# What word(s) have you invented? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 11, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805 "2004-03-11T23:54:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![summerjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@summerjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/summerjack)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/1 "2004-03-11T23:54:46Z")
[This](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=244481) thread got me thinking: Have YOU invented a word? Is it in relatively common use? As for myself the only “words” I have invented are basically acronyms and are generally used by only my personal circle of friends (as far as I know). ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/2 "2004-03-12T00:08:05Z")
[relevant hijack] > [@](#): > > J: (places two manuscripts on the table, but picks up the top one) > Here it is, sir: the very cornerstone of English scholarship. This book, > sir, contains every word in our beloved language. > > G: Hmm. > > E: Every single one, sir? > > J: (confidently) Every single word, sir! > > E: (to Prince) Oh, well, in that case, sir, I hope you will not object if > I also offer the Doctor my most enthusiastic contrafribblarities. > > J: What? > > E: `Contrafribblarites’, sir? It is a common word down our way. > > J: Damn! (writes in the book) > > E: Oh, I’m sorry, sir. I’m anus-peptic, phrasmotic, even compunctious to have > caused you such pericombobulation. > > J: What? What? WHAT? > > G: What are you on about, Blackadder? This is all beginning to sound a bit > like dago talk to me. > > E: I’m sorry, sir. I merely wished to congratulate the Doctor on not having > left out a single word. (J sneers) Shall I fetch the tea, Your Highness? > > G: Yes, yes – and get that damned fire up here, will you? > > E: Certainly, sir. I shall return interphrastically. (exits) (J writes some > more) > > \ > > : Leaving already, Doctor? Not staying for your pendigestatery > interludicule? > > J: No, sir! Show me out! > > E: Certainly, sir – anything I can do to facilitate your velocitous > extramuralisation. From Blackadder III [/relevant hijack] ---
**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:** [March 12, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/3 "2004-03-12T01:10:59Z")
**Transphylite** – someone who thinks he’s really an animal and wants a species change operation. If there’s ever a need for the word, the OED is going to list me first, since I was the first publication. ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/4 "2004-03-12T01:15:44Z")
[Yes, many words](http://www.angelfire.com/ultra/fnuh/saimiar.html) Click on the link “Wordlist”. But you’d have to look at the grammar page to see how to properly use them. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/5 "2004-03-12T01:18:43Z")
A **disastrophe** is when an already bad situation gets even worse. ---
**Author:** ![A\_wizard\_song\_for\_thee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/46a35a/32.png) [@A\_wizard\_song\_for\_thee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_wizard_song_for_thee)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/6 "2004-03-12T05:44:10Z")
Upon moving to San Diego, I decided that the weather here is a perpetual state of sprautumn. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/7 "2004-03-12T06:43:59Z")
My last job was as a newspaper editor, and we used QuarkExpress to build the pages. At some point I turned the name of the software into a verb-- as in, “I quarked the front page.” Anyway, it’s been over a year since I started saying it, and I’ve been gone for about six months, but apparently it’s spread beyond just the newspaper I worked for, and everyone in the entire (parent) comapny is using it. 😃 Happy ---
**Author:** ![leafrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cab0a1/32.png) [@leafrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leafrog)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/8 "2004-03-12T07:04:24Z")
A word we developed in college. Or was it high school? Hmmm, funny how that time seems a fog. **sphericalastroconomicability** adj. The feeling that you are surrounded, three dimensionally, by space. ---
**Author:** ![3Much](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/4af34b/32.png) [@3Much](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3Much)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/9 "2004-03-12T07:58:41Z")
I invented what, to my ears, sounds like a voodoo curse. **CAB-YA!!** It stands for, “Crash And Burn, You Asshole!!” Best if pronounced with a soft “a”, and the final syllable drawn out as long as possible. ---
**Author:** ![partlycloudy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/partlycloudy/32/3114_2.png) [@partlycloudy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partlycloudy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/10 "2004-03-12T08:10:14Z")
I thought up the word **ignoxious** one night. It comes, of course, from a cross between the words _obnoxious_ and _ignorant_, and applies well to inebraites. Here I am, thinking I’m being all clever. But I just “google-d” this word, and found it at [www.pseudodictionary.com](http://www.pseudodictionary.com) - so I wasn’t the only one to think of it. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/11 "2004-03-12T12:09:15Z")
