# Made up words or Words You Use Wrong For Fun **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 25, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682 "2016-05-25T18:21:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/21 "2016-05-26T19:27:50Z")
When rain falls and drains into creeks which drain into rivers which drain into the ocean, it evaporates, rises into the sky as water vapor, forms clouds, and then falls again as rain. “It’s reciprocating!” ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/22 "2016-05-26T19:30:41Z")
> [@Totenfeier](#): > > This isn’t a make-up, but following my father-in-law, we always say “Wally World” for Walmart. I believe “Wally World” is almost universally understood for Wal-Mart these days. However, I think it first appeared as the name of a fictional amusement park (“Walley World”) in the film _[National Lampoon’s Vacation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lampoon's_Vacation#Walley_World)_. This was in 1983; Walmart already existed but was nothing like the gigantic discount retail chain it is today. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/23 "2016-05-26T19:38:07Z")
I call my rain coat a rainingcoat and it would bug the hell out of roommate a school ! ---
**Author:** ![Totenfeier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Totenfeier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Totenfeier)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/24 "2016-05-26T19:45:38Z")
I didn’t mean to imply that I thought we were the _only_ ones who used Wally World for Walmart. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/25 "2016-05-26T19:46:55Z")
I have a bunch! I still and will forever say sammitch. I also say “Subway eat fresh” as if that is the formal title of the restaurant. I substitute “berry” for “very” whenever I type or text. I also do the same with aboot for about, and sometimes I’ll intentionally say sext. I’ll also say “brb a sex” because that used to be a common typo of mine so I just went a head and did it full-time. I intentionally say aminals instead of the right way of saying it. I’m sure I have more but these are the top ones ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_Fairway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Mrs\_Fairway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_Fairway)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/26 "2016-05-26T20:16:00Z")
I think all of mine come from my sister’s kids. Hankaburger for hamburger Frijafator for refrigerator Tomarno for tomorrow We don’t go on vacation, we go on “the cation” Snantzy - combo of snazzy and fancy Air Kachine for air conditioning ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/27 "2016-05-26T20:26:52Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Hopsicles for me. I think it came from watching too much _Rugrats_ when my kids were younger. “Hopsicle” sounds like it should be the trade name for frozen beer on a stick. ---
**Author:** ![Zyanthia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Zyanthia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyanthia)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/28 "2016-05-26T20:27:36Z")
I had the hardest time learning to say cinnamon. Now I say cimmanon on purpose, just because it reminds me of making apple pie with mom. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/29 "2016-05-26T20:33:13Z")
I \*verbify \*words as needed. I use nouns like _badassery_ and _geekery_ regularly. If someone is making something out of nothing, I ask if they are “_consciously kerfuffling_” or just high drama by nature. Stuff like that there. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/30 "2016-05-26T21:25:35Z")
“Scrunchies” for cat treats. “Smedley” flavor for the ‘seafood medley’. “Snoggling” for kissing and snuggling. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/31 "2016-05-26T21:35:26Z")
Spleep for sleep. There was a website for a doctor who treated sleep disorders who must have had an unfortunate copy-paste error because every place it should have said ‘sleep’ it said ‘spleep’. Paragraphs and paragraphs of text. It was so funny and we’ve adopted that word ever since. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/32 "2016-05-26T21:53:15Z")
> [@Mrs\_Fairway](#): > > I think all of mine come from my sister’s kids. There’s a city near us called Monroeville. I discovered that my son honestly thought the name was _Maroneville_ when he was waaay to old to laugh it off as a kid thing. My daughter, my son, and I still all call it Maroneville. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/33 "2016-05-26T22:21:58Z")
“Ohh-h-h–h-h, I made a fox’s paw !” Refrigigator. Posspickles. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/34 "2016-05-26T22:27:17Z")
I’ve apologized gratuitously. I’ve also flatulently accepted the apologies of others. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/35 "2016-05-26T23:21:26Z")
After the first Avengers movie my friends and family all started calling the scenes among and after the credits “schwarma”. ---
**Author:** ![Periwinkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Periwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Periwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/36 "2016-05-26T23:53:49Z")
My husband used to call the Bob Evans restaurant “Blob Evans” (for anyone not familiar, their specialty was very fattening breakfast stuff). He also called Bedminster NJ (where he had to travel for work sometimes) “Dreadminster”. We call crab forks “pokies” because that’s what our German friend who didn’t know the right word for them called them, and I thought it was an improvement! ---
**Author:** ![ASGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@ASGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/37 "2016-05-27T01:21:57Z")
I’ll mention three. (1) I’ve always enjoyed the British way of pronouncing aluminum and schedule. So I deliberately say them the British way: al-u-min-ium and sched-u-l. I never have to clarify this British way. (2) Growing up in the San Fernando valley I so often heard eucalyptus mispronounced as u-cal-a-pee-tus that I now deliberately mispronounce it. I rarely have to explain my pronounciation. (3) I did not learn the proper way to pronounce debacle until I was 35 or so. Yow! But when I learned the proper way I always thought of Jim Backus. So now I deliberately say de-backus when I mean debacle. This usually requires clarification. I have more but these are the fun ones. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/38 "2016-05-27T01:29:04Z")
I use “encharge” to mean “put in charge of; entrust with a responsibility.” I speak pretty fluent Spanish, and the first time I used it was by accident – I assumed there \*\*was \*\*an English cognate to _encargar_, because there **should** be one. (I suppose the English word “charge” can be used to mean this, but this word has other, more common meanings, so it sounds funny to use it in this way). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/39 "2016-05-27T01:31:51Z")
Oh, and “Abyssinia” for “I’ll be seeing you.” ---
**Author:** ![Totenfeier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Totenfeier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Totenfeier)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682/40 "2016-05-27T11:26:56Z")
I’ll often use telly-o-phone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/made-up-words-or-words-you-use-wrong-for-fun/755682.md?page=3)