Thursday, July 14, 2005
On Language 7/13: Pertneart and other personal vocabulary
Some words in our speech pertneart right on target
Chicago Tribune, July 13, 2005
By Nathan Bierma
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A recent column on words and phrases I first heard from my wife got readers thinking about their own personal vocabularies. A sampling:
- I use tons of new words, and most of them drive my very literal husband insane. A short list includes:
Jangled: stressed/freaked out/nerves shot
Clueier: have a better grasp on a situation
Snazzling: looking snazzy and darling
Other lexical inventions sent in by readers:
At age 4, our now thirty-three year old son, began using the term, “rememberies”. He put together REMEMBER and MEMORIES and used the new word in perfect syntax. It was good to have it pop into my rememberies!
My wife Galina, a recent immigrant from Russia, has been saying “firstable” (the second syllable rhymed with constable) for a long time until I caught it and corrected her to try and say: First of all…. Now, thinking it was rather cute, I use it myself on occasions and hardly anyone detects it.
When I asked my 4-year-old daughter to help me put the placemats on the table, she replied, “Yes, Mommy, I’ll put the plate mattresses on the table.” I thought it was a marvelously logical word association, since placemats serving as a way to cushion the plates.
Glove apartment (instead of glove compartment)
Sewing metal (he never could think of the word “needle”)
Thornet (any wasp/bee/hornet….he mixed up thorn and hornet.
Everyone in my family now says “Watch when you go outside. The thornets are really out today.”)
Take a bed (go to bed, as in “Mom, I’m going to take a bath and then take a bed.”)
When my son was about 5 years old, many years ago, he was fascinated with pirate stories. We bought him as many age-appropriate pirate books as we could find. Read over and over, he had memorized the specifics of each pirate and one day he told me he had rated them on a scale of “plunderness”.
Our current family favorite new word invention, was created last year by my five year old son. It is nakedive, which is a fusion ot naked and negitive. Can I come in the bathroom? No, you can’t I am nakedive! Now even his teenaged cousins are using his new word invention. Personally, I enjoy saying it much more than naked. I’m nakedive sounds much cooler.