t exactly ONE word, but I coined it a couple of years ago:
blogged out. As in, I’ve been through all my RSS feeds, read everything I might possibly someday be interested in. I think I may have finished the internets. I am totally blogged out.
Just made this up the other day:
Rivenator: A descriptor for any role in which Summer Glau kicks serious ass.
McCainaphobia – a rational, intense, persistent fear of 100 years of war. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive queasiness of McCain’s adoption of Bush doctrine and continued destruction of the country. When this fear is beyond one’s control, or if the fear is interfering with daily life, then a diagnosis of McCain Anxiety Disorder (MAD) can be made, and support for the Republican party platform is undermined.
It’s not of my invention (I only wish I were that clever), but the best word I have encountered recently is “asshaberdashery”.
Ferengulate: To pathologically and annoyingly attempt to manipulate all situations to one’s own exclusive gain and advantage through means fair and foul, but particularly in monetary transactions.
Search engine hits: 0
desirement – marketing says it’s “nice to have,” but it’s really a “requirement” that they don’t want to pay for.
stupidundent (adj.) – to stupidly do the same thing over and over again.
Two I’ve made up:
Ubitchuitous – someone who is seemingly a bitch everywhere, all the time
Udickuitous – someone who is seemingly a dick everywhere, all the time
Udickuitous was previously a punk band in England
Last, but not least:
Pubris – overweening pride related to your crotch, or “overweening weenie”. A friend made this up, but it’s worth sharing
Radsplip – A radical splinter group, otherwise known as a novel writing critique group.
Clintonitis – Signs and symptoms of include harsh and painful reaction to any discussion of a Clinton. Most acutely felt by men with the slightest exposure to Hilary’s shrill overbearing voice, but will also regularly flair up in Right-Wingers when discussing stained dresses. Exacerbations of Clintonitis are caused with media coverage of Hilary, Bill and to a lesser degree Chelsea. Those afflicted should avoid direct contact, especially with Bill in a closed office environment.
Flagalist: A person who attaches their national flag to a car.
For a limited audience:
Crucifidget: v. Starting to cross yourself in church, then realizing it isn’t a “cross yourself” bit in the service, and acting like you just meant to scratch your forehead.
I do that all the time. But if you aren’t Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, this word is probably of limited utility.
Scalsy – Describes a blog post that has no reason for existence beyond providing the readers of the blog something to waste/spend their time responding to.
Beepalepsy: that startled reaction you have when that thing the restaurant gives you goes off. Can also apply to cell phones.
Executifying: The process of inappropriately applying learned behaviour from serving as a business executive to a completely different job, such as President or Vice President of the United States. See: U.S. Government, Bush Administration
Disfleculate-
To repel spittle or mucus that is a result of someone sneezing on you or towards you.
Andrew S @ 44:
Awesome. As a lapsed Catholic whose extended family is still – uh, what’s the word for “unlapsed”? – whatever, I find myself crucifidgeting all the time on the rare occasions I find myself in church these days.
Can probably be combined with prekneeturation – that is, going to kneel at a point in the service when kneeling is not, in fact, called for.
I coined this term a few years ago while driving on the freeway and witnessing a crazy driver cut across several lanes to make an exit. It’s not one word, but a phrase:
Dick of the Mile: in any given one-mile stretch, there will be one jerk that drives like a crazy motherfucker. That person is the Dick of the Mile (can be abbreviated as DotM). The mile can start or end at any point, so there can be two Dicks driving crazy at the same time, and the mile ends and begins between the two.
I try very hard not to be the Dick of the Mile, and I feel very ashamed when I tell myself, “oh no, I’m the Dick of the Mile!” It works amazingly well at curbing my crazy driving impulses. Also, I have several friends and family members who’ve picked up the phrase, and it’s become part of our vernacular. (“Vernacular” is quite possibly my favorite word because the irony surrounding this obscure word’s definition; “vernacular” isn’t part of most people’s vernacular.)
Unvite — (v) to revoke an invitation.
Quinzipple — (v) to increase by a magnitude of five zillion.
carpetblagger – One who comments (often in an offensive or highly annoying manner) on another’s successful blog in an attempt to exploit the readership of that blog for his own gain.
