I have always been an absolute fan of Shakespeare. I devoured all of his plays throughout high school and college. I had a poster that contained the whole of ‘Romeo & Juliet’ written in tiny script and I memorized entire scenes by heart and recited them for the entertainment of friends and family. ‘Hey Katie (yes, cause nobody in real life calls me Creepy, thank god)- give us Act four, Scene five!’- I had weird friends.
Can you believe Shakespeare is credited with introducing 3,000 words to the English language? Just another reason why he’s my idol. I love words. Just read my first MS and it becomes increasingly clear. The first draft was a tad (ok, about 40k) overwritten.
But it made me wonder- Do any of you ever make up words when you’re writing?
I have a tendency to know which word I want to use, know vaguely what it means. I know it fits cause I’ve seen it used before- but the spelling or pronunciation just isn’t coming to me. So I write it down as close as I can get it and wait for spell check to fix it for me.
Sometimes this doesn’t happen.
There’s a red line underneath. But when I right click, it gives me no option that resembles what I’m looking for. I think ‘shit- now I’m gonna have to go Google it. Or else just leave this ‘fake’ word I’ve come with.’ - I have chosen the second before. My Microsoft Word still insists that ‘frumped’ is not a word. Screw ‘em.
Has this ever happened to you? What new words have you introduced to the English language:)?
30 comments:
oh my guinness, this happens to me ALL the time!
i hate those red squiggly lines, especially when i'm 100% positive i've seen the word before.
like "impactful".
i swear i'd seen and heard it a million times.
did some googling and discovered it's a recent word, mainly used in corporate advertising and marketing.
oh! and i still have the entire balcony scene memorized and used to recite it with a co-worker when we had our closing shifts at starbucks.
Trabeposcope. I´m not proud of it. Let´s just say, never drink and write lol
Upmost instead of utmost too aaaarrgghh!
I once had a character refer to something as "norty", because it was naughty... but throatier. All of my beta readers hated it. LOL
hahaha! We were both thinking about words today, how funny is that?
I create words all the time, but I don't generally use my masterpieces in my writing. I worked with a guy who was absolutely brilliant when it came to making new words. But do you think I can recall even one of his inspirations?
I created 'hermanate' in high school obsessively. Pee Wee Herman was really popular back then and my friends and I used it whenever we had to go to the bathroom. (groan) I was such a bonehead.
I've made up words in talking many times. Dang it why don't I write them down? Where do I expect to find them again when I need them-- in the dictionary?
Oh, I love Shakespeare.
I don't need to see the red squigly line to do this. I tend to make words up as I speak (often people try to correct me). I see this as my creativity license.
I love some of Shakespeare's words. They are so emotive!
Sadly I can't think of any words I've added to the English language. I'll have to remedy that.
I hated Shakespeare while in high school. Because I was from England, everyone assume I understood what he was saying. Yep, that's right, Brits talk Shakespearean all the time while shopping and chatting with friends. The worse part was I had no idea what the stories were about. :(
I make up new words everyday. Not intentionally, though. :D
AAAHHH!!! I used "frumped" too! It IS a word, I swear!!! (right?!)
I love Shakespeare too! :D Only, the funny thing is, I absolutely abhorred Romeo and Juliet and almost never read Shakespeare again, until I tried reading the Tempest. LOVE the tempest.
Ahem. Anyway.
Yes! I make up words all the time and my sis and mum tell me I'm not allowed. I think that's why I write fantasy now, so I can make up words and get away with it.
One word I made up that I use regularly: iddreth, the center of a person's being. Kinda' like there your soul lives.
I hate when I write a word - and apparently it's wrong but the comp doesn't offer any solutions! I usually end up changing it - sheesh, look at me, backing down like that. If everyone else is going to make up words, I can too!!
Love this post.
I can't take credit for any *new* words (though I take great liberty with grammar for the sake of character voice) but as the new stepmom of a teenager, I've seen some interesting new spellings and definitions for old words.
3,000 words? Man, my only contribution to the language may be when I stub my toe and create new "sentence enhancers."
I think frumped is a good way and I saw screw Microsoft Word as well!!
I love Shakespeare though I'll admit I didn't learn until my junior year how to properly read and understand his pieces (better late than never right!) I love them all but MacBeth was my favorite, it was the first one I read and understood, and it's my english teacher her helped me realized I loved to write
I'm a huge William fan too!
And, yeah, I love making up my own words.
I do like making up new words when I write. I think it comes from my fangirl crush on Scott Westerfeld.
I used "unrehabilitatable" in my book. It's totally a word. :)
Oh the joys of being a fantasy writer... My entire MS is full of red lines underlining words. I have to add all the ones I've made up to their "dictionary" just so I can find the REAL misspelled words. Go figure. There are times I make up words as I go. Is 'Karmatic' a word? Nope... see it is underlined in red. Silly spellchecker.
Chipoltleholic= one who irrationally craves dinner at Chipotle on a daily basis.
I make up better ones, but I'm bad under pressure.
I had no clue Shakespeare created 3000+ words. Awesome.
So weird. I actually scribbled a note to blog about this next week. I do it all the time. I also smoosh words together to form new words.
I make up words all the time! Awesome-ness never really stuck. It's okay, I still have terrifiedous. =)
What a great post idea! I made up the word boo-rah when I was a little girl and I still love it. :-)
I wish I had a new word that I've made up but I haven't...yet.:)
I LOVE making up words. Like virgindile or camerasutra.
Bish, I totally want to steal camerasutra and virgindile! Love it.
Fun post, really 3,000, that is remarkable! I do this all the time... I can't think of any, when I do I will come back and post!
I actually just learned a new word today that stupid MS Word WILL NOT recognize as an honest to goodness word...
curtilage
haha, fancy LEGAL term for front lawn. There are many words I've made up, I can't think of half of them but the most common is probably "funner". I know this is not a real word but if you can be "better" or "cooler" or "hottest" then something that is (oh say) "funner" than something else. It just makes me mad it's supposed to go...
cool
cooler
coolest
fun
FUNNER
funnest
but NO. And I agree with you, FRUMPED is a word but the freaking computer is not completely evolved so it can go frump itself because that is funner than putting red lines under EVERY freaking THING! :) haha
GReat post, shakespeare really was a pretty amazing guy!
I find out that I have made up a word after the event. When I first write it, I think it is a real word, and then someone will ask me what it means, so I try to look it up to get a dictionary definition and it's not there. The general consensus of opinion is usually that it should be a real word, but I reluctantly have to take it out of the text, at least for the time being, until someone higher up the hierarchy comes up with the same word. Why not make up words? Babies have their own language, they understand each other. Who is the person that decides a made up word should become a 'real' word. It's a good job it's not me. You would have dictionaries that you were unable to carry.!
@Caledonia Lass: Haha! I do the same thing! I've added so many names and stuff to my dictionary.
Excellent post! Shakespeare also invented some of my favorite names. I write epic fantasy, so I often find myself creating words specific to my worlds. That being said, I don't know if I'm the mind behind any words that will one day join the lexicon at large.
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