Thuppal: Enlarge your lexicon with your own new words

The English language is constantly evolving, whether it’s through the inclusion of slang or… The English language is constantly evolving, whether it’s through the inclusion of slang or the expansion of the Oxford English Dictionary. For us young, hip college students, those changes are often a result of our weekend antics and late-night conversations.

There are quite a few reasons for inventing new words: avoiding — or enhancing — the use of swears, leaving your mark on the language or just plain sounding cool. However, we have to understand that the successful inventor of new words carries quite a bit of power.

As a result of that, we can’t be too reckless with our verbal crafts. For your convenience, I’ve outlined a set of practical and important rules that one should follow when coining new phrases.

First, it’s important that new words fulfill one of the required reasons. Like any new products that hit the market, these words need to be original and hip. They should be pleasant to the ear and easy to pronounce. Also make sure to include letters like “z” and “x”, while removing “g” from the end of active verbs. Including infrequently used letters will give your words a unique style, while cutting off “g’s” will help make them sound less harsh.

Next, use the word as much as possible. If it’s going to get picked up by friends and family, it needs to be heard. The point is to have people stop you on the street and ask, “Hey! What does that mean?”

Finally, any word that has found its way into our vocabulary will undoubtedly undergo variations in usage and pronunciation. When altering your or others’ words, it is imperative that you respect the integrity of the original form, both in meaning and sound.

On the off chance that you’ve read this far down, you’ve probably been confused as to the applicability of the above rules. For your word-creating pleasure, I’ll provide an in-depth case study so that you can begin your linguistic adventures properly and with the greatest chance for widespread recognition.

About halfway through my first semester, I went on a road trip to Philadelphia with my fraternity brothers and found myself immersed in a sea of “jawns” and “wudders.” For those not up on the lingo, jawns can mean anything and everything — an alternate to “thing.” Wudder is just the way Philadelphians pronounce water — it’s a simple, but sometimes confusing, difference.

Despite my general aversion to Philly slang, I did fall in love with the tri-state invention of “bunz.” Take the definition I’ve compiled.

Bunz | bunz | (adj) – disagreeable or unpleasant because socially unacceptable; eating the whole box of Oreos when you were only offered one is bunz.

Let’s see how bunz stacks up against our rules. First, it is pleasing to the ear while also a means of expressing distaste without having to revert to other four-letter words. Hip and useful. Check.

Second, in the past few months, I’ve done my best to make sure bunz has invaded every aspect of my real and digital life. Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, carrier pigeon. Check.

Before we finish, let’s examine some changes that have been imparted on bunz: bunzin, bunzatron, and bunzalicious. Here we have two acceptable and one improper variation on the original word.

Bunzin, the act of being bunz, simply takes the word from an adjective to a verb. Bunzatron, a very creative alteration, denotes someone or something that is so bunz that the doer is a machine that specializes in bunzin. Both words carry the original meaning while extending its use. Therefore, they’re acceptable.

As expected, though, there will be certain derivatives that sully the sincerity and integrity of the root word.

Bunzalicious is neither creative nor true to the gospel of bunz. “Licious,” which can be traced to bootylicious, implies a certain pleasantness that undermines the proper use of bunz. Thus, bunzalicious is unacceptable … and also quite bunz in and of itself.

By this point, you’ve hopefully started concocting your own new words while still being conscious of their manufacture and modification. Shakespeare invented and made popular innumerable words — like “assassination” and “obscene” — that have passed into our daily usage and I believe we’ve all got a little bit of his magic in us. Let’s find it.

E-mail Hay at hat23@pitt.edu.