# Favorite Made Up Words By A Writer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 24, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795 "2009-06-24T02:37:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/21 "2009-06-24T12:33:56Z")
> [@Endemic](#): > > It’s only a matter of time until someone mentions Stephen R Donaldson… Oops, strike that, SRD’s words are incredibly obscure, but not ‘made up’ ---
**Author:** ![MishMash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@MishMash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MishMash)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/22 "2009-06-24T12:37:18Z")
Does nerd count? Dr. Seuss used it first. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/23 "2009-06-24T12:59:57Z")
Interesting replies. Some of them I’ve read/heard of, others, not. I wonder what the qualifier is for a made-up word to become an actual word (appear in a dictionary)? Just popular use? I love the Vonnegut references, and Poe’s. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/24 "2009-06-24T13:32:11Z")
> [@Endemic](#): > > Hey, it’s great to see that someone else remembers these two words. Not only are they great words, but I totally identify with the philosophical concepts. > > It’s only a matter of time until someone mentions Stephen R Donaldson… I think that there may be more coined words in Cat’s Cradle, but those are the only ones I remember. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/25 "2009-06-24T13:42:59Z")
To take it a slightly different direction, I’ve always liked “runcible”, coined by Edward Lear. They dined on mince and slices of quince, which they ate with a runcible spoon. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/26 "2009-06-24T13:48:00Z")
> [@Gleena](#): > > Crivens! > Waily waily waily! > > Both useful exclaimations from Prachett’s Wee Free Men books. He didn’t invent them though. Both very old expressions. [crivens](http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/286454.html) [waly waly](http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/boeb/boeb20.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/27 "2009-06-24T13:52:25Z")
Assassination as invented by a certain W. Shakespeare. Yes, I know about the original assassins from the crusades. But Bill was the first one to use it thus. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/28 "2009-06-24T14:04:45Z")
_ **Interfrastically** _ is a made-up (by Blackadder) made-up (by the writers Elton and Curtis) word that I use a lot. A double whammy of made up wordage! ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/29 "2009-06-24T14:08:48Z")
**Lobstrosity** is a fun word. Deadly crustaceans from Stephen King’s Dark Tower books. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/30 "2009-06-24T14:46:48Z")
> [@filling\_pages](#): > > To take it a slightly different direction, I’ve always liked “runcible”, coined by Edward Lear. > > They dined on mince and slices of quince, > which they ate with a runcible spoon. And all the Sailors and Admirals cried When they saw him nearing the further side – "He has gone to fish, for his Aunt Jobiska’s “Runcible Cat with crimson whiskers!” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/31 "2009-06-24T14:51:40Z")
Lotsa made-up words in Neal Stephenson’s [_Anathem._](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anathem) Some correspond perfectly to existing English words and appear to have been used merely for effect, e.g., “syndev” (syntactic device) for “computer.” Others do not and might make useful additions to the English vocabulary – e.g., “sline.” ---
**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:** [June 24, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/32 "2009-06-24T15:15:09Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > Isaac Asimov was proud to say he appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary 4 times, so he not only made up words, but he got others to use them, somehow. Maybe I misremembered the number, as I can only think of 3–Robotics, Robotic, and Psychohistory. Also “pocket calculator.” Some others: Serendipity Bandersnatch (Carrol again). Robot, of course (Karel Capek) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/33 "2009-06-24T15:37:30Z")
Is there such a thing anywhere as a definitive list of English words, in common usage, and of known coinage as opposed to historical etymology? Hijack: And is there such a thing as a set of lists (not definitions, etc., just lists) of English words broken down by language of origin? E.g., an alphabetical list of all words known to derive from Old English; another of words derived from Danish (dating from the years of the Danelaw in England); of words derived from Norman French; of words derived from Latin, Greek, Spanish, etc. That would be a very interesting resource – and simple, though laborious, to prepare. The OED staff could simply go through every word in the OED and, well, sort it into a pile. ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/34 "2009-06-24T15:39:00Z")
I thought that William Gibson’s word **cyberspace** would have already been noted. A word that I still use from _Frascape_ is **frell**. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/35 "2009-06-24T15:52:00Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Assassination as invented by a certain W. Shakespeare. Yes, I know about the original assassins from the crusades. But Bill was the first one to use it thus. For that matter, he came up with “Alligator” and “Bedroom”. And a whole whopload of others. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/36 "2009-06-24T16:04:02Z")
[Kipple](http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=128). It’s a perfect word for piled up junk mail and paper crap on the kitchen counter and I’ve used it for decades. Come to think of it, I know my kid knows what it means, but I’m not at all sure she knows where it came from. ---
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/37 "2009-06-24T16:09:17Z")
> [@filling\_pages](#): > > To take it a slightly different direction, I’ve always liked “runcible”, coined by Edward Lear. > > They dined on mince and slices of quince, > which they ate with a runcible spoon. Bastard! Lear had some prime nonsense, and the Jabberwocky stuff is great too. I also enjoyed some of Burgess’s NADSAT, especially litso and droog. If we’re allowed screenwriters, I’m quite fond of cloff-prunker\*. \*An illicit practice whereby one person frangilates another’s slimp - that is, he or she gratifies the other person by smuctating them avially. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/38 "2009-06-24T18:09:56Z")
Hoopy frood ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/39 "2009-06-24T18:11:10Z")
Ira Levin’s adjective “Stepford.” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795/40 "2009-06-24T18:24:32Z")
Another from Larry Niven- **Rishathra** “Sexual practice outside one’s own species but within the intelligent hominoids” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-made-up-words-by-a-writer/500795.md?page=3)