Thread: Do You Often Engage in neologism?

the art of writing has mutliple purposes to me and so I have recently discovered that whilst I am engaged in writing I naturally invent new words to fit my moods my poetry or my writing.
I see this movemen/concept is a very importan step and stage to writing because, whilst we are in the process of mastering the title of a writer, we must ,I think, also become natural inventors of new words and expressions to prove we have indeed become mastereers of language writing.

I also came across the word PORTMANTEAU
(pleace notice it looks French because PORTEMANTEAU with an E is a French word for a coat stand.)

Portmanteau means taking two words and coming out with a new word like this
Portmanteaux are combined words that are sometimes used commonly. "Brunch" is an example of a portmanteau word (breakfast + lunch). Lewis Carroll's "snark" (snake + shark) is also a portmanteau. Neologisms also can be created through abbreviation or acronym, by intentionally rhyming with existing words or simply through playing with sounds.

so I am not sure wether this a good way of going about it because if we adopt brunch then we are in fact loosing two words BREAKFAST an LUNCH.
I am personally not keen on this idea of PORTMANTEAU for the reason that we are shortening the English in this way.

I am more keen on coming up with new words to add to the language and enrich the English language.I
I am thinking of starting a kind STORING BOOK of WORDS and calling it
NEW WORDS EVERYDAY.
I have come across URBAN dictionary which is awfull and does not do justice to the English Language.
So to counteract it I plan to retrieve those very words and bring them back to their original meanings, a kind a cleaning up the language if you like, and it would go under ''PERFECTING BOOK OF WORDS''

For example I found this in the URBAN dictionary

1.

SMH

I despise acronyms and I think they are filtering it slowly into the English Language.

carnevoyeur
	October 8, 2011 Urban Word of the Day A vegetarian who derives satisfaction from watching other people eat meat or hearing about the eating of meat

This word is made out of Spanish and French

carne is Spanihs for meat
and
voyeur is French.

How on earth can anyone be a carne voyeur? the whole idea of it is ridiculous?


Please Discuss.

The measure of a writer is the standard of writing. Those who know the rules can break them and produce good work. Those who are unable to get the basics right will never produce good work no matter how much they try to pour an attempted intellectual smokescreen over it. Those who cannot learn cannot teach.

Only if it doesn't frighten the servants...

Nacian, you still don't get it do you. This is English, we reserve the right to use all and any language in no particular systematic way, and with no particular method in order to to advance the English language from the 1st century on through the 21st and beyond. The list of "English" words which combine elements of more than one language is endless, we have places in England which are when translated from their original languages/dialects into straight English turn out to be Mountain Mountain Mountain, or River River and who cares, certainly not me, and I have been speaking English, more or less well, for nigh on 66 years; so please stop telling us it is stupid or ridiculous, it isn't, it is what it is, so give it a rest.

Originally Posted by Bloggsworth

Only if it doesn't frighten the servants...

Ah where is that 'upstairs downstairs' gone? never took into it for some reason.

so please stop telling us it is stupid or ridiculous, it isn't, it is what it is, so give it a rest

.
lol..yet again you have to misunderstand everything I wrote.
no one is insuting or saying anything stupid about the English language.
what I said is you must keep an eye on language otherwise someone's else will come and sweep it off your feet.
There is no harm in paying attention to one's language if one wants to keep writing.
I am saying the Urban dictionary is put off and someone else's out there if filling up with rubbish.
One day it will be in circulation and will be used in schools as are a reference dictionary.
How bad would that be.

New words get added to the dictionary every year. That's how language works. Some of the words you're using today were considered slang years ago. For instance, the simple phrase 'goodbye' is a contraction of 'God be with ye'. The word 'goodbye' was treated as slang for many years.

In proper English, the word 'jail' is still considered slang to this day. The correct version is 'gaol'.

Language changes. There's nothing you can do about it, so why worry?

Originally Posted by Sam W

New words get added to the dictionary every year. That's how language works. Some of the words you're using today were considered slang years ago. For instance, the simple phrase 'goodbye' is a contraction of 'God be with ye'. The word 'goodbye' was treated as slang for many years.

