Just one of the many ways in which English, especially the American (US) variant) is superior to most all other languages, is its ability and zeal to incorporate new words. French has L’Academie Francais to maintain the purity of the language; US American English has neologisms to keep it real and fresh.
The two in the title to this post come from our friends, the Simpsons:
Cromulent, n: Fine, acceptable or normal; excellent, realistic, legitimate or authentic
Embiggen, v, tr: To make or become bigger
Another from the Simpsons that I particularly like is:
Meh, interjection: Expressing indifference or lack of enthusiasm
Others I have recently run across include:
Pornstache, n: An especially thick, bushy mustache favored in 1970’s-era porn
Unfriend, v, tr: To sever a “friend” arrangement on a social media website, e.g., Facebook
Cankle, n: A thick lower leg, especially on a middle-aged woman, where it is difficult to determine the boundary between the calf and ankle
Spork, n: A disposable plastic eating utensil that is intended to be a combination spoon and fork, which combines the worst qualities of both. See also foon.
Fauxtography, n: Misleading presentation of images for propagandistic or otherwise ulterior purposes, involving staging, deceptive modification, and/or the addition or omission of significant context
Truthiness, n: In satire, truthiness is a “truth” that a person claims to know intuitively “from the gut” without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts
Kevork, v, tr: To kill off or otherwise artificially and prematurely stop
Many more can be found here.
#17 Bob
No: it’s a slight slip from repudiate.
No other European colonial empire can boast of that sort of offspring and legacy. Much of it can be traced to the British insistence on setting up school systems to both educate and civilize natives people. Even in Africa, the more advanced nations have been the ones educated in the old British colonial school systems. At least we figured out… Read more »
If it’s actually gonna be a word, shouldn’t it be spelled refutiate?
Simple;
¿Eh? Mucho más que? No se puede terminar una oración sin completar la comparación que comenzó.
Simple and Sarge
The New Oxford American Dictionary named refudiate its word of the year. I believe the first usage they found of the word was in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram around the turn of the 20th century.
11 Simple Simon says: December 1, 2010 at 11:21 am Sarge, Didn’t Sister Sarah regurgatweet the first use of “refudiate”? Yup. Which makes it more the sweeter in context. It truly was a refudiation. buttgrenadize: Not really a new word. The first time it was used was during King Arthur’s reign after certain individuals did not follow these instructions properly:… Read more »
buttgrenadize: What this country did to itself when it elected the foul “O” as president, because ‘he was black’ and never considered anything else.
Sarge,
Let us not forget the Bush malaprop misunderestimate.
Sarge,
Didn’t Sister Sarah regurgatweet the first use of “refudiate”?
Sarge,
Let’s not forget Stategery!
Two more words need to be on that list:
1. “Beclown” as in “Joe Biden just beclowned himself with that statement.”
Most important new word is:
2. “Refudiate” as in “Obama’s agenda was refudiated on November 2, 2010.”
Yet another bill to make English the official language of Texas has been filed. If it becomes law, will George Bush be required to learn it?
5 Tex
No hay desacuerdo. Sólo hay una falta de garbo!
#4 WB It’s always been instructive to look at the former British colonies and the impact they have had on the modern world: Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Australia, India, Canada and that little place just south of it. No other European colonial empire can boast of that sort of offspring and legacy. Much of it can be traced to… Read more »
#3 Simple
Hay desacuerdo aquí.
No other language on earth is as expressive, precise and yet flexible as the English one. This is why it is the dominant language of the 21st century among 6 billion people. Don’t forget the lasting aftereffects of the British Empire, upon which the sun never set. With relatively few exceptions, when colonists from Mother England colonized a foreign land,… Read more »
2 Tex
Pero Texpat mi viejo amigo, los 100.000 palabras se puede hablar con un estilo mucho más
Simple
The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words. To this may be added around 9,500 derivative words included as subentries. Over half of these words are nouns, about a quarter adjectives, and about a seventh verbs; the rest is made up of exclamations, conjunctions, prepositions, suffixes,… Read more »
I noticed on checking the link that there is nothing for words beginning with the letter “O.” In fact, the letter “O” is not included along with all the other letters in the alphabet for which there are words. That can only mean that they know that big brother will sick the hounds of hell on them and take away… Read more »
#17 Bob
No: it’s a slight slip from repudiate.
No other European colonial empire can boast of that sort of offspring and legacy. Much of it can be traced to the British insistence on setting up school systems to both educate and civilize natives people. Even in Africa, the more advanced nations have been the ones educated in the old British colonial school systems. At least we figured out… Read more »
If it’s actually gonna be a word, shouldn’t it be spelled refutiate?
Simple;
¿Eh? Mucho más que? No se puede terminar una oración sin completar la comparación que comenzó.
Simple and Sarge
The New Oxford American Dictionary named refudiate its word of the year. I believe the first usage they found of the word was in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram around the turn of the 20th century.
11 Simple Simon says: December 1, 2010 at 11:21 am Sarge, Didn’t Sister Sarah regurgatweet the first use of “refudiate”? Yup. Which makes it more the sweeter in context. It truly was a refudiation. buttgrenadize: Not really a new word. The first time it was used was during King Arthur’s reign after certain individuals did not follow these instructions properly:… Read more »
buttgrenadize: What this country did to itself when it elected the foul “O” as president, because ‘he was black’ and never considered anything else.
Sarge,
Let us not forget the Bush malaprop misunderestimate.
Sarge,
Didn’t Sister Sarah regurgatweet the first use of “refudiate”?
Sarge,
Let’s not forget Stategery!
Two more words need to be on that list:
1. “Beclown” as in “Joe Biden just beclowned himself with that statement.”
Most important new word is:
2. “Refudiate” as in “Obama’s agenda was refudiated on November 2, 2010.”
Yet another bill to make English the official language of Texas has been filed. If it becomes law, will George Bush be required to learn it?
5 Tex
No hay desacuerdo. Sólo hay una falta de garbo!
#4 WB It’s always been instructive to look at the former British colonies and the impact they have had on the modern world: Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Australia, India, Canada and that little place just south of it. No other European colonial empire can boast of that sort of offspring and legacy. Much of it can be traced to… Read more »
#3 Simple
Hay desacuerdo aquí.
No other language on earth is as expressive, precise and yet flexible as the English one. This is why it is the dominant language of the 21st century among 6 billion people. Don’t forget the lasting aftereffects of the British Empire, upon which the sun never set. With relatively few exceptions, when colonists from Mother England colonized a foreign land,… Read more »
2 Tex
Pero Texpat mi viejo amigo, los 100.000 palabras se puede hablar con un estilo mucho más
Simple
The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words. To this may be added around 9,500 derivative words included as subentries. Over half of these words are nouns, about a quarter adjectives, and about a seventh verbs; the rest is made up of exclamations, conjunctions, prepositions, suffixes,… Read more »
I noticed on checking the link that there is nothing for words beginning with the letter “O.” In fact, the letter “O” is not included along with all the other letters in the alphabet for which there are words. That can only mean that they know that big brother will sick the hounds of hell on them and take away… Read more »