I invented “stonar”. This is the ability to detect if a person smokes dope. It’s inspired by “gaydar”. ---
**Author:** ![DoubleJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@DoubleJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoubleJ)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/12 "2004-03-12T14:34:11Z")
While I was watching the marathon Pens-Flyers game a few years ago (goddamn Flyers) I made the comment after the winning goal was scored that the people in Philly were probably going berserk at the moment. But I also thought “bonkers” fit. So my mouth, in its infinite wisdom, decided on “berzonkers”. I kinda like it, actually. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/13 "2004-03-12T14:39:49Z")
What about inventing slang? I’ve pretty much got everyone I know using “Homer” to refer to marijuana… (Drugs have the best potential for creating new words, mostly because they put people in the perfect state to think of new ridiculosity.) ---
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/14 "2004-03-12T14:47:31Z")
Not \*\*that \*\* widely spread but beyond just the circle of friends that coined them: \*\*ningher \*\* : an onomatopoeic word to cover all the class of diggers, mobile cranes, earth-movers and other bright yellow wheeled construction equipment. When the business end gets going they all go “NNIINNGGHH !!!”, and so are… **stone** : originallly acroym for **S** top **T** alking **O** nly **J** unk but later modified to allow for easier pronounciation. ---
**Author:** ![Redsland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de0a6/32.png) [@Redsland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redsland)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/15 "2004-03-12T15:15:13Z")
I coined the term “globality.” Which is, of course, a measure of the ease with which an idea or expression moves between cultures. At the time the word was something of a joke, buried in a PowerPoint for a company renowned for both its multicultural cluelessness and its love of wordification (another of my creations). Today, well, it’s all grown up. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/16 "2004-03-12T15:19:21Z")
A good friend of mine in college wanted to coin a term to describe movies that were stupid, but funny. She came up with “stunny”, but I suggested “fupid” (“foo-pid”) because “stunny” sounds too much like “stunning”. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/17 "2004-03-12T15:44:03Z")
I think making up cromulent new words is totally [stuponfucious](http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2003-12-10&res=l). My name here is a nickname I use in real life (utterly made-up). Words like “verticality” and “vortex” and “lumberjack” and even “box” all have different meanings to me than they probably do to you. “Dongtar” is a place, but it’s also an interjection. And don’t even get me started on words that corporate America makes up. “This slide **talks to** how our team is going to **socialize** these **issues** before the next **shoulder-to-shoulder**. We can keep these from **impacting** your program, but they may interfere with the letter of some of your **motherhood documents**.” 1. explains 2. talk about 3. problems 4. meeting 5. affecting 6. marketing or P.R. statements containing only the blandest of totally non-controntational information (from “motherhood and apple pie” - statements like “our program is going to succeed by launching a satellite.”) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/18 "2004-03-12T20:29:38Z")
GIGRUNDOUS - (Sort of a combination of "Gigantic, Horrendous, & Humongous) I use it when I need to exaggerate the enormity and hideousness of something like a big hairy spider crawling on the ceiling directly above my face. What in actuality is only about 2cm wide will look like to me to be the size of a full grown cat. This is when I bust out “gigrundous” ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/19 "2004-03-12T23:46:57Z")
Nobody seemed to use “fucknugget” before me, and it hasn’t made it into online slang dictionaries SFAIAA, but I’m sure I didn’t invent it. ---
**Author:** ![A\_wizard\_song\_for\_thee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/46a35a/32.png) [@A\_wizard\_song\_for\_thee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_wizard_song_for_thee)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805/20 "2004-03-13T00:42:37Z")
As far as making up slang, well, my friends and I are all about changing the language one strange expression at a time. Among our greatest hits: “[Her/my] squirrel’s asleep” - The female in question is having her menses, and therefore unfit to have sex with (unless you like it like that). “Robbing the shed” or “having one’s shed robbed” - engaging in anal sex. “Knockin’ the squash” - Indulging in any kind of sex act with a partner. “Smackin’ the fat” - Sort of like knockin’ the squash, but without a partner. Our dream is that one day these expressions will be used in a rap song. Then, and only then, will our lives be complete. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-word-s-have-you-invented/233805.md?page=2)