# "Normalcy" is not a word! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 9, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589 "2002-12-09T20:02:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/21 "2002-12-09T21:30:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DanielWithrow \* > \*\*Man, I hate it when people think they can just make up words, like they’re God or something. I tell you: if it ain’t in the Bible, it ain’t a real word! > > Huh? Well, where you **you** think words come from? > > Daniel \*\* Yeah!! Ban neologisms now! Pesky things. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/22 "2002-12-09T22:05:31Z")
I don’t like “normalcy”, I’ve never used it (until now) and I have no plans to use it again. But OED citations from the 1850s onwards ought to be enough to convince anyone that it _is_ a word. However, Worldservice is _not_ a word, and I suspect it never will be. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/23 "2002-12-09T22:14:10Z")
The thread is full of bullshitness. Chillification, people! ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/24 "2002-12-09T22:17:27Z")
Okay, **Soup\_du\_jour** , You made me look it up in the dictionary, and it was there. But did you know that the word “gullible” is not in the dictionary? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/25 "2002-12-09T22:20:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Soup\_du\_jour \* > \*\*I hate to sound like the French. \*\* Heyy, wait a second . . . **Soup du jour** doesn’t want to sound **French**? Zut alors! J’accuse! You’ve been caught, you sneaky French bastard, trying to pollute our language with your silly French rules! Maybe next time you try your crazified European schemes, you’ll choose a better _nom de plume_, non? Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/26 "2002-12-09T22:23:03Z")
I can’t believe that nobody has pointed out the fact that “normalcy” is a perfectly cromulent word! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/27 "2002-12-09T22:24:26Z")
You know what I hate? Otherwise intelligent people who insist on using the word “lonely” when they mean “melancholy.” Six centuries of this bullshit is enough. It’s time for people to stand up and reclaim the language. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/28 "2002-12-09T22:25:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TwistofFate \* > \*\*then someone better tell People Against Goodness And Normalcy! \*\* Don’t forget your goat leggings! ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/29 "2002-12-09T22:26:40Z")
“Alligator” isn’t a word, either. Neither is “bump”, or “mountaineer”, or “aroused”, “bet”, “compromise”, “dawn”, “mimic”, “pedant”, “obscene”, “gust”, “fixture”, “deafening”, or numerous [other words](http://shakespeare.about.com/library/weekly/aa042400a.htm) that people use all the time just because some random shmoe 500 years ago decided to use 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/30 "2002-12-09T22:29:45Z")
Lanugages that don’t evolve, die. And Gamera is friend to children… ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/31 "2002-12-09T23:02:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lainaf \* > \*\*Okay, **Soup\_du\_jour** , You made me look it up in the dictionary, and it was there. But did you know that the word “gullible” is not in the dictionary? \*\* Not in the dictionary? Well how do you spell it? > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tars Tarkas \* > \*\*Lanugages that don’t evolve, die. \*\* Right. That’s why I keep a bunch of lanugages on a Petri dish and coax 'em along with nutreints and soothing giutar music. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/32 "2002-12-09T23:12:28Z")
Fucking hell. The last time there was a thread involving sniffing dismissal of a word in those newfangled modern dictionaries established that the last trustworthy year for a dictionary was 1977. But now I find out that the last trustworthy dictionary year was 1856! Or worst-case scenario, 1849! Thif if unacceptable! ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/33 "2002-12-09T23:12:56Z")
Yeah, y’all are right on everything about languages evolving, and such… But still, the word grates on my ears. 🙂 > [@](#): > > Heyy, wait a second . . . Soup du jour doesn’t want to sound French? > > Zut alors! J’accuse! You’ve been caught, you sneaky French bastard, trying to pollute our language with your silly French rules! > > Maybe next time you try your crazified European schemes, you’ll choose a better nom de plume, non? Yeah, that really wasn’t a smart comment of mine, huh. :smack: Oops. Okay. Y’all have convinced me that “normalcy” is a perfectly valid word that has been around forever, etc. But that doesn’t mean that I like it! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Robb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Robb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robb)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/34 "2002-12-09T23:16:34Z")
> [@](#): > > The last time there was a thread involving sniffing dismissal of a word in those newfangled modern dictionaries established that the last trustworthy year for a dictionary was 1977. In other threads like this, I learned that we should all be using prescription dictionaries, rather than the ones we can buy over the counter. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/35 "2002-12-09T23:47:02Z")
Languages evolve, they are not static. Every word we have now is a mutation of some previous, older version of the word… or borrowed from a different language (and the prouneation is often butchered in the process). Quit your bitching. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/36 "2002-12-09T23:51:31Z")
Normalcy SOUNDS better. It rolls of the tounge in such a lovely fashion. Normality sounds fucked up to me, and harder to pronounce. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/37 "2002-12-10T00:01:25Z")
I thought it was normalitization ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/38 "2002-12-10T00:24:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*I thought it was normalitization \*\* You’ve been watching _Dead Ringers_ haven’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/39 "2002-12-10T00:32:40Z")
**Everton** , that statement was erogenous. ---
**Author:** ![Sivalensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Sivalensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sivalensis)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589/40 "2002-12-10T00:41:39Z")
I’d recognize normality as a word, simply because of abnormality, but normalcy just sounds more…well…normal. But then again, I don’t think I’d use either of them. I’d structure my phrase differently so I didn’t use either one just because I don’t like the word. I am curious those…this could be a british/american difference? Granted, I haven’t been looking at people’s locations (and sorry, but the Kingdom of Butter doesn’t tell me much 🙂 lol), but maybe one usage is more prevalent over here and one in britain? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normalcy-is-not-a-word/141589.md?page=3)