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My apologies if you've been following HIDDEN FACE and are awaiting Episode 10. This past week got out of hand for me, but expect the next installment on Friday, as usual. Here's a peace offering: 10 words that every book-nerd should now add to their vocabulary to impress their friends. You're welcome. ANOMIA When you can't remember the word for something. Now that I've shared this word, there will be a lot of people telling their friends, "Oh yeah, there's this word for the phenomenon of forgetting a particular word. What's the word? Oh, uh... I forgot." BIBLIOSMIA The smell of an old, good book. You know--that nostalgic, musty aroma that makes you feel like a kid again.  KENNING Using a descriptive compound in place of a common noun. E.g. "Whale-path" for "ocean." (I first encountered this technique in Beowulf.) When he was little, my brother once observed that seals were "sea-mice" which, if you think about it, actually makes sense. MALAPROPISM Using the wrong word, usually in a humorous way. For example, my sister once noticed the road crew filling in the potholes on the road, and exclaimed, "Hey! They're finally filling in the potholders!"  MONDEGREEN A phrase, usually humorous, arising from having misheard song lyrics or a statement. For example, a comic once rewrote the song "Blue Bayou" as "Blew By You," which was all about how he went to impress a girl on a windy day but his toupee took off and "blew by [her]." NEOLOGISM A newly-coined word. NYMROD Someone who turns things into an acronym every chance s/he gets. "I know! We can call our new writing educational service WORD, Writers Offering Real Deals." (This is also an example of a backronym, a title or phrase contrived in order to create a particular acronym, often to comic effect.) PLEONASM Using more words than necessary in order to convey one's message, through the use of verbose, redundant, and long-winded means, so that the listener completely forgets what the sentence started out to say.  SCRIBOTOCIN
Good workout? Endorphins. Great rollercoaster ride? Dopamine. Awesome writing session? Scribotocin. Note: This is a neologism I coined by polling a bunch of my writer friends. They chose scriboticin over quillophin, graphomine, and bibliorphin. SESQUIPEDALIAN A person given to using long words. There's actually a board game called Sesquipedalian. My friends gave it to me for my birthday. I wonder why. At least I don't suffer from hippopotamonstrasesquipedaliaphobia, a word which is probably responsible for creating the very people who suffer from its malady. YOUR TURN! What word- or book-related word is your favorite? Share in the comments below!
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