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Question for the week
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Posted: 03/07/07 I recently ran across a website that publishes words used in general conversation but which have not attained dictionary status yet. It's a great example of the fluidity of our language. I offer some of the more appealing words here in the hope of encouraging others to pay attention to how language is expanded through splicing and dicing, through trial and error, and through new connections. My favorite unword is "ginormous," an adjective that means something is bigger than gigantic AND bigger than enormous. In its simplest form, it's the superlative superlative for biggest. But then people don't use big anymore, when they can use bigger words. Another favorite unword is "awsometastic," although I would prefer to spell it this way: "awesometastic." It means something that is more than awesome and more than fantastic. Truthfully, I think both "awesome" and "fantastic" are overused, so I like splicing them into one word to save space and time. At the same time, maybe the entire list should be retired. Then there is "confuzzled": being confused and puzzled at the same time. And "gription," meaning the purchase gained by friction; as in, "My car needs new tires because the old ones have lost their gription." I can agree that some of these words more than others are apt to appear in the next edition of Webster's. At the same time, I'm pleased to see that American English is not a dead language; rather it's one that is always expanding. Maybe there'll be a word for that on the unword list someday.
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