words people make up?!?!

[NotUrsula]

Oh, I think there is a difference between malapropisms and words made up out of whole cloth. Malapropisms drive me nuts, but I find invented words very interesting.

When I was in junior high school it was common for kids to invent private curse words. Very useful when you really feel frustrated and want to curse, but know that your parents will nail your hide to the wall if you say any of the usual ones out loud. I remember that one that stuck in my little group was "frotch." It wasn't a combination of anything, or a play on words -- it was just a satisfyingly harsh sound that was good for venting annoyance.

There is one category of invented words that does bother me -- "-ize" adaptations. These are almost always forced active-voice versions of verb constructs which English already covers. Examples would be utilize and incentivize. What on earth is wrong with use and encourage?

PS: Some people do have speech problems that make some words just difficult for them. My mother, for instance, could not pronounce a simple tr sound at the beginning of a word. She always somehow added an h. So for her, trailer was thrailer, and trust was thrust.

PPS: It is my understanding that "sped" is derogatory primarily when used to refer to a person or people, or in regard to things (like school buses) which are associated with those people; in that context it is a modernized form of the old "retard". I don't think that it is necessarily derogatory in the context in which the OP used it; as an abbreviation without an adjective implication. I believe that it is rather like "Oriental" -- nasty when you talk about people, fine when you talk about rugs. Context matters.

 

[puffkin]

I know it is more pronunciation than making up a word, but I can not stand it when people say idear instead of idea. Drives me nuts!

My friends little boy uses hanitizer (hand sanitizer).

 

[PrincessKsMom]

My mom always says "soder" instead of "soda". Drives me nuts, but I love her!

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

There is one category of invented words that does bother me -- "-ize" adaptations. These are almost always forced active-voice versions of verb constructs which English already covers. Examples would be utilize and incentivize. What on earth is wrong with use and encourage?

I wouldn't consider "utilize" a made-up word. It comes from the French "utiliser" and the Italian "utilizzare" and has been in common use since the 19th Century.

 

[C.Ann]

Many I think are just not pronounced correctly - or the way people have learned to speak according to the area they were raised in.. Off the top of my head:

cadillac convertor (for "catalytic")
rang (rain)
brought (bought)
warsh (wash)
sandrich (sandwich)

Does make for interesting conversations though..

 

[kaytieeldr]

I have thought the exact same thing! I have a friend who uses this word and it irritates the crap outta me. I thought maybe I had it wrong. FLUSTRATED is not a word!
Another one I question is the statement "prank call". Some people say "crank call". I don't get that?? We always made PRANK calls to people (as kids) not CRANK calls. What the heck does crank mean?

Oh remember another....same friend from above, says tortilla just how its spelled. The ll's are silent!

They were always crank calls when I was growing up.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I insisted that amn't (a contraction of am and not) was a word when I was about 4.

Actually makes a LOT more sense, linguistically, than 'ain't'

 

[kaytieeldr]

Examples would be utilize and incentivize. What on earth is wrong with use and encourage?

To the best of my knowledge, utilize has been a valid, legitimate word in common usage for years and years and years and years. In fact, its suffix it probably what compels people to "ize" other words improperly.

 

[Jenvenza]

Ginormous.

I must have said it in front of my daughter, because she now believes it is a real word. One of her assignments from school came home with this in it (and corrected as 'enormous' by the teacher) :

Actually ginormous is a real word. It was added to the merriam webster dictionary a while back. So your daughter was actually correct and her teacher was wrong in correcting her!



http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ginormous

 

[Becky2005]

They were always crank calls when I was growing up.

I've heard it both ways -- I'm wondering though if "crank" was original from eons ago when you possibly had to "crank" a phone to get it to work?

I know there are lots of words that were typical way back when that made perfect sense at the time they were used. However, they stayed the same, technology changed.

For example a simple one is I still have a hard time with stamps -- I STILL call it a "book of stamps" when it is now a sheet of sticker stamps. Remote controls have been known to be called "clickers", etc...

Then again my mom made up a name "Thungary" for a piggy bank she uses with the grandkids at her house, she gives them change to put in it. It was completely by accident. She was trying to say Thirsty & Hungry and it came out "Thungary" -- and that name has stuck to that piggy bank ever since.

 

[ogreenlee]

I can't make too much fun of the southern accent having a strong one myself, but my MIL is so country.

When she's trying to use a big word, she'll bust out her lowcountry southern accent.

She says "sahlmon" for salmon (you know, the word where the L is silent?).

The other day she was talking about how she and her husband used to fly to Minneanapolis all the time for his work. Read that city's name again. I corrected her, and damn if she didn't tell me I was the one who was wrong. She was so adamant about it, I actually started to question myself.

