Sunday, December 26, 2010

I believe it's The Washington Post that once a year runs a contest asking readers to take a word, make some small change to it and then redefine it. There's also a recently published book with hundreds of these "new" words (can't really call them neologisms, I suppose, maybe "newlogisms"?), but I don't remember the title. Anyway, I tried my hand at it a while back and came up with around four dozen, some of which I'm posting today, others at another time. And, better yet, send me yours! I'd love to post them. Also this week, an Edward Lear nonsense poem (did he ever write anything but nonsense?), including a link to a great EL site plus a New Yorker clipping.


MY LIST

sincentive: encouragement to break any of the ten commandments

liebrary: repository for politicians' speeches

obitchuary: death notice for a female dog

Pulletzer Prize: for the best book written by a chicken

pretaliation: hitting back first

liquorice: the perfect combo of candy's dandy but liquor's quicker (Thanx, Ogden!)

younique: yes! you are special!

urinade: a poor substitute for Gatorade

sinvitation: a request to be adulterous

toylet: what Barbie uses

Mrs. Sissippi: a married state

copulite: foreplay only

pastorize: baptism in boiling water

origummi: how to make cranes from gummi bears

cattlelac: a luxury cow

Genesisn't: the rebuttal

procrastina - never mind, I'll finish it later


This Edward Lear poem is from his nonsense story "The History of the Seven Families of the Lake Pipple-Popple".






Here's a link to it and lots more of his wonderful whimsy:







 


Lettuce! O Lettuce!
Let us, O let us,
O lettuce leaves.
O let us leave this tree
And eat lettuce,
O let us, lettuce leaves!


Finally, here's a clipping from a New Yorker magazine of many years ago:



Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 26, 2010 at 9:59 AM

    I like procastina. That's definitely me in a cute, feminine way.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousDecember 27, 2010 at 11:42 AM

    Oh, lettucepun! I don't think Seattle ever got around to building that new slum, as it is still tied up in city council studies... Perhaps someone will get an intiative up to get it going, or not.

    By the way, I can't get your link to work. Enjoy the little tidbits you toss out each week. Keep them coming.

    The only lettuce stories I know are salad related. Here's a very old one from grade school: Is May in? May who? Mayonnaise. No, she's a dressing. So much for my saladaze.

    Sonny John

    ReplyDelete
  3. DoubleExposureDecember 30, 2010 at 8:44 AM

    Don't know why the link won't work but you can simply copy and paste. I'll work on finding the problem. As for the slum, I think the city council is studying a study about whether to study the slum. I think.

    I remember May - she was dressing in the mush room . . .

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)