In proper English, the word 'jail' is still considered slang to this day. The correct version is 'gaol'.

Language changes. There's nothing you can do about it, so why worry?

Oh no I am not worried I just like to know things.
there is something I did not know
JAIL from GAOL!!!
the word goal reminds of gaul from Asterix in the way it is pronounced, although it is also ''a goal'' as in scoring a goal in football.
the imagery of the ball trapped is there.
Thank you that was really interesting.

An open letter to Nacian in response to the opening post:

the art of writing has mutliple purposes to me and so I have recently discovered that whilst I am engaged in writing I naturally invent new words to fit my moods my poetry or my writing.

My moods, my poetry, my writing: But it's not about you, Nacian; it's about being understood, whether using the written word or the spoken word. Let me ask you, if you spoke some of these words you invent, do you think people would understand you? They would most likely give their heads a wobble and move on at a brisk pace.

Even the paragraph I've just highlighted makes no sense whatsoever; why, because the art of writing has multiple purposes, is it necessary to invent new words?

I see this movemen/concept is a very importan step and stage to writing because

So now there is a movement revolving around the invention of new words to fit your moods. Well at least when it's on the six o'clock news we'll get to see who you are. Personally, I think there is a word for it; it stinks to high hell and rhymes with clap.

whilst we are in the process of mastering the title of a writer, we must ,I think, also become natural inventors of new words and expressions to prove we have indeed become mastereers of language writing.

So now your motives are revealed. The reason you invent words is to prove you are mastering the language and/or the art of writing.


I have found it tiring to read your threads about learning and understanding the language, and improving your writing. There have been many good people try to help you on various threads, who have been patient with your learning, and when you don't take the time to listen to them--clever people who know what they're talking about, more knowledgeable about language and grammar than I--I find it distasteful and insulting to them.

I'm going on strike. When I scroll down a thread and see your avatar in future, I shall press the back button. No longer will I bang my proverbial head on my proverbial desk.

I hope you take this in the spirit intended.

Originally Posted by Bilston Blue

An open letter to Nacian in response to the opening post:



My moods, my poetry, my writing: But it's not about you, Nacian; it's about being understood, whether using the written word or the spoken word. Let me ask you, if you spoke some of these words you invent, do you think people would understand you? They would most likely give their heads a wobble and move on at a brisk pace.

Even the paragraph I've just highlighted makes no sense whatsoever; why, because the art of writing has multiple purposes, is it necessary to invent new words?


So now there is a movement revolving around the invention of new words to fit your moods. Well at least when it's on the six o'clock news we'll get to see who you are. Personally, I think there is a word for it; it stinks to high hell and rhymes with clap.


So now your motives are revealed. The reason you invent words is to prove you are mastering the language and/or the art of writing.


I have found it tiring to read your threads about learning and understanding the language, and improving your writing. There have been many good people try to help you on various threads, who have been patient with your learning, and when you don't take the time to listen to them--clever people who know what they're talking about, more knowledgeable about language and grammar than I--I find it distasteful and insulting to them.

I'm going on strike. When I scroll down a thread and see your avatar in future, I shall press the back button. No longer will I bang my proverbial head on my proverbial desk.

I hope you take this in the spirit intended.

I will shall take it in the same way you have taken my threads.
I am not understanding your over reaction to something I am intested in.
I see language as alearning tool and it is in no way intended to come across as rude.

My moods, my poetry, my writing: But it's not about you, Nacian; it's about being understood, whether using the written word or the spoken word. Let me ask you, if you spoke some of these words you invent, do you think people would understand you? They would most likely give their heads a wobble and move on at a brisk pace.

why wouldn't they try and understand new words? Are you saying the mind is incapable of learning new things?
if they want to give their heads a wobble well that their own wabble not mine.

