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Article: We need a word for this!
- Article from:
- Word Ways
- Article date:
- May 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Jeremiah Farrell. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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According to Dmitri Borgmann in Beyond Language (Scribner's, 1967), the English language contains two to three million words. However, this is not enough to take care of all situations one meets in daily life:
* What do you call it when one nods off for a few seconds and then jolts awake? catsnap
* I'm looking for the term describing the confusion experienced by everyone near a ringing cell phone--who does it belong to? pandephonium
* What do you call plastic bags caught in trees and flapping in the wind? foulage
* Is there a word for a fear of running over squirrels? swervousness
Many questions like these are amusingly ...