JUST WORDS, NO PICTURES…
DO YOU EVER HEAR A WORD ON TELEVISION OR RADIO, EVEN ON THE NEWS AND THINK IS THAT ACTUALLY A REAL WORD?
Coronated? What happened to Crowned? But then how did the crowning event turn into a coronation?
CIRCUMAMBULATION? CAN’T YOU JUST SAY CIRCLING? It does especially mean walking round a sacred object in a ceremony.
Do you ever write down words then forget the context or what they mean?
Encirculate? Who on earth said this. Probably not a real word, a search comes up with encircle.
Fabulate – to tell a tall tale.
Reheterosexualised – I can only find heterosexualised – which I think can be taken to mean that it is assumed that when you get old or need to stay in a care home it is assumed you revert to being heterosexual. When I came across reheterosexualised it referred to family reinventing the life of the deceased loved one to reclaim them as heterosexual.
Now for words easier on the tongue…
FURTLE – When I heard someone on Gardeners’ Question Time ( BBC RADIO 4 ) talk about furtling around in the compost heap, I knew exactly what she meant and was keen to use it in my writing. ‘To gently delve; to probe or rummage tentatively.’
Metafiction – I confess I had to look this up when another cleverer blogger used the word in a comment on one of my stories. ‘Metafiction is a form of fiction that emphasizes its own narrative structure in a way that inherently reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work.’
Today on the radio they were talking about a trend in France to become part time farmers to get away from stressful jobs in the city. The commentator used a phrase I wished I had thought of, though I might well use it for one of my characters….’Those of us who are purveyors of words and tabulations will see the attraction of escaping to a farm.
Have you seen or heard any unusual words lately, or even better, invented some yourself?
Times and Tides of a Beachwriter 
I did once invent the word ‘indistinction’. But, sadly, when I looked it up, I found it had already been invented. On the bright side, though, it meant exactly what I thought it did. Yay!
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That was reassuring, but put your thinking cap on an invent a new word please!
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My friends and I have been trying to come up with a gender-neutral, singular, personal pronoun. We can’t accept the trend to refer to a non-binary person using a plural pronoun (Oh, No! That’s just too confusing) and “it” just sounds like an object. Someone suggested “shit” (a conflation of she/he/it) but that was discarded for obvious reasons. To a PMA (Post menopausal asexual) another person’s sexual identification is of little interest, but in the interest of appearing hip (or is it “hep”?) would you please coin a word for a person that doesn’t pinpoint his/her/its sexual identity?
Lest you take this comment too seriously, allow me to quote Jimmy Carr, “My pronoun is he he he; I identify as a comedian.”
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I like he he!
As a scientist, I note that could also identify as laughing gas…
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I haven’t thought of a suitable pronoun yet, but surely someone can come up with one. A bald chap told me he reserved the right to go to the barbers and identify as having hair!
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“Furtle” reminds me of “fossick,” which originated in searching for gold or gemstones, but was extended to the kind of rummaging you do in a purse or suitcase when looking for something.
A word I’d never heard of but which may be useful as we head toward winter is “apricity,” which refers to the warming and cheering effect of winter sunshine.
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Oooh, I enjoy a bit of apricity!
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So do I Jaqueline, now I just have to remember the word.
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I am delighted to say that I saw Call My Bluff last night!
It was one of my favourite programmes when I was a kid. And it features Patrick Campbell. One of my writing heroes!
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Yes I’ve been catching up on some of the many old programmes they have been showing.
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Fossick, great word; am always fossicking, usually frantically, looking for my purse or phone or door keys. Apricity is new to me too, I shall endeavour to remember it. Perhaps the thesaurus would suggest further words for being outside with your face turned towards the sun and enjoying sitting indoors with welcome rays coming through the window.
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I LOVE these!
I have only heard furtle as a joke on the US pronunciation of ‘fertile’ in the Ogden Nash poem ‘The Turtle’:
“The turtle lives twixt plated decks
Which practically conceal his sex.
I think it clever of the turtle
In such a fix, to be so furtle…”
My latest fave word is Unasinous – which means ‘united in stupidity’!
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Love the poem. Unasinous is a new word to me, but it could be used frequently I’m sure.
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I like ‘Furtle’, and also ‘Bumbling’. I haven’t invented many words that are clean enough to type on here, but I do get annoyed at the constant use of ‘Upcoming’ instead of ‘Forthcoming’. The BBC is especially bad at using that. I am also concerned about ‘Undescribable’. Should that not be ‘Indescribable?’ I know language changes, but it is changing too fast for my liking.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Yes Pete I’m constantly criticizing the TV screen.
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HI Janet, I don’t know many words that relate to all the new gender stuff. South Africa isn’t very progressive in this regard and it is still pretty much male or female here. I know furtle but I’ve never used it. I prefer to use language that people know and can relate too.
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Hello Robbie, we can’t fill in a form of any sort without a dozen boxes to tick asking how we identify, including ‘I’d rather not say’ and also do you identify as the same sex you were born? –
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I’ll be very politically incorrect and say I think it’s ridiculous.
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A friend and I were wrestling with that personal pronoun conundrum earlier this week – unsuccessfully. I love furtle and fossick too. The English language is so rich!
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Yes many words have been lost and deserve to be resurrected. I have heard of families where several members are changing sex or reidentifying, so no one knows who is being referred to or how many!
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