The Invention Of New Words

by Marie Vonow (follow)

Change (147)      Communication (122)      Language (11)      Words (6)      Modern (2)     

New words are constantly coming into existence. Sometimes I read or hear a word and doubt that it is really a word. When I check I usually find it is a recognised word and I am just behind the times. Sometimes friends are aware of the 'new word' and other times they are just as surprised as I am to find out about its existence. At other times words I have come across have been made up by someone who says straight out they invented the word. That word may later become widely recognised and come into common usage or it may not.

Words I have recently become aware of
usie- I found out an usie is a pic of two or more people taken by one of those in the pic. You know, it's a selfie but there's more than one person, it's a pic of us.


Kindrovert
I came across this word online when I was doing some research about extroverts, introverts and ambiverts. A writer by the name of Beth Kempton came up with the word to describe herself because she felt she was neither an extrovert or introvert. The word ambivert didn't really fit either so Beth invented the word 'kindrovert'.

Beth says, 'I thought about when I am at my most energised and creative, fizzing with potential, and realised I come alive in small gatherings of kindred spirits: people who are both practical and spiritual, challenging and yielding, gentle and strong. People who are smart and funny, but not ‘in your face’. People who listen and share, but don’t try too hard.'

I found this an interesting 'label' and I wonder if in years to come it will come into common usage. For more about kindroverts click here

Phullofhimselfer
Carolyn Cordon has also invented a word. Carolyn, author of a number of published books is president of the writing group, Adelaide Plains Chapter and Verse.

Carolyn's word is 'phullofhimselfer'. Carolyn's definition of this word is, 'It is a word that describes those fake philosophers, the ones who simply talk of themselves, as I wrote earlier, the ones who are full of their own self importance.' For the complete blog post click here

New words that have official acceptance
I consider a word to have official acceptance once it makes its way into an academically recognised dictionary, not a dictionary of slang.

I found a list of words which were added to the Oxford English Dictionary in March this year (2019). They included -
bigsie (adjective): “Having an exaggerated sense of one’s own importance; arrogant, pretentious, conceited.”
dorgi (noun) Yes, this is a cross breed of a dachshund and a corgi
e-bike (noun) Not hard to work out this is an electric bike
peoplekind (noun) meaning human race or humankind. I guess 'mankind' is no longer an acceptable term.
There were plenty more.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary added in excess of 1,000 new words in 2018. These included numerous words previously considered internet slang or only to be used informally. Many abbreviations which were once not considered 'proper English' are now acceptable, for example- adorbs (short for adorable if you didn't already know)

Just a few others are -
Hangry - when you are in a bad mood or angry because you are very hungry
Glamping – camping with a glamorous twist. Forget the sleeping bag on the bare earth in a basic tent. It's much more upmarket with beds, power and sometimes even indoor plumbing.
Bingeable – defined as "having multiple episodes or parts that can be watched in rapid succession."


A word that someone invents today may only be used by a very small group of people or fade away completely. On the other hand a few years down the track it could be in common usage.


# Change
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# Language
# Modern
# Words

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