(Google search returns no uses of this as a word, though it has apparently been used occasionally as a forum handle. <shrug>)
sfwantics: The Nebula Awards provided yet another opportunity to watch the sfwantics of America’s leading group of science fiction and fantasy writers.
“Regenerize” — something that actually popped out of my mouth post-gym-visit, when I meant to say “energize”, but my brain pulled up “regenerate”, and my lips made a compromise.
Meaning: to sit on one’s couch post-racquetball beatdown and fall asleep while watching “Good Eats” reruns.
soccnorism: the tendency of Americans to assume that they words they use have the most common global definition.
“He said theatre, but I assume that was soccnor and he meant the cinema instead.”
sesquipedantic – (adj) having a tendency to use very long, obscure words in a lecturing tone.
A sort-of portmanteau of sesquipedalian and pedantic
“The ullage of the pedagogical recitation was this: no shibboleths in soliloquies.”
“Christ, Dave, you’re so sesquipedantic.”
Used multiple times by a group of us since 2000; there are some google references.
Scalzaphotocrastination: John’s penchant to say: “I’ve got lots of work to do today, so you’ll have to entertain yourselves by looking at this Photoshop I did that only me two hours and forty five minutes to create”.
Mediagraine — When someone is beset with headaches caused by blatantly fraudulent or irritating commercials, on radio or television. Esp. occuring in situations where the commercials “tumble” through entire radio breaks. Often results in crying jags and road rage incidents.
“I got a mediagraine today when I heard a radio commercial for a male sexual enhancer when they repeated their 866 phone number six times in 20 seconds.”
tieclearing:
The act of cleaning one’s glasses with one’s necktie.
tieclear power:
Unexpected powerful usefulness of some object previously considered useless, such as a necktie for tieclearing.
Prancil: A pencil (or some other writing utensil) that seemingly has a mind of its own and falls to just the right spot where you have to get out of your damned chair!*
*Usually involves the writer grabbing for the item with his/her butterfingers
excretiacephalic: From the Latin, having a head full of excretia. See also BDS and #35.
Distraccident:
Any motor vehicle mishap caused by a driver attempting to simultaneously steer, talk on the phone, and eat a sandwich.
Came up with this Sunday, I think.
“Legislayer” – a member of congress whose primary function is to add garbage to a bill in order to get it killed. It is the ultimate achievement of a legislayer to get a bill passed which has to be killed by a court for its unconstituionality.
Carmageddon: ultimate rush hour gridlock.
And a serious one, from one of my books: suffle, the sound the wind makes when it’s just stirring the leaves of trees.
A quixomalik-yodemcloat is faux aztec for “orange coconut chocolate pleasure confection”. Usually taken with an espresso.
Dual Doppler Radar
Okay, so I didn’t make this up, but it seems the national weather service did as they can’t seem to be able to predict a winter storm correctly, at least not in central Ohio…
By now we were supposed to have 2-4 inches of white death, but as I check my radar (a.k.a., my windows), nothing yet. Way to kill the economy!
my niece and i came up with “Beyawriful” (pronunciation: BEE-your-eh-full) for a movie that was so bad we couldn’t think of the right word for it… it is a combination of “beyond horrible and awful”.
also (may not be original) “Assified” — the result of sitting and drinking alcohol for an extended period of time.
“Exquisillent” –
Pronunciation: ?\ek-?skwi-s(?-)l?nt\
Function: adjective
Etymology:
Future English. Conflation derived from: common adjectives exquisite and excellent.
Date: late 21st century
1: carefully selected for unique and esoteric properties: choice
2: marked by flawless craftsmanship capable of inspiring numinous experience in higher life forms b: marked by discrimination, deep sensitivity, or subtle understanding of the numinous and sublime c: accomplished, perfected to the point of a transformative beauty or
4 a: uncommon or esoteric appeal that threatens to exceed the human mind’s ability to comprehend.
Accent leak: the embarrassing tendency to start imitating another person’s accent unintentionally. The chances of accent leak occurring are directly proportional to the number of people with the same accent in the conversation; the length of conversation; and the silliness of the accent.
Ashbole — Apparently, the large main trunk of an ash tree. Actually, a euphemism for asshole. I came up with this when someone of delicate sensibilities asked me what as**ole meant.
Throatsniffling: When you’re trying to force phlegm up your throat without actually coughing.
