A neologism is a newly coined word or phrase that has not yet been accepted into mainstream language.
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4answers
814 views
When did the term “scientist” overtake usage of the term “natural philosopher”?
The word scientist comes from the Latin scientia, but when did its usage become more prevalent than the term natural philosopher?
20
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3answers
2k views
Is there a reason to use “mono” over “uni”?
I'm just interested in knowing if there is any non-arbitrary basis for using prefixes "mono" or "uni" when words are initially being coined. As far as I can tell, they mean the same thing as a prefix. ...
19
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5answers
981 views
“Bride” is to “bridal” as “groom” is to …?
Instead of taking a bridal portrait, my niece and her fiancé had photos taken together which she insisted on calling groomals. While I guess this term is the accepted name for this new trend, I ...
14
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4answers
21k views
Is there a more common phrase that means “preponed”?
I was aware of this and this stackexchange post discuss the same. There is no prepone in English. Ok, then how do I say Our meeting is preponed in correct way? What is the correct word/phrase for ...
13
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14answers
5k views
What do you call someone who chooses to stay single for life?
Not necessarily a virgin, but someone that has consciously chosen to stay single for life (and is content with that decision). Hopefully, there is a single word for it. Example: Ralph Nader
UPDATE: ...
12
votes
2answers
546 views
If I invent a word, what language is it?
I invented a word using medical terminology, Latin and maybe a bit of Greek. (I'm not honestly sure of the etymology of all the morphemes.) Considering that this word is primarily not of English ...
10
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3answers
775 views
Origin of “idiocracy”
Did the word "idiocracy" exist prior to the release of the movie of the same title, or is it a neologism coined by its screenwriters?
10
votes
1answer
343 views
Is “Hissable” a well-received English word?
I posted a question about the receptivity of the word, “non-view” in “views and non-view” a few days ago. One answerer responded me that though “non-view” is not registered in any (or most) of ...
9
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9answers
1k views
Compressed vs. zipped
Is it correct English to use the term zipped instead of compressed when dealing with computer files?
Is it a neologism that is widely accepted as part of modern English?
9
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3answers
568 views
When does a neologism cease to be a neologism?
What benchmarks or useful signs can be found to declassify neologisms? Obviously, inclusion in a dictionary is as likely as anything to declare a neologism a word but what happens just before that ...
8
votes
2answers
348 views
Is “tweet” a proper verb now?
So I know that in modern English, the word "google" is considered a proper verb now. Can the same be said for the word "tweet" (i.e. to post a 140-char message to Twitter)?
7
votes
2answers
4k views
Is the word “representativity” possible?
I found natural to use the word "representativity" (with regard to a sample population of a survey), but my dictionary does not agree with me.
Is "representativity" a valid construction?
7
votes
4answers
226 views
Exact adjective of “conundrum”
I am about to coin the word 'conundrous' because I needed it (and I think it deserves a place in the dictionary)!
I would like comments on what you think about that (in the context of a serious ...
7
votes
4answers
990 views
Is there a word akin to “hungry” or “thirsty” that implies a need to urinate?
Sometimes my brain (maybe because I'm not a native English speaker) tends to come up with logical extensions to common formats; in this case, more than once I caught myself thinking (not out loud, ...
7
votes
3answers
145 views
Term shorter than “microblog” as generic equivalent of “tweet”
I search rather than Google and vacuum rather than Hoover. Technically I microblog rather than tweet, but it just doesn't sound as snappy. Is there a short (single syllable?), established, generic ...
6
votes
4answers
679 views
Is “Englishnization” an acceptable term?
There's a company named Rakuten in Japan, which introduced "Englishnization" a couple of years ago. They adopted an internal policy where all the employees are expected to speak English as an official ...
6
votes
12answers
1k views
What would you call the object of an activity one does for fun?
For instance, the object related to cooking is a "dish", when playing it is "sport" or "game", when singing it's a "song".
