New words are constantly entering the English language, but I read today that the New York Times joined the Liff business by explicitly inviting teenagers to create missing words for discernable meanings; A la Adams and Lloyd’s The Meaning of Liff and Rich Hall’s Sniglets.
Probably because I started reading adapted Shakespeare in the fourth grade, I fabricated new words constantly as a kid. I loved Sniglets long before I knew about Liff. The longevity of my love for inventing words made reading the New York Times article extra fun for me. Here’s the link if you’re a subscriber. If you don’t subscribe, email me and I can gift a link to up to 10 people.
Here are my three favorite “speens” (words spoken only by teens–you’re welcome) from the article, placed alongside a few appropriate items from Liff:
Luckily, wormelow stumps are too single-minded in pursuit of two-wheeled transportation to be much affected by calamitalysis.
Only the frosses being exchanged between the Gallowes sisters and Billy and Finity Humbolt kept the Girls JV Basketball fundraiser from being completely enterdraining.
My 50’s will be better if I spend more of my time cultivating seruamva and less time wallowing in utter glasgow.
What do you think?