Lexiconnist: A Spoof "New" Word

As I get older, my spelling deteriorates; as a child, I won plenty of spelling bees. As a college teacher, I see plenty of misspelled words; after a while, misspelled and misused words begin to look correct, such as "alright" for "all right," "loose" for "lose," and "there" for "their."

So I now keep my dictionary and spell check handy.

However, my misspellings still slip through.

My most recent misspelling cost me money--not a lot--but enough to make me more vigilant about spelling and usage.

As most wordsmiths know, a "lexiconist" is a writer of lexicon; for sure, the word is a bit fusty in that it's not commonly used any more. Now we simply say "dictionary writer."

But I spelled it "lexiconnist," after having already plunked down $7.00 for the dot-com.

So what does one do with a great big lemony non-word?

You make it a word; you assign a meaning to it, which is what I am about to do with "lexiconnist," which will also describe a person who misspells words and tries to weasel out of it by pretending the word has meaning.

Therefore, I'm fessing up and then moving on.

So, then, a "lexiconnist" is a writer who misspells, either by accident or on purpose, a word and then tries to con the world into believing that it has a real meaning. In other words, a con artist lexiconist.

This is definitely a spoof definition, one that is not likely to take the lexicon world by storm, but it is kind of fun to mess around with the English language. After all, if my students can do it, why can't I?

By the way, I'll be posting a version of this on my other blog, simply because it's relevant to the biz I'm in.

Bugzita

John Q Doe and Jane Q Doe

I have a burning question:
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Is there anyone out there who is really named John Q. Doe or Jane Q. Doe? Until the internet age came along, they were just plain John and Jane Doe, but with the advent of rigid online forms, there seemed to be a need to include a middle name in these stalwart examples of American identity.
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I can tell you first hand what a hassle it is not to have a middle name in the cyber world. My better half Jerry lacks a middle name, and it wreaks all kinds of bureaucratic havoc, especially when he fills out NMN in that middle name spot. He often gets mailed addressed to "Mr. Gerald NMN Siegel." On top of that, his nickname is the same as one of the creators of Superman. Try typing in "Jerry Siegel" and see how many Google hits one gets (with quotations, 156,000).
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I once asked my late mother-in-law why she didn't give her firstborn a middle name. She said, "We were too poor."
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Okay, so Anita was known for her bad jokes...
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But I digress.
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The Does seem to be generic people, invented by government statisticians, with generic addresses (123 Main St. in Anytown 12345--54321 if one wants to place them in Middle America--U.S.A); an internet search shows that both John and Jane share the same social security number (123-45-6789), so I would presume that Jane and John is actually the same person with gender issues.
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In my new book (a novel-in-progress), my main character is named Jane Q. Godwin (I couldn't quite bring myself to stick her in generic hell by naming her Jane Q. Doe, but the "Jane Q." is no accident). Her book is barely written, but she has her own web page. I'm not pushing my book here (it doesn't exist but in my head, in some scattered notes, and on one web page), but thinking about how I want to approach creating Jane's life has made me curious about her and her husband Kirk (HA! Not John Doe), and why John and Jane have persisted as American ideals and symbols.
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Sure, sometimes one calls them the Smiths or the Publics, but the surname "Doe" seems to represent everything about ordinary people living ordinary (albeit bureaucratic snafu'd) American lives.
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Just some philosophical musing (before school starts next week, when literature takes over).
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Bugzita

TWO Lexicoins

Before I hit the sack tonight, I stumbled upon two new lexicoins (neologisms/neoglisms?). In fact, I like one so much that I'm thinking of using it as a short story title:

Ms. Malaproper

n. (person) A young modern woman who has the appearance of being all prim and proper but who, in fact, has a dark soul.

Mrs. Malaproper

n. (person) The young woman's mother.

_______________________

Neither term (in quotation markers) shows up on Google.

Without quotations, "Ms. Malaproper" has about 12 Google hits, but none of them pertain to the entire term.

Without quotations, "Mrs. Malaproper" has about 7 Google hits, again none of them pertaining to the entire term.

By itself, "Malaproper" shows up about 230 times on Google, which includes my post from the other day.

According to TV Tropes Wiki,

The distinguishing characteristic of the Malaproper is that they constantly replace words with similar-sounding but wrong ones. A common form of this is for the Malaproper to mangle proverbs, idioms, and other figures of speech. They may turn them into something nonsensical, or use overly complicated synonyms that make them sound wrong; e.g., "The cat's out of the bag" becomes "The feline has been released from the sack!" This character will almost always be corrected, not that this does any good.

The meaning seems to shift when one includes the formal address, at least it seems so to me, hence my assigned meaning.

Of course, two-word lexicoins aren't as good as one-word ones, but certainly superior to three-word lexicoins.

For the next month or so, I'll be doing a word watch on the lexicoins discussed here. Meanwhile, let us know about your lexicoins.

Bugzita

A New Coined Word! Well, Almost...

A year or two ago, someone on the web threw out this challenge: to coin a new meaningful word.

In order to qualify as a bonafide coined word,

1. The word had to be assigned a likely meaning (in other words, not just a bunch of random letters thrown together).
2. If it's a typo of an existing word, the new word had to at least have another shade of meaning.
3. At the time of coining, the word could not show up on Google (once I reveal the word here, it is likely to show up on Google fairly soon, which is somewhat of an irony).

For years, I, a bit of a Malaproper, have been trying to coin at least one new word, but just when I think I've done it, someone has always beat me to it. A few days ago, I really thought that "Spam Lit" would be my coined phrase, but, nooooooo--so Jungian.

Well, now I have sort done it, and it's really a good word that rolls off the tongue and sticks in one's head. And the word is...

Lexicoiner

A lexicoiner is a lexiconist (or lexiconer) who creates new words and assigns meaning to them; when I Googled it, nothing came up, so I was close to claiming this word as my invention. It IS a play on the word "lexiconer," but the meaning of lexicoiner is synonymous with inventing language and meaning instead of recording a currently used word not yet established in the lexicon (which is definitely important work).

But then I asked myself, "Has someone else ever used a variation of this word?"

After I pondered this question, I decided to do one more word check: lexicoin.

Rats. There it was, in the Merriam-Webster Open Dictionary, submitted by Kimberly on May 2, 2007. Similar meaning, too.

A day late, a dollar short.

It's a big universe out there.

But I may be the first person to establish the term for the actual inventor of the lexicoin. So I did submit "lexicoiner" in the Open Dictionary.

Technically, I may have created "lexicoiner," but the root word was already in place, garnering (as of today), 33 Google hits, so I can't, in all good faith, really claim this word.

I'll keep trying.

For those of you who are still hanging with us, I throw out the same challenge: invent a new word, incorporating the same stipulations listed above. You can establish your ownership in one of two ways: e-mail us the word and its assigned meaning and/or post it in your own blog (so that you can be reassured of getting due credit). After we check the word through Google, we'll post your word and give you credit (if you wish).

If you post it in your blog, e-mail us the link; we'll publish all bonafide lexicoins here.

Nomi and I are passionate word people, Matt a Jungian philosopher, and Alan a rebel, so discussing words and their nuances seems to be a logical facet of Post Foetry's mission.

Besides, we need to have a little fun around here. ;=)

Bugzita