# Ever coined a word? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 14, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968 "2010-02-14T18:01:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/21 "2010-02-16T01:56:04Z")
Who coined “google-fu” on the Straight Dope? ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/22 "2010-02-16T02:39:06Z")
I once coined a comeback. Back when it was common for people to say, “No way, Jose,” I came up with, “Fraid so, Pedro.” A few months later, I heard it said on a television show. They must have stolen it from me. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/23 "2010-02-16T02:39:40Z")
Do phrases count? I’ve been using “ **obligatory acquaintances** ” since high school. It refers to classmates, workmates, roommates, clients, customers, people we know due to job or other obligations and that we might call friends but are not really true friends. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/24 "2010-02-16T02:55:26Z")
Does it count if it’s in a language other than English? A friend and I coined the regular\* transitive Latin verb splitere, meaning: To leave, precipitously. Usually we’d use it in the first person plural subjunctive inquisitive form: “Spliteremusne?” i.e. “Shall we blow this joint?” \*Oddly enough, while I am not really 100% certain any longer how to conjugate the verb, I do remember we had a several weeks’ long argument about whether it should be a regular or an irregular verb. All the _good_ verbs were irregular, after all. ---
**Author:** ![stanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@stanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stanger)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/25 "2010-02-16T05:26:58Z")
You know how during a conversation, or maybe watching television, that you make a comment that is a pun, and then everybody continues to add their own comments that are also puns? Back about forty years ago, my best friend coined the word “punical” to describe this phenom. We still refer to this type of exchange as “being very punical.” When writing a letter of some length to someone, or continuing a written dialogue, I often tell people “Thank you for having textual intercourse with me”. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/26 "2010-02-16T06:02:25Z")
Years ago my then-girlfriend coined a term to describe being forced to wait in a very lengthy line which doubled back on itself several times, so you passed the same people in front of you and behind you many times. She referred to this pracice as “Disneylanding” as it supposed got its start at Disneyland rides, as in “They Disneylanded us for forty-five minutes before we got on Space Mountain.” (Incidentally, in case she is by some chance reading this…you still owe me five dollars for the gas I bought you back in 1981. What; you thought I would forget?) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/27 "2010-02-16T15:18:13Z")
I’ve been an atheist for over 50 years now, and have heard every argument pro and con. I’ve reached the point at which the entire God question just doesn’t interest me anymore. I really don’t care anymore whether or not there’s a supreme being. That makes me a “shrugnostic.” ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/28 "2010-02-16T15:42:53Z")
> [@stanger](#): > > You know how during a conversation, or maybe watching television, that you make a comment that is a pun, and then everybody continues to add their own comments that are also puns? > Back about forty years ago, my best friend coined the word “punical” to describe this phenom. We still refer to this type of exchange as “being very punical.” In other words, half the threads on the SDMB? 😉 > [@movingfinger](#): > > Years ago my then-girlfriend coined a term to describe being forced to wait in a very lengthy line which doubled back on itself several times, so you passed the same people in front of you and behind you many times. She referred to this pracice as “Disneylanding” as it supposed got its start at Disneyland rides, as in “They Disneylanded us for forty-five minutes before we got on Space Mountain.” My word for an endless, oh-so-slowly moving line is “quarter-inching”. As in, “We were quarter-inching for an hour before we got to the luggage check.” My brother an I use it mostly for airport lines. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/29 "2010-02-16T15:49:57Z")
Fixed small typo in thread title. [every \>\> ever] **Ellen Cherry Obsessive/compulsive** ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/30 "2010-02-16T16:02:52Z")
I coined “transphylite” for someone who wanted to undergo a species change operation (“I’m a dog in the body of a human!”). It was actually published in _Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine_, so if the technology ever develops, the OED will be citing me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/31 "2010-02-16T16:12:59Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Fixed small typo in thread title. [every \>\> ever] > > **Ellen Cherry > Obsessive/compulsive** Thanks. A friend of mine used the term “Pre-emptive capitulation” many years ago, which I use all of the time for things like the recent Dem flight from congress. Rather than be defeated in an election, they decide not to run at all. Or if someone makes any statement similar to “I probably won’t win at this” before even trying. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/32 "2010-02-16T16:16:24Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Fixed small typo in thread title. [every \>\> ever] > > **Ellen Cherry > Obsessive/compulsive** Oh, thank you! It was driving me crazy. I was toying with reporting the OP in the hopes of getting it fixed. I thought I coined “food porn” many years ago to refer to food magazines and recipe books with lots of pretty food pictures. I know I used it online at some point, then I started seeing it everywhere. So I think a lot of other people just thought of the same term around the same time because I doubt it took off that quickly from my comment. I use the word “floofy” to describe how certain medications make me feel. Basically it feels like someone stuffed your head with cotton. No, I don’t want to take that cold medicine, it makes me too floofy. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/33 "2010-02-16T16:28:00Z")
I coined both “It’s not rocket surgery” and “Mind like a steel sieve.” But I think they must have had parallel genesis, because, while in some general use, I’m pretty sure they didn’t get their popularity from me. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/34 "2010-02-16T16:32:14Z")
When I feel a headache coming on, I take Precautionary Analgesic (PA). That has entered the lexicon. ---
**Author:** ![gang\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f07891/32.png) [@gang\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gang_green)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/35 "2010-02-16T16:50:01Z")
My brother has “gack”, meaning the knick-knacky worthless tat that seems to have no purpose but to gather dust and to be seen. Hummel figurines, display plates, etc. are all gack. My only contribution only has relevance in Everquest. There is a dragon named Nagafen. When he’s mad at you, you have Naggro. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/36 "2010-02-16T16:55:44Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I coined both “ **It’s not rocket surgery** ” and “Mind like a steel sieve.” And I thank you for that! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/37 "2010-02-16T17:12:28Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > Years ago my then-girlfriend coined a term to describe being forced to wait in a very lengthy line which doubled back on itself several times, so you passed the same people in front of you and behind you many times. She referred to this pracice as “Disneylanding” as it supposed got its start at Disneyland rides, as in “They Disneylanded us for forty-five minutes before we got on Space Mountain.” > > (Incidentally, in case she is by some chance reading this…you still owe me five dollars for the gas I bought you back in 1981. What; you thought I would forget?) Disney has studied line management and the subjective line-waiting experience. You’ll notice that for the really popular rides, the line moves from room to room or outdoor section to outdoor section, so that you can’t see the whole line at one time. There is also waiting music, waiting jokes on the PA system, waiting anamatronics or displays, or all of the above. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/38 "2010-02-16T18:21:36Z")
Glopped. My brother started using it as a verb when he didn’t feel like saying exactly what he was up to: “I was just glopping around.” Or: “Oops, I glopped that up” as in “I messed it up.” Also, glopping. Glop. It’s stupid. And we use it to this very day. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/39 "2010-02-16T18:25:23Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > All the _good_ verbs were irregular, after all. Immodium should fix that > [@tdn](#): > > I coined both “It’s not rocket surgery” and “Mind like a steel sieve.” Whereas I have a mind like a steel trap. Rusted and illegal in 47 states. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968/40 "2010-02-16T19:22:32Z")
Klugs-those clumps of ice and slush that form behind you car’s wheels in the winter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-coined-a-word/528968.md?page=3)