# Has Anyone Else Ever Invented A Word.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 19, 2002, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780 "2002-06-19T01:52:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2002, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/1 "2002-06-19T01:52:51Z")
Perhaps it may seem silly to some, but believe it or not I do invent words from time to time. I have been doing this since I was a kid and I rarely or never tell anyone about them, of course. But I have wondered on more that one occasion what other people might think of my creations.
Here is one that relates to the present times: Lananalia–the inability to stop pronouncing a syllable in a word (cf. George W. Bush). This is how I derive my word:
La- from the refrain “La La La La, etc.” in many songs (cf. _Deck the Halls_).
-anana- from _banana_. A little silly, I know. But unlike the words _google_ and _googleplex_, at least it is based on an existing word and not just a random type thing.
-alia from “glossolalia”–not necessarily related to what I am talking about. But hey, its my word. So I think I am entitled to a little poetic license here.
Well, that’s it. Comments? Other suggestions?🙂
🙂
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### Author:  [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2002, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/2 "2002-06-19T03:19:21Z")
I once asked here if there was a word that was the collective term for nephews and nieces; e.g., _siblings_ means brothers and sisters, _parents_ means mother and father.
Someone responded with the word _niblings_. He(?) said that his family used it all the time.
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### Author:  [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2002, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/3 "2002-06-19T03:44:15Z")
Turditude= A sh\*tty attitude.
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### Author:  [@Simetra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simetra)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2002, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/4 "2002-06-19T12:24:04Z")
Yup… come up with a few. My favorite being ignote. You ignote someone when you tell them something and they become dumber for having heard it.
That’s my word. 🙂
Funny thing is, I hear more and more people using it, even tho it’s not a real word. I’m just assuming these people have heard me use it enough and think it is.
For more on made up words try =“[http://www.pseudodictionary.com](http://www.pseudodictionary.com)”]Pseudodictionary.
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### Author:  [@Simetra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simetra)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2002, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/5 "2002-06-19T12:26:54Z")
Sonofabitch…
[Pseudodictionary](http://www.pseudodictionary.com).
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2002, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/6 "2002-06-19T12:39:59Z")
My family invented a variant of Scrabble™ (that we imaginatively called UNScrabble®).
You invent words and put them down; they have to be pronouncable and you have to be prepared, if challenged, to provide a detailed and plausible definition. The words must not appear in the dictionary and the other players must reach a consensus as to whether your points for the word should be added to or subtracted from your total score.
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### Author:  [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2002, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/7 "2002-06-19T12:54:19Z")
Gnarf for an annoying, petty person. It’s a made-up translation of a Finnish word I also made up.
On another board, I’ve tried, to some success, to get people to use the term ‘handmelon’ for American football, as it is played more with hands than feet and the ball is shaped like a melon instead of proper spherical shape that balls should have.
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### Author:  [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2002, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/8 "2002-06-19T13:02:08Z")
**Sherp**. That’s when you carry stuff for someone else. It’s from “Sherpa”, the legendary baggage handlers of the Himalayas.
Your wife just buys a lot of stuff at Target. “May I **sherp** those bags for you?” you ask.
“Yes, you may,” she asnswers.
**Sherp**. Learn it. Live it. Love it.
-Rue.
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### Author:  [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2002, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/9 "2002-06-19T13:08:28Z")
_Greebling_ or to _greeble_: A word my brother and I used as children. It means to make a whiny, complaining noise, usually by moving only the lower lip. Like Beaker on the Muppet Show.
_Catloaf_: My word to describe when a cat sits with its paws tucked under its body and its tailed curled close around (so it looks like a loaf of something with a cat’s head). Used in a sentence: “When I got home very late last night, there they were, sitting catloaf by the door and regarding me with severe feline disapproval.”
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2002, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/10 "2002-06-19T13:12:08Z")
I made up **sackie** for the Sacagawea dollar. It turns out that someone on the SDMB posted it before I even registered, but I still came up with it independently.
**Kilobuck**. I use this one all the time. Obviously, it’s 1,000 dollars. I’ve used “hectobucks” occasionally, but I find it easier to say “half a kilobuck” than “five hectobucks”.
