07.29.08
Crime and Punnish-ment
I love a well-constructed neologism. Made-up word. Coinage. Nonce word. Sniglet. Call it what you will. Bop about the web, and you’ll find any number of similar neophiles, from Word Spy to Word Fugitives to the Wordlustitude blog (any blog devoted to neologism must be neologistically named).
To reiterate, I love a well-constructed neologism. In that light, I’m hoping that Swedish home furnishings retailer IKEA is better at building furniture than it is at building words. DM News recently published an article about IKEA’s mobile marketing campaign—here’s a snapshot:
I don’t know specifically, but I’m assuming that that clunky word textvitations is IKEA’s creation, as DM News is unlikely to lower itself to such awkward word-play. Textvitation is a “portmanteau word,” described by Lewis Carroll, the phrase’s creator, as “two meanings packed into one word.” Portmanteau is a type of luggage. IKEA might sell luggage. If so, it must be constructed out of wrought-iron handles Super-Glued to silk baggies. In other words, textvitation doesn’t cut it as a neologism. It bears only jury-rigged resemblance to its source words—text and invitation; it saves almost no space in having one word rear-end another; it involves damn little poetry or panache; and it rolls off the brain the way gravel rolls off the bed of an accelerating pick-up truck with the tailgate down. Neologism should involve flow, not duct tape.
Oh, wait. IKEA doesn’t build furniture. It sells furniture kits and components. The retailer leaves the actual assembly to people outside their walls. It works for kitchen cabinets, IKEA. Now make it work for words.
(For a more palatable marriage of the concepts of “Swedish” and “neologism” (and, um, “well-constructed,” too—and I doubt that she’s Swedish, but play along here), wander over to this campy discussion of Sniglets at “Hot for Words.”)
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Karen G. said,
July 29, 2008 at 8:56 am
Admit it. The topic of sniglets was just a cover — you really just wanted to link to a site that used “quadriboobage” in a full sentence.
Word of the day: persnickitorial. I’ve already used it in conversation this morning, and it got me some gigglets. I felt very smugacious.
Susan said,
July 29, 2008 at 9:19 am
How about invitextions?
Bill Brohaugh said,
July 29, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Karen: Yes, all my previous boobage links were unsatisfactory because either they mentioned triboobage, or used quadriboobage in sentence fragments and poorly constructed sentences beginning with a conjunction and ending with a proposition (sic)or(sick). And “gigglets”? You created “gigglets”? My work here is done!
Susan: Indeed, “invitextions” is far more artful than “textvitations” in terms of flow, though thtat pesky E seeks to confuse us. The short E of “text,” or the silent E at the end of “invite”? But I’m just saying, you nailed me at my own game, because I didn’t offer an alternative, did I?