I love the English language!
One often hears people inventing a word, on the fly in the middle of a conversation.
It can be a completely made-up word out of the blue, or maybe a word that incorporates some onomatopoeia and sounds perfect for the situation. It graphically portrays the meaning. It sums up the situation so aptly and concisely.
Artistic Licence – Give me a break!
For example, it is possible to take a noun or even a proper noun and then simply turn it into a verb.
e.g.
context:
At work, Chad Merrill* has a reputation amongst his colleagues, for putting a spanner in the works at the most inconvenient of times, at a critical moment in a project.
*my apologies if the person actually exists – it is a mere coincidence to illustrate my example
Emergence of nonce word:
You might hear people refer to him in an indirect way with the help of an invented word:
Prepare yourself!
A certain person has been up to his usual tricks and I believe our project is about to get Merrilled!
Merrilled? What on earth is that? That is not in the dictionary.
That may be the case, but ‘Merrilled’ has just become a nonce word, created on the fly for a particular event to aptly describe a situation, an event, or an object.
“This is an outrage!” “Scandalous!”, I hear you cry.
OK, I’ve used quite a bit of artistic licence, but you get the drift.
Why do we invent words?
Why indeed do we invent words?
Well, first of all, we can!
And secondly, we live in a society of Free speech and the English language can be tailored to the situation.
English allows such liberty.
Childrens’ Literature
Words made up for an occasion are often found in Childrens’ literature:
Dr.Seuss, Roald Dahl, J.K.Rowling,
Lewis Caroll, J.R.R.Tolkien,
Pamela Lyndon Travers.
Skillywiggler: The Twits by Roald Dahl, is described as a monster at the bottom of the bed, with teeth like screwdrivers capable of biting off Mrs Twit’s toes.
Quidditch Harry Potter, the brutal game on broomsticks where team members try to fly with the quaffle and score a goal in the opponent’s hoop. Meanwhile, the players must beware of the dreaded bludger that can come out of nowhere and knock them off their broomsticks. The cherry on the cake is to fast-track victory by catching the elusive Golden snitch.
Dr.Seuss was famous for his whimsical invented words, including “dongl”, “quingel”, “probble” and “yuzz-a-ma-tuzz”.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. It is a delicious word, um-diddle-iddle-iddle-um-diddle-I must say. Mary Poppins (1964) is a classic.
There are also -isms…
In the 1950s, McCarthyism was coined to describe the witch hunts against the spread of communism in American society after WWII. This led to a significant drift toward Authoritarian repression and abuse by US Authorities. Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957) was a Republican senator from Wisconsin who held a series of epic hearings and investigations which amounted to a modern-day ‘Spanish Inquisition’.
I bet nobody was expecting that! (couldn’t resist that one).
Novlangue (Fr.) / Newspeak (Eng.)
Take George Orwell and his book 1984 written in 1949. It contains some absolute belters: Newspeak (aka novlangue in the French version), a language invented for the book. A language used to control what people should be thinking.
A form of cancel-culture-cum-gaslighting on steroids in a fictitious dystopian world.
Take DOUBLETHINK and some of its slogans:
WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
It really is the Nec Plus Ultra in terms of gaslighting, by redefining words and concepts, shifting references in societies, thus causing widespread doubt in the minds of citizens. Sowing confusion in people’s minds makes them think twice before stepping out of line. This can ultimately lead to loss of confidence in making decisions, resulting in lost souls (the population) turning to the providential state for ‘guidance’.
It gives you an insight into the depths to which a totalitarian state will stoop in order to “re-educate/coerce/tame” its citizens.
It doesn’t bear thinking about a society that uses extreme government intervention in every aspect of an individual’s life: personal, financial, political views, cultural social ranking.
The use of surveillance, disinformation, gaslighting, coercion and modern technology contribute to keeping the masses in check.
Clusterf*ck
Ed Sanders (1939), Hippie beat poet is thought to have coined the phrase Clusterf*ck aka Charlie Foxtrot in military slang. It describes a succession of military operations failures, due to the incompetence of military officers. The outcome generally has devastating consequences.
Clockwork Orange
Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess is a bible of invented language:
cutter = money
litso = face
mesto = place
malenky bit a cutter = a little bit of money
Urban Language
Urban language is a great source of invented nonce words (is that an oxymoron?):
a suckrifice = make a sacrifice that sucks
chillax = to chill and relax at the same time
noob = a complete beginner
wassup? = how’s it going?
Technology’s Contribution
Technology has brought its fair share of new invented language for new objects, devices, and concept. A certain word or phrase had to be coined:
the internet, digital nomad, software, wi-fi,
blogosphere, hashtags, vlogger,
laptop, augmented reality,
to hodl (v.) = Hold On for Dear Life
to name but a few.
Convergence Of Technologies
There are numerous technologies out there impacting today’s society:
robotics, 3D-printing, AI, virtual reality, electric vehicles,
5G/6G, metaverse, blockchain, internet of things (IOT)…
When you consider their convergence, you will agree that we are on the cusp of a new digital and industrial revolution. The number of new words that will be invented over the next 5 years is likely to grow significantly.
Get ready to grow your vocabulary! Get Noncing!
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