If you were learning anything from the responses to your endless threads people might have more patience with you, but you persist in your "I'm right everybody else is wrong" approach. If you wish to talk to yourself you are free to invent as many words as you wish, just don't expect anyone else to understand you. Your reasons for your flights of fancy are specious; it is not neccessary to invent nonsense words in order to learn how to master a new language any more than it is neccessary to launch yourself off the 90 metre hill and hoping that you can manage the jump bit when you get to the end of the ramp as a method of learning to ski. Learn how to sew before you start making your tapestry. Neologisms are fine if you can attribute to them a sensible definition, words such as Quantify - "To qualify with respect to quantity". To invent a word like Ingblop which has no meaning and for which a meaning cannot be derived from context is pointless in the extreme; when you can write as well as Edward Lear, feel free to invent as many words as you like...

Originally Posted by Nacian

why wouldn't they try and understand new words? Are you saying the mind is incapable of learning new things?
if they want to give their heads a wobble well that their own wabble not mine.

We readers of the world are plenty intelligent. We are also overwhelmed with options of things to read. If you make your writing deliberately obtuse, you'd best be sure there are some wonderful insights to reward us for our troubles. But if the extent of your insight is to replace the word trouble with the nonsense word wabble, you must understand that we won't be impressed. Some hackles will be raised.

This is enough to warrant using the ignore button for some people; the reason you're getting open hostility and frustration is because you've been spamming the forums. If it were just a matter of not seeking out your posts, there would be no problem, but when it seems half of the new threads are filled with the same inanities and obfuscations of one forum member rather than prose and poesy for critique or urgent and fruitful discussions on literary technique, tempers rise.

Also note: you've been here for 4 months and have 2,000 posts. That works out to almost 17 posts per day. Take a look at some of the other members on here and calculate their post rate. That's another reason you are frustrated.

I mean no offense, but I desperately want you to understand this and become a productive and welcomed member of the community.

-------

On topic, I do enjoy creating words. Except that I make sure they make sense. In one of my poems I discuss how, in late autumn in Wisconsin, we "crunched the frostgrass through the echoes of that junkyard." But I believe "frostgrass" serves a specific and obvious purpose in my poem, especially with the added context. "Wabble" is inane.

Originally Posted by Bloggsworth

If you were learning anything from the responses to your endless threads people might have more patience with you, but you persist in your "I'm right everybody else is wrong" approach. If you wish to talk to yourself you are free to invent as many words as you wish, just don't expect anyone else to understand you. Your reasons for your flights of fancy are specious; it is not neccessary to invent nonsense words in order to learn how to master a new language any more than it is neccessary to launch yourself off the 90 metre hill and hoping that you can manage the jump bit when you get to the end of the ramp as a method of learning to ski. Learn how to sew before you start making your tapestry. Neologisms are fine if you can attribute to them a sensible definition, words such as Quantify - "To qualify with respect to quantity". To invent a word like Ingblop which has no meaning and for which a meaning cannot be derived from context is pointless in the extreme; when you can write as well as Edward Lear, feel free to invent as many words as you like...

snapping at anyone does not come across as mature
If you do a problem with my thread then do not get involved.
I cannot help it if you cannot think of things to ask when it comes to language.
I actively seek advice here because this a forum where native English speakers are.
I do not know where you get the idea
'I'm right everybody else is wrong' approach.
as I say 'qui se sent morveux se mouche'
if you feel touchy about something I am trying to discuss then it is your problem not mine.
This is a WRITING forum as you said earlier and I am entitled to research it talking and seeking grown up mature adults.
As to your Edward Lear please don't implie that we all share the same enthusiasm.
I have no desire to reach for a Leary style.
I am looking to get my own style.

Originally Posted by Nacian

I have recently discovered that whilst I am engaged in writing I naturally invent new words to fit my moods my poetry or my writing.

I do this too, especially when I’m flobsniggling.

I'm reminded of that Blackadder episode; y'know the one with Samuel Johnson and his acclaimed 'Dictionary of the English Language'.

I'm anispeptic, frasmotic -- even conpunctuous to have caused you such pericombobulation.