As a writer, it’s probably not too surprising that I find words interesting. When I’m working, I’ll have a thesaurus open and my favorite writing book called The Describer’s Dictionary is always near at hand. (Seriously good tip there for writers– check it out! Amazon.com: The Describer’s Dictionary: A Treasury of Terms and Literary Quota )
But sometimes, I scratch my head over how fast buzz words become real words. In fact, that doesn’t bother me nearly as much as this…
When did stupider and stupidest become words?
I hear they are already in dictionaries! I’m jolted from a manuscript or website every time I come upon these words and it happens often.
Am I just not the up-to-datest?
Was my assumption that I’m hipper than the average English high-school student wrong?
Am I blinder than copyeditors?
Someone tell me because I want to be the knowledgeablest I can be!
You know… I could do this all day. (wg)
So I went s’ploring. (My word—let’s use it a lot and watch it end up in a dictionary!)
Here are a couple of my favorite new words:
Extreme ironing— an extreme sport which involves taking a battery powered iron and an ironing board to a remote or dangerous location and ironing some items of clothing. (Why is this considered a “word?” If you do anything, go here and just read the first paragraph. Gotta love it!
Extreme Ironing Bureau :: Ironing under the sky )
Miswanting— wanting something that you mistakenly believe will make you happy.
Way (really, very, as in “way cool”) ( And I thought I was the hippest for using cool slang…)
A fun site for the most recent new words. New Words
And here are some of my favorite Klingon words “not” in the Klingon Dictionary– yes, there is one.
New Canonical Klingon Words — Where I found these words.
The Klingon Language Institute — Um, the actual real, really, institute.
be’joy‘(n) ritualized torture by women
cha’Do’(n) a species of Klingon bird about which little is known (Am I the only one who finds this weird? I mean who decided we knew a lot about Klingon worlds anyway? Um… do we believe Klingons are real?)
ngav(n) writer’s cramp (Oh! I want to read a book written by a Klingon!!)
These are a few words that have become obsolete from here: Words! Bizarre, Obsolete, Odd, Outdated & Weird + Cartoon Fun!
Abnormous—misshapen (I love this word! We need to bring it back!)
Agliff—a verb meaning frightened.
Bangstry—masterful violence ( I kind of like masterful violence better.)
Crapulous– relating to drunkenness or drinking of alcohol. (Sounds good– where’s my wine?)
Raise your hand if you want to bring those words back! Better yet, let’s use them in sentences!
And here is a newer word I think is ridiculous.
metrosexual –a heterosexual male with a strong interest in fashion, appearance and other lifestyle characteristics traditionally associated with women.
I don’t have a problem with heterosexual men with strong interests in usual feminine interests—I don’t have a problem with “ANY” men with these interests. That’s not why I think it’s one of the “stupidest” words. No, I am in fact married to a man who loves HGTV and the Food Network.
Uh, to me, that just makes him a man who loves HGTV and the Food Network.
I have more of a problem with the assumption that these things are primarily feminine. And do people really believe an interest in fashion or appearance is new to men? Read your history books.
In fact, I dare you to go back in time to the Regency period and pick out a man in a nice frilled coat, double-breasted waistcoat and nice, shiny tall boots and call him a metrosexual. Especially this man… know who it is?
And last but not least a fun word quiz to test your knowledge. Let me know how you do! I got an A and two of them still tripped me up. Uh… I forgot the quiz link. Duh. Trivia Quiz: Weird Words