The editors of Merriam-Webster dictionaries got more than 3,000 entries when, in a lighthearted moment, they asked visitors to their Web site to submit their favorite words that aren’t in the dictionary.
“It was a lot of fun,” Arthur Bicknell, a spokesman for the Springfield-based dictionary publisher, said Monday. “We weren’t expecting so many. They only had two weeks.”
Some of the proposed words even gained multiple submissions so the editors came up with an unofficial Top 10 list.
First place went to “ginormous” — bigger than gigantic and bigger than enormous — followed by “confuzzled” for confused and puzzled simultaneously, and “whoot,” an exclamation of joy. A “lingweenie” — a person incapable of making up new words — placed 10th.
Besides the Top Ten, some loyal Mary Poppins fans submitted “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” which is in the Oxford English Dictionary, Bicknell said. He also spotted “a number of Harry Potterisms” among the entries.
“We will have to see about those,” he said.
What a lovely bunch of vocabularians (persons who make up new words) you are! “Lasterday” (refers to any day before today) we “squinched” (action required to fit something into a space that is slightly too small) a “schmiglet” (a small unit of measurement) of your “awesomtastic” (so wonderful the words just meld in your mouth) one-of-a-kind entries into this space in preparation for today’s Top Ten reveal. With so many “chizzy” (awesome, super, happening) creations to choose from, we admit to becoming a bit “flusterpated” (a state of being flustered that’s so intense, one’s actions and words become bound up) and “fahoodled” (confused, esp. when trying to think of too many things at once). We “craughed” (to cry and laugh simultaneously), we “troddled” (to wander around without knowing of doing so), and finally decided to use the “schwack” (a large amount) of multiple entries received as the basis for the Top Ten—this is, let’s not forget, all about favoritism.
From the thousands of submissions we received, here, then, are the ten words (not in the dictionary) entered the most often:
Top Ten Favorite Words (Not in the Dictionary)
- 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
- snirt (n): snow that is dirty, often seen by the side of roads and parking lots that have been plowed
- lingweenie (n): a person incapable of producing neologisms
Previous Favorite Words (Not in the Dictionary)
POPULAR CULTURE
ESPN-onage (n): secretly viewing an all-sports network when your wife leaves the room
polkadodge (n): the pseudo dance when two people attempt to pass each other, each moving in the same direction
scrax (n): the waxy coating that must be scratched off an instant lottery ticket
LANGUAGE
dunandunate (v): to overuse a word or phrase that has been recently added to one’s vocabulary
lexpionage (n): the sleuthing of new words and phrases
whinese (n) a language spoken by children or spouses on long road trips
WEATHER
slush turtle (n): the snow that collects on your mud flap
spinter (n): the season between winter and spring where everything is drowning in a slush/mud mixture
sprummer (n) when spring and summer can’t decide which is going to come first—hot one day, cold the next
PEOPLE
headset jockey (n): a telephone call center worker at the other end of a toll-free number
knitpicker (n): a person who selects your knitted sweaters. Beware the Christmas knitpicker or the put-the-family-in-the-same-sweater-for-the-photo knitpicker.
stealth-geek (n): one that hides nerdy interests while maintaining a normal outward appearance
ANATOMY
fumb (n): the large toe
jimberjaw (n): a protrusive chin
wibble (n): a trembling of the lower lip just shy of actually crying
MENTAL & PHYSICAL CONDITIONS
asphinxiation (n): when you are sick to death of unanswerable riddles
museum head (n): being mentally exhausted, and unable to take in anything more; usu. follows after a full day at the museum
precuperate (v): prepare for the possibility of being ill
TECHNOLOGY & THE INTERNET
shanghaIM (v): Instant Messaging somebody who’s in the process of IM-ing somebody else, causing them to inadvertently type (and possibly send) their message to you
vidiot (n): one inept at programming a VCR
wurfing (v): the act of surfing the Internet at work and rationalizing that it is for work purposes
TRANSPORTATION
detroitus (n): car parts found alongside the highway
junkstaposition (n): when two or more immobile vehicles are parked next to each other
pregreening (v): the tendency to creep forward while waiting for a red light to change
FOOD
onionate (v): to overwhelm with post-dining breath
smushables (n): the groceries that must be packed at the top of the bag or separately to avoid being mangled by the time you get home
spatulate (v): remove cake batter or other substances from the side of a mixing bowl with a spatula
MISCELLANEOUS
dringle (n): the ring-shaped stain on wood caused by condensation from a glass of liquid
espacular (adj): especially spectacular
furgle (v): to feel in a pocket or purse for a small object such as a coin or key
hoyle (n): the point at which a genius transcends our reality and becomes a madman
nudenda (n): a nudist’s unhidden agenda
optotoxical (adj): of or pertaining to poisonous looks that could kill, esp. from a spouse
parrotise (n): a haven for exotic birds, esp. green ones
quackmire (n): muddy edges of a duck pond
sinspire (v): to compel one to be creatively wicked
sprog (v): to go faster than a jog but slower than a sprint