Betcha Didn’t Know…

Posted by Jack on 09.25.2008 at 12:45 pm

From the Washington State University errors page (love it) a little information about the oft used term “factoid,” which is used quite frequently in this election coverage:

The “-oid” ending in English is normally added to a word to indicate
that an item is not the real thing. A humanoid is not quite human.
Originally “factoid” was an ironic term indicating that the “fact” being
offered was not actually factual. However, CNN and other sources have
taken to treating the “-oid” as if it were a mere diminutive, and using
the term to mean “trivial but true fact.” As a result, the definition of
“factoid” is hopelessly confused and it’s probably better to avoid using
the term altogether.

Now you know!

[On a side note, "betcha" is obviously not a word either...]

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, factoid, random fact, Washington State, words

Neologisms

Posted by Jack on 09.02.2008 at 10:37 am

I hope you all had lovely Labor Day weekends here in the US and grand usual weekends abroad.

Just found an article about neologisms (new words) and how to make them and I’m loving it.

1. Affixation:
Over half the words in our language have been formed by adding prefixes and suffixes to root words. Recent coinages of this type include semi-celebrity, subprime, awesomeness, and facebookable.

2. Back Formation:
Reversing the process of affixation, a back-formation creates a new word by removing an affix from an already existing word, for example liaise from liaison and enthuse from enthusiasm.

3. Blending
A blend or a portmanteau word is formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two or more other words, such as bromance (a combination of brother and romance), pixel (picture and element), staycation (stay and vacation), and flirtationship (flirt and relationship).

See the other 3 here.

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, happy holidays!, neologisms, words