Baldwinist: A movie or media product featuring one of the Baldwin brothers. (Example: “The Shadow is Baldwinist cinema at its worst.”) See also Wayansist.
purpluminescant: something that is so beautifully purple it luminesces
malmaxia – the single worst thing that can happen at a given moment.
“So I said to him, Dave, is the fabric of spacetime still intact? Yeah. Okay. So it wasn’t malmaxia, was it?”
Confobfuscate (v.): To willfully confuse others using long winded, unnecessary explanations in order to delay having to do one’s work. Some people can do this so well that they never work at all.
quawesum- better than awesome. Superb/magnificent
snyphilis (n.): The red irritation of the skin around the nostrils due to blowing one’s nose too frequently.
Gogocrastination – A disproportionately speedy, enthusiastic, effective response to a sudden requirement that is significantly less important than the thing you should have been doing instead.
Neocontextualization: the art of sampling your own music in a later track. If cognitive dissonance is involved, so much the better.
I’m reading Susan Fast’s In the Houses of the Holy and she was talking about Led Zeppelin members sampling Zeppelin tunes. My eyes are bad and I misread ‘recontextualization’. Then I decided my word was better.
Teotwawki (pronounced “Teotawawaki”) meaning= the end of the world as we know it. Happens often enough these days that the event deserves a word.
GreenMorningWood: An enormous erecction upon waking up in a new hyper-fit green skinned body.
#20
Thaumaturgy is the application of magic, being concerned with how magic is used. Thaumaturgy is concerned with the how, thaumatology with the why.
Blarfnagle: the act of forcing an automated phone answering tree to default to the live agent by saying nonsense words in response to their questions. This is used when none of the choices address your problem.
VRU: Please say “balance” for current balance; “due date” for the date your bill is due or “address” for the payment address.
Lisa: Blarfnagle
VRU: I’m sorry, could you please repeat your answer? Please say “balance” for current balance; “due date” for the date your bill is due or “address” for the payment address.
Lisa: Blarfnagle
VRU: I still didn’t catch that. Please say “balance” for current balance; “due date” for the date your bill is due or “address” for the payment address.
Lisa: Blarfnagle
VRU: There seems to be a problem with the line. Let me transfer you to a live agent to assist you.
ProScalzinate – Checking for updates and comments on Whatever instead of doing something productive and meaningful.
Oh, look, Patrick is proScalzinating again.
I once played a game of Scrabble where we could ONLY use made-up words – however, they had to be pronounceable, and you had to come up with a definition. I only remember one: Datoop. It’s a mustache that grows vertically instead of horizontally. – John
Bliter – Potential author who sends his time pissing around with his blog instead of writing.
I better put that on my blog!
Paraspeculization.
Paranormal speculation. Because me and and a whole slew of others have to spell speculation as speculization.
afelesarvinafex: (Lat) one who affixes bacon to cats
Inanimosity* – the hostile behavior of objects.
Bookcreep** – the stealthy migration of books from the shelves where they belong to untidy piles all over one’s desk. Also called pagigration.
Awakested – simultaneously too awake to go to sleep, and too sleepy to accomplish anything.
*my husband’s word, coined years ago.
**found on Google as a Pakistani’s screen name on some discussion group
Meh>morable – Obviously not a Memorex moment.
antidishestablishmentarians, collective noun. Sect of fanatical housekeepers who require that dishes be washed whenever used and put away. Or else. Use in a sentence: “My mother was an antidishestablishmentarian, and her training marred me for life.”
Visualirage – an all encompassing rage that fills the afflicted with vivid scenarios of dismembering or bludgeoning the cause of the rage into nonexistence. This is most often experienced in company meetings and first dates.
This may not technically count.
Medium – This is a word that used to mean the size between small and large. Apparently, it no longer exists. You can have “tall”. You can have “regular” when whatever they’re calling small has been eliminated as a possibility. I always felt very comfortable with medium and I’d like it brought back.
Kudebushundi: (pronounced koo/de/bu/shoo/ndie) an exclamation of irritation or surprise, much like WTF or OMG.
Orthopedantry – an instance of pedantry that is particularly focused on giving correctly stodgy and ostentatious knowledge.
Pitchforkate (v.) – To write about music in a bloviating, self-congratulatory manner.
http://fiftytwotuesdays.blogspot.com/2008/02/international-make-up-word-day.html
Temeculent: similar to or resembling a suburb.