Which single term would describe the object for the general act of doing ...
6
votes
3answers
198 views
Is ‘12ers’ well-established alias for 2012 Presidential candidate?
I puzzled over the first line of the article of December 9’s Time magazine titled "Des Moines Dust-Up", which reads;
'12ers (minus Huntsman) square-off at Drake University for ABC News/Yahoo! ...
6
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3answers
1k views
Are there any cases where “prepend” cannot be replaced by “prefix”?
"Prepend" is seeing a fair amount of use, both in programmer jargon and elsewhere.
Its use seems to come from a desire to create a word that is a direct parallel to "append."
However, such a word ...
5
votes
4answers
672 views
Pronunciation of “Wiki”
We were discussing the merits of buying a team collaboration tool (Confluence) today, when we were completely sidetracked by the pronouncation "wiki".
Most of the folks on the team say it's ...
5
votes
4answers
268 views
Does the sentence, “Lots of twilhearts went to the movie” make sense? If it does, what does it mean?
I’ve been making dictation of English news broadcasting for a couple of years in order to maintain listening proficiency of English.
On yesterday's AP radio news broadcasted through AFN Tokyo (Eagle ...
5
votes
3answers
276 views
Which of these two should be preferred: “sinification” or “sinicization”?
Which of these two options would be considered most elegant / correct? Personally I think Sinicization (or Sinicisation) has a more natural ring to it, but I have seen Sinification used also.
Also, ...
5
votes
6answers
348 views
What is a word for “experts' self-serving practice”?
Is there any word to refer to the practice of experts in a given field aiming at maintaining their position as experts, rather than producing anything that could possibly challenge their position?
I ...
5
votes
2answers
261 views
What is the best way to convert “tongue-in-cheek” into an adverb?
I was thinking something like "tongue-in-cheekly" but it sounds awkward. Of course, alternatives are welcome, but I couldn't come up with one that conveyed the half-serious playfulness that I ...
5
votes
1answer
23k views
What does “instagram” mean?
I'm talking about the name of the popular internet photograph service. I guess the first part of the word (insta) means instant, but I couldn't figure out what it means when it's colligated with gram. ...
5
votes
1answer
264 views
Who first used the term “bit rot”?
Wikipedia says:
Bit rot, also known as bit decay, data rot, or data decay, is a colloquial computing term used to describe either a gradual decay of storage media or the degradation of a software ...
4
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6answers
836 views
How to pronounce and orally spell <3?
It's now an entry in OED, I hear. Anybody know what the actual OED entry says?
4
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4answers
360 views
What should I call someone who has a tendency towards monologues?
What should I call someone who has a tendency towards monologues? Would "monologist" be a logical neologism?
4
votes
3answers
696 views
When “Skyping” is used as a verb, should it be capitalized?
When the word "Skyping" is used as a verb, should it be capitalized. My thinking is that it should be capitalized because the root is a proper noun. Does anyone know of a rule about this question?
4
votes
3answers
232 views
Is “An other-other woman (person / thing)” a popular English phrase?
The following paragraph of Maureen Dowd’s article on former CIA chief, David Petraeus’ scandal titled “Reputation, Reputation, Reputation” appearing in November 13 New York Times seems to require ...
4
votes
2answers
98 views
Good term for a business partner and competitor?
In our line of work we often work with other companies as partners on some jobs, and then compete against them on other jobs. So they are partners and competitors. Is there a good term for this, ...
4
votes
1answer
91 views
Standalone usage of “tid” from tidbits
Watching an old episode of Home Improvement recently,
Eavesdropping Neighbour: I was just hearing some tidbits of your
conversation.
Tim: Sounds to me like you heard the whole tid.
This ...
4
votes
2answers
517 views
Correct capitalization of words beginning with “e-”
What is the correct capitalization of words beginning with "e-" (like e-mail or e-learning or e-assessment) when used in a title? Is it "E-Learning" or "E-learning" or even "e-Learning"?