A friend of mine uses **sack** as a replacement for “dirty” expletives. Sounds dirty when you say it, but isn’t. Get cut off in traffic? “Sack!” Referring to someone you don’t like? “That sackhead.” Freeway slow? “The freeway is really sackin’ today!” It that an idiot? “Look at that meatsack!”
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### Author:  [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2002, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/11 "2002-06-20T02:18:29Z")
I generally tend to create new words for my English papers. They aren’t in the dictionary, but they sound normal enough to drive my english teacher crazy. latest one: aquaticity and aquataryism
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### Author:  [@Yo\_La\_Tengo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yo_La_Tengo)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2002, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/12 "2002-06-20T02:28:29Z")
Yeah, I have.
**Smallerize**. My equivalent of Windows’ minimize thingy where it gets all small. My friend and I always argue who actually created it, we both use it…
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### Author:  [@agentfroot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agentfroot)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2002, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/13 "2002-06-20T02:33:53Z")
my friends made up the word “malapropistmist”
i spontaneously made up the word “seussist” in conversation
“etheba” is a planet in another galaxy where the neanderthals went (i once wrote a “musical” about the planet)
and then there’s onomatopoeiatic…
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### Author:  [@Palve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palve)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2002, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/14 "2002-06-20T02:57:50Z")
Just a word? Try a [whole language](http://www.sys.uea.ac.uk/~jrk/conlang.html)! Just one of my geeky hobbies. 🙂 (That page isn’t mine).
In the realm of English words, I made up c_ntnugget, and cl_twit (my masterpiece).
As for words that don’t include slang words for female genitalia, I recently invented “infoguerrilla”, whose meaning is self explanatory (INFOrmation + GUERRILLA), and “warmosat” for a weird animal I saw with my friend a while ago (Weasel + mARMOSet + cAT). That thing was freaky. It looked like a stretched out weasel-cat with a marmoset’s face.
My friends and I sometimes throw foreign words into our conversations. Like “I’m going to the bibliothèque (French for library).” or “I’m not taking that Scheiße (German for sh\*t).” and so forth.
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### Author:  [@runforrestrun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runforrestrun)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2002, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/15 "2002-06-20T04:06:01Z")
Supon = super tampon…to be used when menstruating, or you can say when you finally get you’re period, “I’m suponic!!!”
We had something going with this one.
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### Author:  [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2002, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/16 "2002-06-20T05:13:19Z")
Snortle – a cross between a snicker and a chortle
Dingy (pron: ding+ee) – identifies a random object, the name of which momentarily escapes me
Actually, I think “dingy” isn’t original with me, but I’m the only one I hear using it.
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### Author:  [@Jello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jello)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2002, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/17 "2002-06-20T05:51:09Z")
Yut - a despicable cretin, who happens to be my younger brother. It managed to catch on, and when he hasn’t checked in for a long period of time, my dad will usually ask “You heard from The Yut?”
I coined this one when I was ten and he was eight. He did not approve.
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### Author:  [@Khadro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadro)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2002, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/18 "2002-06-20T06:43:33Z")
I was 100% convinced that I had created the word
Aromashpere - for the area around a thing in which you can still smell it - only to find out that Homedics has a product named the AromaSphere.
I am still going to claim it as mine though.
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### Author:  [@ratty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratty)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2002, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/19 "2002-06-20T06:44:44Z")
\ OMG! I use the word **catloaf** , too!!! I thought I was the only one in the whole wide world! I also use **catue** (like ‘staute’) for times when the cats look particularly statuesque.
I also use **garbaginous** , pronounced _‘gar-BOJ-in-us’_ to denote a person or thing possessing many of the same qualities as garbage.
Some other words I have made up:
**fighty** - desirous of combat
**snoo** - random term of endearment for any small, cute creature
**GAP Smear** - from ‘Pap Smear’, denotes any cluster of persons or establishments catering to persons who are overly concerned with appearance and fashion
**de-bone** - removing the cardboard advertisements from the pages of a magazine to render it readable
I have also been working on my own language for the past four or so years…damn, I hate it when it turns out I’m a lot less creative than I think.
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### Author:  [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2002, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-else-ever-invented-a-word/114780/20 "2002-06-20T07:23:59Z")
“How about that other word i made up, Dukerific? No one’s
using it? That’s a Duketastrophe!” -DUKE, The Critic
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