“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean— neither more nor less.” — Through the looking glass.
I agree with Mr. Dumpty: Words have meaning. But surely we can seize upon a meaning and then create a word to match it. The following words—some culled from the crowdsourced online dictionary urbandictionary.com and others I’ve concocted myself—don’t exist according to Merriam-Webster … but should. I call them “worderfuls.”
A
a crapella
(ah kra-'peh-luh) adj.— Sung (badly) while listening to music using headphones.
athlethargy
(ath-'leh-ther-jee) n.— The triumph of the La-Z- Boy over the StairMaster.
B
basebull
('bays-bull) n.—The endless litany of RBIs, ERAs, OPS, WHIP, and hits at the fingertips of every major-league basebore.
beerboard
('beer-bohrd) v.—To extract secret information from colleagues by getting them drunk.
blamestorming
('blaym-stohr-ming) n.—The act of attempting to identify the person who is most at fault for a plan’s failure.
C
carcolepsy
('kahr-kuh-lep-see) n.— The tendency to fall asleep as soon as the car starts moving.
caroma
(kah-'roh-muh) n.— The smell of that month-old bean burrito under the front seat that keeps you out of the carpool.
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