In the Burridge text, the top ten favorite words of the Brits in the year 2000 varied in type and origin greatly. Some of them were chosen for their sound, some for their meanings, and some were clearly chosen for their origin. For example, the words "quidditch" and "muggle", both from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, were chosen as two of the top ten. I find it to be so interesting that authors of best-sellers can have that much influence on language and words. I hope to be a published author one day, and I hope that my words can have such an influence on a fan base. Before J.K. Rowling wrote these into her books, they either did not exist, like quidditch, or in muggle's case had different meanings. It is frequently said by many that there is a desire to leave our mark after we die, and as someone who loves language and writing I find that being the person to have coined certain words or write something that affects as many people as were clearly affected by the Harry Potter series to be one of the most beautiful marks a person can leave after they have passed.
So I leave you with a question:
If you could coin a term or phrase that will carry on after you have left this life, what would it be and why?
In the seventh grade, hyped on on sugar and DisneyLand excitement, my stepsister and I started saying "oh my sparkilicious" instead of "oh my god". I can't remember why we came up with that, but to this day, we will randomly text each other that and start laughing, thinking about the fun times we had together that summer in Florida. I don't know if that's something I would want the world to have, but it's really amazing that words can relate to memories and bring people together, even made up ones.
ReplyDeleteI find it fascinating a seeming correlation between childhood and creative language. For instance, childhood insults and slander. Less likely am I now, to call or refer to someone a "liver-licking birdbrain", "fart face", "poo-pie", or "melon head". Perhaps it is in part the taboo sensationalism that surrounds "bad" words when you're a child, inspiring such frustrated exclamations as: "oh, shiitake mushrooms", "fudge drops", or "dog-gonnit."
ReplyDeleteI kind of touched on this in my post for the week, but when my sisters and I were younger we would make up words. Sometimes they would be smashed together versions of different words, and sometimes they would be new words altogether. Some examples of these are “cajoke” meaning “can’t you take a joke,” “bacoose” for referencing our butts because it sounds like or is a flipped around version of “caboose,” or the last car of a train, sometimes used to reference a butt. Other words that my sister made up were “stoody” and “larny.” I have no idea what they mean, but she would say “that’s a stoody little dog” and “a larny little cat.” Perhaps she was trying to say something else, and those words came out instead. They sound like perfectly good adjectives to me, if only someone came up with a meaning for them. Words like these show that children really do have the best imaginations, and if I could coin a word it would probably be one of these from my childhood, because to me they are just so whimsical and fun and remind me of the memories I share with my sisters.
ReplyDeleteI still make up words… and my friends actually start using them too! "Dink" and "bink" happen to be a couple of them that my friends now use on a daily basis. Words are actually a fad that people use for a short period of time until the next best one comes out. It's so funny to hear new words and then begin using them until it becomes part of the "norm", and a new one has to come out.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read your post, I thought "Yes! An easy question to answer and comment on!" but the more I think about it, the tougher it is. I have no idea what word I would want to make up and leave behind for the rest of the world. It's surprisingly difficult to think of making up a word unless it's on the spot, like with nonce words. I guess if I had to choose, I would want to make a scientific word, like the name of a dinosaur or plant, and make it really complicated, that way future students would always have trouble with it, just like what every other scientist seems to want to do.
ReplyDeleteI have a niece who loves to make up words. "Chooky" means warm and sunny, "Shohny" means cold and dark. She's also told me that I'm so "Johnious" (as an adjective)...don't know exactly what it means, but in a way it has to be true.
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