Melidocient: a piece of music, artwork or other creative endeavor that, while not quite what you were looking to invoke, is at least leading you in the right direction.
Penisteering – the act of negotiating a corner while driving a Mercedes SUV while simultaneously putting on your seatbelt and talking on your mobile phone.
Yes, I know I missed the actual day, but I’d like to add one I’ve been using for years:
Slounge – to lounge on furniture in the manner of a slob.
(It is pretty much impossible to do anything but slounge in a beanbag).
Laminatrix – The woman at the library who is responsible for laminating the library cards.
Demojify – to remove the mojo from something which was so awesome it scared the client, thus bringing it down to an acceptable level of mediocrity
Saw a typo today that led to a term for this thread:
Poast – A blog entry or comment that describes some way in which the writer is simply wonderful.
Lamitudinousness – Adjective (at least I *think* it’s an adjective) describing the degree to which one’s attitude or situation has become “lame”.
e.g. “Due to my own lamitudinousness, I was unable to commit to going out for a beer with my friends Friday night.”
This term could be re-tooled to become any part of speech.
“Lamitudining is Fun!” – Gerund
“Lamitude is a state of mind.” – Noun
“She declined the offer lamitudinally.” – Adverb
etcetera….etcetera
Remarkate:
The process of digging through a stack of already graded papers changing the way you marked a particular question in light of a later realization about the nature of the answers given. Especially common when grading exams for a highly STUVASIVE class.
Stuvasive:
The psychological property of some students which allows them to read a carefully worded question in a manner both unanticipated by the teacher and very consistent with the words written on the test. Stuvasive may also be said of the answers stuvasive students produce.
Poopitize: The action of slowly soiling your underwear over a long period of time thereby creating permanent skid marks.
Scair: to wake up and frighten someone with the mess that your rooster lookin’ head has become overnight . . .
#103 Scott: I totally understand what you mean. Inevitably, it means a long, uneasy period of “um, wtf were they thinking and why did so many of ’em think that way”, followed by a sudden, anguish-ridden moment of “Oh. CRAP.”
For sure, test pressure does astonishing and unpleasant things to logical thought.
Intranzensigent: Unwillingness to compromise one’s mindful acceptance of the present moment, spontaneous action, and detachment from self-conscious, judgmental thinking.
Logographilia: the obsessive act of incessantly creating logos in notebooks.
polyhexatessellation: covering every flat surface with tiled hexagons, possibly out of some bizarre fixation with hexagons.
I know, I’m late, but it’s only just come up.
OsXtation
{pron}: Oss Ten Tay Shun
Being insufferably smug and braggy about your new Mac.
Frientrophy ~ The state of a dying friendship.
hammockstuffer–bedpan
Sawyer: Having a degree in saw. A woodcutter.
diglio: new police officer
“Rhetorical Grammafesto or (RG)” is not a widely used or known term. (The term is not a joke. It should be used as a technique and a learning tool for college undergraduate students to analyze writing) The “Rhetorical Grammafesto” was a term created by Kevin Dvorak, a professor that has a Doctorate’s degree in English Composition and TESOL. The term was used with his college students in “The Grammar and Rhetoric in Writing” course at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Florida. The term uses a portmanteau, in which two words such as grammar and manifesto are fused and blended together.
What is a Rhetorical Grammafesto?
According to Kevin Dvorak, “The Rhetorical Grammafesto is a kind of manifesto/treatise where you get to tell your audience what you think is good writing.” Also according to Dr. Dvorak, “The RG can be a combination of narrative, academic, creative, research, and professional writing.” It is a compilation of one’s work in which the author analyzes what is considered good writing through extensive research by using grammar, rhetorical tropes and literary devices.
To coincide with Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, rhetoric is “the art of speaking or writing effectively” and is “the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times.” According to wordnet.com, a manifesto is “a public declaration of intentions (as issued by a political party or government).” Ergo, to concur with Dvorak, the rhetorical grammafesto is “your declaration of what you think rhetoric and/or grammar is/are/can(not) be.” Additionally, in concord with Dvorak, “You can approach this from a strictly personal level, from a cultural level, from a community level, or from a global level.”
When I was little I used to call the washing machine filter the ‘kumblekye’,lol.Don’t ask why.