I have a master's degree. I am a MENSA member; therefore I consider myself pretty smart. I kickass at playing Scrabble. That is until the past few days when I have been learning new words like crazy.
1. Spork, Foon, Sporkula, Foodle - Never heard of these until an article appeared in the NY Times concerning a Cub Scout who brought his brand new Boy Scout Eating Utensil to school and was promptly expelled. At first it was mislabeled as a spork. Seems sporks first made an appearance at Taco Bell and KFC where I don't happen to ever eat at, hence why I had no clue what a spork was. In case you didn't - it is a combination of a fork and spoon. Here's a picture from savagechickens.com which explains the family tree of the spork, foon, sporkula, and foodle.
2. ugsome noob - Now this one I had to separate to find a meaning even in the Urban Dictionary. noob or n00b: Contrary to the belief of many, a noob/n00b and a newbie/newb are not the same thing. Newbs are those who are new to some task* and are very beginner at it, possibly a little overconfident about it, but they are willing to learn and fix their errors to move out of that stage. n00bs, on the other hand, know little and have no will to learn any more. They expect people to do the work for them and then expect to get praised about it, and make up a unique species of their own. ugsome: In the Renaissance, a neat pair of neologisms made their way into English modeled on Latin - “handsome” is now a part of our language but the opposite “ugsome” eventually bit the dust a hundred year’s before Shakespeare. So I conclude that an ugsome noob is an ugly know nothing person who doesn't want to learn or work. Wonder if I call my son that he would 'get it'?
New words are like the stars in the sky. They appear in uncountable numbers, last for just a brief time and soon go away. But some come and stay in our language. But if you think it is easy for a new word to catch on, think again. Most deliberate attempts to make a word popular are bound to fail.
Recent additions to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, for instance, include biosignature, botnet, locavore, mocktail, plus-one and vanity sizing. I, for one, didn't have a clue to any of them. FYI: locavore which means “a person whose diet consists only or principally of locally grown or produced food,” was first heard of in 2005 by a group of four San Francisco women who challenged local residents to eat only food grown within a 100-mile radius. It was then picked up by like-minded activists around the country. I will hopefully remember this word next time I challenge hubs to play Scrabble.
People who study words (etymologists) usually don't have the foggiest idea of who first thought of a new word and more often than not, it has many inventors. Take the word that has popped up recently: staycation which means stay-at-home vacation. Ever since prehistoric man ran out of things he could draw on a wall, we’ve been inventing new words and shifting meanings of established words, like the making of "issue" a synonym for the word "problem". Just imagine if Apollo 13 said, "Houston we have an issue" instead of "Houston we have a problem". But issue has become a synonym for the word problem. Even I use it.
My last example is the word "green". It used to be just a color and now it is also a way of life.
I find hope for my thingies, whatchacallits, and doohickeys. I invent new words all the time. What is funny is all my employees understand me perfectly! Now to find a dictionary where all my words are and I will challenge my husband to a nightly Scrabble game - the winner to cook, do the dishes, and give moi (the winner of course) a backrub!
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