As the title said, how (if it is indeed possible) would one add a neologism, created on the spot, to an existing language?
Could it be done by using it, spreading it around, and hoping it catches on? Is there a better way? Could bribing the various dictionary publishers help (what are the chances of a word catching on just because it’s in the dictionary)?
For explanation’s sake, I’ve come up with the following word from (badly used) Greek root words;
I don’t have anything against them, it’s just that I know I’ll spend hour and hours reading through entries on it. I have enough of that with TV Tropes and wikipedia, ty.
I can understand it. I tend to come away from any visit to Urban Dictionary feeling totally grossed out either by the disgusting sexual practices described, or the profound misogyny (or, usually, both). Useful sometimes, yes (though I think a lot less reliable than Wikipedia), but not pleasant.
I once read that the word “quiz” was introduced into the language by a Dublin publican, on a bet that he introduce a new word overnight. He then spent the night chalking QUIZ in large letters on walls all over the city. The next day everyone was asking questions about it, and “quiz” came to mean…
It probably isn’t true (and I may have remembered some of the details wrong), and even if it is, I doubt that it would work today, but it is kind of a nice story, that has stuck with me for many years. Does anyone else know anything about it?
If you can convince people that aren’t friends or family to use the word regularly (and when you’re not around), then I think you can safely say it’s become a cromulent neologism.
Go to Dublin, hire all the street urchins in to chalk it on the walls all over the place overnight. In the morning everybody will be talking about it, asking each other “What does this new word mean?”
Create a popular book, movie, or television series that follows a young protagonist’s awakening of heretofore hidden powers and journey through a mysterious world just out of sight from what everyone else perceives.
Invent a word to describe people who are unaware of the world you hero inhabits, people who have powers similar to your hero, or just have your hero and friends use English morphological rules in unconventional ways.