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panlives Inner circle 2087 Posts 
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About 10 years ago, a fake word was pranked into the New Oxford American Dictionary.
It was a ruse to corner other lexicographers who might steal the NOAD material. Fittingly, the word the NOAD editors chose to create was, "esquivalience," - which they defined as the "willful avoidance of one’s official responsibilities; the shirking of duties.” Within a short time, the word turned up at Dictionary.com (it has since been taken down). At the time, Dictionary.com referenced Webster’s New Millennium Dictionary. The last time I checked, the word has multiple listings on Google Dictionary. So… at what point does a fabricated word become “real”?
"Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
"To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." "The dog did nothing in the night-time." "That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes. |
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LukeB Loyal user 294 Posts
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Depends what you mean by real.Even if fraudulent in origin if enough people picked it up and it became widespread it would go through the same process as other new words before being added to the dictionary.
Luke |
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Magnus Eisengrim Inner circle Sulla placed heads on 1064 Posts
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That's a funny story.
Often when I use a dubious word and someone says,"Is that really a word?" I reply "It is now." It is, as Richard Sanders might say, "finesseful". John
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.--Yeats |
critter Inner circle Spokane, WA 2551 Posts
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Oh, don't be so equidilatephant.
"The fool is one who doesn't know what you have just found out."
~Will Rogers |
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LobowolfXXX Inner circle La Famiglia 1192 Posts
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"if K-A-T doesn't spell [cat] what does it spell?". (it's kind of an auditory joke).
"Torture doesn't work" lol
Guess they forgot to tell Bill Buckley. "...as we reason and love, we are able to hope. And hope enables us to resist those things that would enslave us." |
randirain Inner circle Fort Worth, TX 1627 Posts
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What? 'esquivalience' is a perfectly cromulent word.
Randi  |
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critter Inner circle Spokane, WA 2551 Posts
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I rehyptulate with the previously alchestrelized prostmagation.
"The fool is one who doesn't know what you have just found out."
~Will Rogers |
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27137 Posts
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There are folks speaking Klingon who'd be insulted in you even raised the question.
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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critter Inner circle Spokane, WA 2551 Posts
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Quote:
On 2011-10-24 17:50, Jonathan Townsend wrote: Or High Elvish.
"The fool is one who doesn't know what you have just found out."
~Will Rogers |
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27137 Posts
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So I guess both are cromulent and we can move along.
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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critter Inner circle Spokane, WA 2551 Posts
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Smeggin' A!
"The fool is one who doesn't know what you have just found out."
~Will Rogers |
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27137 Posts
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...to all the coins I've dropped here
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Ray Tupper. Special user NG16. 750 Posts
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These will never be recognised words as long as I have a hole in my bispherelmethaneemittmentfunnel.
Ray.
What do we want?
A cure for tourettes! When do we want it? C*nt! |
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jazzy snazzy Inner circle run off by a mob of Villagers wielding 2109 Posts
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This subject was on NPR the other day.
The American Dialect Society has a committee that selects a new word of the year. So far this year, "occupy" is a leading contender. http://www.americandialect.org/
"The secret of life is to look good from a distance."
-Charles Schulz |
Steve_Mollett Inner circle Eh, so I've made 3010 Posts
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Real-world example:
The term 'nerd' stemmed from a nonsense-epithet created in Mad Magazine in the 1960s: "knurd." At that time, while knurd was used as an implied-negative description, it had no concrete meaning. It was, in reality, simply the word "drunk" spelled backward.
Author of: GARROTE ESCAPES
The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth. - Albert Camus |
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27137 Posts
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The notion has been explored extensively -
here and even here. Enjoy the stories. The Klingon phenomenon happened after. mediabyte: And in the real world - folks are speaking Newspeak, Klingon and Elvis - at the local comicon even as you read this. Film at 11 
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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| The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Not very magical, still... » » At what point does a fake word become real? (0 Likes) | |
Posted: Oct 24, 2011 08:39 am 
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