Easrspace

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Dan. I’m calling you all from Black Mountain, North Carolina.

Hi, Dan.

Hi, Dan. Welcome to the show.

I have a question about a word that I made up a while back.

I was talking to my friend Becky, and I used the word ear space, and she understood what it meant.

But we both realized we had never heard it before, and it wasn’t in the dictionary.

Huh. It sounds like the space between your ears.

Mine’s full. What about yours?

What you got in there?

How did you use it, Dan?

So I used it in two ways.

One was having ear space free for something new to listen to, like a new podcast.

And the other one was comparing things I listen to, like saying that two bands exist in the same ear space because they sound similar.

Oh, interesting. I like that.

So you wanted to share this word that you came up with with the whole world and try to get it to spread or you have questions about it?

Well, I was wondering if it sounded like something that would spread because additionally, I didn’t even realize I made it up.

It just kind of came out.

It wasn’t like I was thinking about it.

And it was understood.

So it seemed like something that might catch on.

Yeah, and if you Google it, there are people using ear space in similar ways to the way that you used it.

I wouldn’t say that that’s a problem at all.

Independent coinages of the same word are really common because people have similar lives and similar problems.

And they solve them linguistically in similar ways.

And that’s what you’ve done here.

A lot of people talking about the exact.

The first meaning you have is the one I see the most.

Is the ear space, meaning room to listen or time to listen to something new or something different.

People talking about why they listen to their podcast at two times speed.

They’re like, I don’t have the ear space to listen to it at regular speed.

Yeah, and I think it’s useful in that sense.

I mean, it’s sort of like bandwidth only specifically.

Or something you listen to.

And it kind of echoes mind share nicely.

If you talk about a product or a brand having a mind share, meaning how much of your mental space in a category is devoted to, say, the soft drink that you choose or the television show that you prefer to watch.

That’s interesting.

Yeah, that’s good.

So ear space, define that again for us.

So the first one is?

Saying that you have ear space open for something to listen to.

Like I have ear space for a new podcast.

Do you have any suggestions?

Okay, and then the second one is?

The second one would be something like saying, for example,

Nickel Creek and the Mountain Goats are in the same ear space for me music-wise

Because they sound the same, and I listen to them when I’m in the same mood.

Outstanding. I like this. I like this very much.

Yeah, I like them both, and I like the way that ear space sounds sort of like air space,

Which is kind of the same idea, you know, that it’s something that has room for something else or doesn’t.

Yeah, right.

So I agree with the Mountain Goats and Nickel Creek having the same ear space,

But I have an easement in my ear space for Nickelback.

Dan, thank you so much for your call.

We’re going to spread this word.

We’ll see what happens to it, all right?

All right.

Thank you all.

All right.

Bye-bye.

Bye, Dan.

Bye.

He said a thing, which I love.

The neologist in me was kind of quivering with joy because he said he didn’t even realize

That he came up with the word.

Yes, yes.

And those are the best words.

Those are more likely to survive.

Not the ones that you labor over their coinage

And try to come up with the cleverest thing.

Just the ones that fill an instant need perfectly.

Right, right.

You just kind of blurt it.

And the second thing he said, it was understood.

Yes.

That’s a successful word.

Yes, those are two big factors, right?

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