Thursday, September 02, 2004
Making up words
Ever since I started my Lexifunnicon project, my respect for the art and joys of whatever you call word-making-up has both leapt and bounded.
It's a kind of word play that exercises wit and wisdom, vocabulary and linguistic skills, creativity and sheer zaniness, and it's fun enough to attract quite a crowd. See, for example, the collaboratively authored Pseudodictionary - where people create, discuss, and collect made-up words. The Pseudodictionary has become a deep resource of constructive silliness. Last time I checked, there were "18881 live words, and 6 awaiting approval."
The fun of word upmaking in no way precludes the profitability thereof. Naming and branding is a practice of strangely vast significance and benefit to business and industry. Wordlab, which offers "Free Naming and Branding Consultants and Resources," is a testimony both to the value as well as the fun of new-word-making. Wordlab, as a matter of fact, at the time of this posting, has "23893 entries in 42 categories," and offers a "rich lingoplasm" of verbalating resources. But who's counting?
Apparently, we've known about the instructive joys of making up new words since we were kids (for an instant reminder, see some of the contributions kids made in this ZOOMsurvey for ZOOMkids, from one of my favorite TV shows for kids, called, if I recall correctly, "Zoom").
Wordnewingup. Does it not veritably reverbalate with mentally lip-smacking fun?
It's a kind of word play that exercises wit and wisdom, vocabulary and linguistic skills, creativity and sheer zaniness, and it's fun enough to attract quite a crowd. See, for example, the collaboratively authored Pseudodictionary - where people create, discuss, and collect made-up words. The Pseudodictionary has become a deep resource of constructive silliness. Last time I checked, there were "18881 live words, and 6 awaiting approval."
The fun of word upmaking in no way precludes the profitability thereof. Naming and branding is a practice of strangely vast significance and benefit to business and industry. Wordlab, which offers "Free Naming and Branding Consultants and Resources," is a testimony both to the value as well as the fun of new-word-making. Wordlab, as a matter of fact, at the time of this posting, has "23893 entries in 42 categories," and offers a "rich lingoplasm" of verbalating resources. But who's counting?
Apparently, we've known about the instructive joys of making up new words since we were kids (for an instant reminder, see some of the contributions kids made in this ZOOMsurvey for ZOOMkids, from one of my favorite TV shows for kids, called, if I recall correctly, "Zoom").
Wordnewingup. Does it not veritably reverbalate with mentally lip-smacking fun?
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