In June, Grant attended the biennial meeting of the Dictionary Society of North America. One of the highlights was the New Word Open Mic where anybody was invited to step up to the microphone and submit a new word they had coined or found. Grant was one of the judges, and shares some of the new words submitted in this bonus podcast from A Way with Words.
Listen here to find out if "to Paris" has legs or if something you have is "googletudinous":
Special thanks to Charles Hodgson of Podictionary.com for recording the audio and agreeing to let us use it on the show.
Web sites mentioned in the podcast:
Dictionary Society of North America
Charles Hodgson's Podictionary.com and his book Carnal Knowledge
Erin McKean's Dictionary Evangelist
Cambridge University Press dictionaries
American Heritage Dictionary at Bartleby.com
Copy Editor newsletter
Carl Burnett's Ski Dictionary
Amy Reynaldo's Diary of a Crossword Fiend
Mark Peter's Wordlustitude
Really nice mix of voices in this episode. It made me want to hear more of a Wait Wait Don't Tell Me word quiz with audience members. Keep up the good work!
Listening now...
Regarding "finix", what do you think people were searching for? Could it be "phoenix"? Or a mistyped entry for another "real" word?
On the basis of sound, I thought it was a verb, "to finick", that is, to act finicky. And what is the origin of "finicky"?
I agree, Nate. Major props to Grant and to Charles Hodgson of Podictionary for making this special edition possible!
Here is my new word:
NEONYM - A word that is new and has the potential to be accepted into the English language.