Neologisms

I had to introduce a Word of the Day at a Toastmasters Meeting I attended. The idea was to come up with a new word that people can use. I found the word, “neologisms”, which basically means a new word or expression. We’ve all heard them:

ginormous (adj): bigger than gigantic and bigger than enormous

confuzzled (adj): confused and puzzled at the same time
woot (interj): an exclamation of joy or excitement

chillax (v): chill out/relax, hang out with friends

cognitive displaysia (n): the feeling you have before you even leave the house that you are going to forget something and not remember it until you're on the highway

gription (n): the purchase gained by friction: "My car needs new tires because the old ones have lost their gription."

phonecrastinate (v): to put off answering the phone until caller ID displays the incoming name and number

slickery (adj): having a surface that is wet and icy

I thought that once the meeting was over, that would be it, the word neologism wouldn’t cross my path again. Well, it did...yesterday. My daughter-in-law sent me to a new web site: http://www.urbandictionary.com/. It is filled with neologisms and words used in a different content.

Take for example the word, “bandwidth” which when used in talking about technology refers to the measure of the capacity of a communications channel. The higher a channel's bandwidth, the more information it can carry.

Now there is a new meaning: ability (or lack of ability) to complete work given the available resources (people, time, money, etc.).

Examples: Since we can't afford to replace the guy who just quit, our department doesn't have enough bandwidth to take on new projects right now.

Joe's so overworked; he doesn't even have the bandwidth to train his new assistant.

Keep an eye out for those Neologisms and if you find any send them to me...

© 2006 Robert Allen Hill