I'm a photographer, and we've been working on getting her some big prints made. She said... "Well could you cut that one down to a pahnorahma?" I said, "Yes, I can make that panoramic."

 

[Charleneluvsdisney]

I do not like it when people say or write "prolly" its probably!

 

[Momvic5]

oh we make up words ALL the time...shows some creativity I think!!

When my ds was very little, he would call a hang nail a "ting nail"...have no idea where he came up with the word, but it stuck with us and now, we have ting nails instead of hang nails. Love it!

 

[ogreenlee]

remember the show, crank yankers?


i love when folks say "irregardless".

 

[bumbershoot]

I believe that it is rather like "Oriental" -- nasty when you talk about people, fine when you talk about rugs. Context matters.

Context always including if you ARE Asian; hubby is, and he has absolutely NO problem with anyone using the word Oriental. I still won't, but he, and most of his friends who are from various areas in Asia, does. (Oh man there was just nowhere good for that sentence to go, forgive the grammar)



I don't have a problem with fun combos. If the person means flustered and frustrated, then flustrated is cute and funny, and I would giggle at it. If the person took offense at my giggling because they though that's how you say the word, then, it's different.


I think 4 year olds make good words and follow grammar rules in very logical ways! I used to call one car a "traf". If many cars were called "traffic", it only made sense that one was a traf.

I don't mind regional accents like "soder" and "warsh". I like regional accents; they make the world more fun! Like how my husband says "pop" for soda b/c he's from WA, or how I used to say "Coke" for all types of soda (or as my dad calls it, sodapop) b/c I was from CA.


And I'm mystifed how using the acronym SPED, for what type of teacher the OP is, is offensive. Then again, I've been around that world since I was 19 and helping the local Adapted Physical Education (now there's an interesting acronym) teacher for a series of college courses, and it seems that every word/phrase/acronym eventually does become offensive, so it would be nothing new that SPED is now not allowed. There's a whole lotta (ha) teachers 'round here that are going to have to change their label though, if it is now on the bad list!

 

[ogreenlee]

"Oriental", as far as I can tell, only bugs those with hang-ups. It tends to bother Asians who are bothered by Caucasians in some form. I've noticed on some Asian message boards that the really sensitive complain the most about "Oriental". I'm thinking that it's a pretty word, and I'd much rather be called "Oriental" than "g00k" or several other truly derogatory words. Oriental means "Eastern".


The British still use it to describe people from the Far East. It's not derogatory to them.


My Korean mom always called Asians, "Orientals". lol

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Context always including if you ARE Asian; hubby is, and he has absolutely NO problem with anyone using the word Oriental. I still won't, but he, and most of his friends who are from various areas in Asia, does. (Oh man there was just nowhere good for that sentence to go, forgive the grammar)



I don't have a problem with fun combos. If the person means flustered and frustrated, then flustrated is cute and funny, and I would giggle at it. If the person took offense at my giggling because they though that's how you say the word, then, it's different.


I think 4 year olds make good words and follow grammar rules in very logical ways! I used to call one car a "traf". If many cars were called "traffic", it only made sense that one was a traf.

I don't mind regional accents like "soder" and "warsh". I like regional accents; they make the world more fun! Like how my husband says "pop" for soda b/c he's from WA, or how I used to say "Coke" for all types of soda (or as my dad calls it, sodapop) b/c I was from CA.


And I'm mystifed how using the acronym SPED, for what type of teacher the OP is, is offensive. Then again, I've been around that world since I was 19 and helping the local Adapted Physical Education (now there's an interesting acronym) teacher for a series of college courses, and it seems that every word/phrase/acronym eventually does become offensive, so it would be nothing new that SPED is now not allowed. There's a whole lotta (ha) teachers 'round here that are going to have to change their label though, if it is now on the bad list!

This problem with this is that my mom is from Jersey. What area is this exactly an accent for, because if I ask on the DIS, no one is going to say Jersey. We have so many other colorful accents and "language" associated with our fair state.

 

[jen0610]

It isn't so much that they made it up, but more just the way that they say it that drives DH crazy. DD and her BF combine pretty and beautiful into pertiful. Don't ask me how they came up with it, because when they first started saying it, we asked how do you spell it and that is what they gave us.

 

[rie'smom]

It isn't so much that they made it up, but more just the way that they say it that drives DH crazy. DD and her BF combine pretty and beautiful into pertiful. Don't ask me how they came up with it, because when they first started saying it, we asked how do you spell it and that is what they gave us.

My kids say beautimous- beautiful+glamorous

 

[MM27]

I've posted this before, but my vice principal says FUSTRATED and it drives me crazy. I also work with several people that say ON TOMORROW, ON YESTERDAY I really don't understand why the word "on" is needed.

The kids come up with some very interesting ones as well, but I'll let them have a free pass because they are only 9.