To clarify: ...
3
votes
6answers
387 views
What's a better word to use instead of “nicheification”?
What would be a better word to use than "nicheification"? In the article here, there's one sentence that says
Furthermore, when your entire career has been structured around nicheification, ...
3
votes
2answers
531 views
What is the story behind the word “hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia”?
Was someone just trying to be funny by being ironic?
3
votes
2answers
731 views
How long have people been swearing in English?
I was looking through my old A-Level English set books from 1989 at the weekend. We had to study the Canterbury Tales and I can still remember our delight when we discovered that 'queynte' was the ...
3
votes
5answers
652 views
What does the word “cinemaddict” mean?
Please explain to me (non-native speaker) what the word "cinemaddict" means. What synonyms does it have?
3
votes
6answers
554 views
Is there a suffix for loathing?
For instance trichomania is a love of hair, and trichophobia is a fear of hair. But what suffix would denote a loathing of hair?
Edit: Maybe I'm looking at the wrong end of the word, and I should be ...
3
votes
5answers
129 views
Is there a word for the tangible equivalent of visualization?
The word visualization is often used to describe an image or interactive piece of media that represents a data set. I am trying to think if there is an equivalent for something that is not only ...
3
votes
2answers
2k views
Verbing, or turning nouns into verbs [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is it called when a non-verb is used as a verb?
The phenomenon of turning a noun into a verb is very common. Some are more well known, like "shouldering the blame" ...
3
votes
1answer
230 views
Has the word “Birtherism” gotten the currency or ‘citizenship’ as the received English?
I found the article titled “Birtherism isn’t dead” in today’s Washington Post. It begins with the following sentence:
“Discussion of President Obama’s place of birth died down significantly when he ...
3
votes
1answer
209 views
Is there a technical term for the two halves of an email address? [closed]
Is there a technical name for the two halves of an email address? I mean the parts before and after the @ sign.
As a kind of example of what I mean, for UK postcodes, I believe the two halves are ...
3
votes
1answer
147 views
The Jackass Syndrome
Some years ago, I watched an episode of the show Just Shoot Me! where one of characters used the phrase "The Jackass Syndrome" to describe the situation were two people who are quite similar in some ...
2
votes
3answers
174 views
Is Administratium an actual word?
We commonly use this word in office, and the definitions point to its meaning.
But is this an actual word? It's not in the Oxford English Dictionary.
2
votes
3answers
577 views
How should one pronounce the “rofl” in “roflstomp” or “roflcopter”?
"ROFL" stands for rolling on the floor laughing but has been mushed into other words with their own meanings. Two examples:
Ouch, that was a roflstomp.
I'm on a roflcopter!
While these are ...
2
votes
3answers
799 views
Is there a better, existing word for “antifragility”?
Nassim Taleb, on a recent episode of Econtalk, talks about his upcoming book that aims to coin the word antifragility. The essential meaning is close to the phrase “What doesn’t kill you makes you ...
2
votes
3answers
126 views
Better English equivalent for “set of methods”
In the philosophy of science, there are three terms which are used to describe three different related notions. In both Polish (pl) and German (de), these three terms are unique such that there is no ...
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vote
3answers
290 views
Is there a term for French words adopted by the English language, such as “hors d'oeuvres” or “objet d'art”
I would call them "Frenchisms" or some such -ism, but I figured I'd at least ask first. So is there a name for such adopted foreign phrases? Also, how about those adopted from languages other than ...
1
vote
2answers
75 views
'Cromulent' Etymology
Given its first use:
"I don't know why, it's a perfectly cromulent word."
The verb is "is" (=> it's) and the noun is "word". Since cromulent links them both and directly addresses the noun, ...
1
vote
3answers
392 views
Creating a new word
If you invent a new word, how do you go about getting this recognised as a real word in dictionaries?
