At Wit’s End: Eat Your Words!

By Lydia Hope Wilen / New York City

AT WIT'S END

The average adult recognizes and understands 20,000 to 35,000 words (considered one’s passive vocabulary) and actually uses 5,000 to 10,000 words (one’s active everyday vocabulary).  To put this in some kind of context, Shakespeare used 29,000 words in all of his works. So, ‘to thine own self be true” and add the words below to your passive vocabulary, making it a bountiful 35,001.

Word to the Wise

Zeugma: I was attracted recently to this unusual word because it sounds like German or Yiddish for “tell me.”  But zeugma is actually a single word that applies to two other words in the same sentence. It’s used to create a surprising or witty effect.  The best way to understand the use of zeugma is by way of example:

He lost his keys and his temper.

She stole my heart and my wallet.

He fished for trout and for complements.

Words that are Alive and Well and Coined by Writers

Nerd: Over 70 years ago, in the book, If I Ran The Zoo, Dr. Seuss referred to a strange little imaginary animal as a nerd. And the word caught on.

Meme: In 1976, British biologist, Richard Dawkins, derived meme from the Greek word mimema, meaning “imitated,” and used it in his book The Selfish Gene to draw a parallel between memes and biological genes, emphasizing the way cultural information spreads and evolves.

Freelance: In 1820, Sir Walter Scott coined the word in his historical novel Ivanhoe to characterize the kind of warrior whose lance was not pledged to the service of any particular lord. Hmmm. The free part I got, but maybe I should have thought of using a lance instead of a keyboard.

Chortle: The brilliant Lewis Carroll, was known for creating portmanteaus (innovative words formed by blending existing ones.)  “Chortle” is one of them, introduced in his poem Jabberwocky.  Chortle combines “chuckle” and “snort” and means a brief, cheerful and noisy laugh.  Did that make you chortle?

Cyberspace: In the early 1980s, science-fiction novelist, William Gibson, introduced the term in his book Neuromancer, referring to the virtual environment created by interlocking networks of computers and electronic systems. Obviously, the word caught on and on and on and on and…

Yahoo: While cyber made space for Yahoo, the word was in Jonathan Swift’s book, Gulliver’s Travels in 1726. If you are one of the Swifties, you’ll know that yahoos are brutish creatures resembling humans in looks, but with extremely unpleasant habits.

Photos above curated by John Turner

They Have Us Coming and Going – Palindromes

The one we learned, probably the only one we learned ages ago, is: “A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!” Ready for some more?

Biblical Palindrome:  Madam in Eden, I’m Adam.

Feline Palindrome: Was it a cat I saw?

Lack of Food Palindrome:  No lemon, no melon.

Driven Palindrome: A Toyota’s a Toyota.

Your Choice Palindrome:  Borrow or rob?

Good Girls Palindrome:  Ma is as selfless as I am.

And my appropriate ending for this category:  Wow!

Twisting Your Tongue

You know the drill . . . say each tongue-twister three times fast.

Imagine an imaginary menagerie managing an imaginary menagerie.

Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches?

The fun one from my childhood:

I slit a sheet, a sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.

And this, which researchers at MIT deemed the hardest English tongue twister in the world:

Pad kid poured curd pulled cod.

(I wonder if you’ll agree that no matter what the MIT researchers say, the “Swiss wristwatches” is harder.)

Word Play– Pangrams

A pangram is a sentence or phrase that uses every letter of the alphabet at least once.  I bet what comes to mind is: The quick brown fox…yada yada yada. Here are a couple probably new to you:

Sympathizing would fix Quaker objectives.

Jinxed wizards pluck ivy from the big quilt.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to write a personalized pangram.  This is mine:

Lydia Hope Wilen expects a king and queen to save zebras from jaguars.

What’s yours?

Create a Word . . . Please

Other languages have them, so should we. Starting with-

Gigil:  Filipino for the irresistible urge to pinch or squeeze something or someone that is incredibly cute.

Foreisket: Norwegian for the euphoria and exhilaration of beginning to fall in love.

Abbiocco: Ate too much?  This Italian word expresses the can-hardly-keep-your-eyes-open drowsiness that comes after overeating a thoroughly satisfying major meal. (No wonder it’s an Italian word.)

Sobremesa: Spanish for time spent relaxing and conversing at the table after the meal is finished . . . that is, if you don’t fall asleep first.

Wabi-Sabi: No, it’s not Japanese horseradish. It’s the Japanese concept that finds beauty in imperfection, simplicity and the natural aging of things and people too, embracing imperfections. Let’s spread some of that wabi-sabi around!

Lagom: Swedish for moderation and balance, or just the right amount. It kicks up the idea that happiness and fulfillment can come from what we have now, rather than always chasing more.

While you may be thinking of English versions of the words above, come up with a word that doesn’t exist in any language . . . a word for a child of divorced parents. They’ll thank you.

And now my coined portmanteau that means me as a writer who is grateful to you for reading this: Please accept my writitude!

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Lydia Hope Wilen began her professional career as a comedy writer on Personality, a celebrity-driven game show.  Her greatest gig was her extremely successful collaboration with her late sister Joany as nonfiction bestselling authors (18 books), which led to the sisters becoming  popular TV personalities. They continued as journalists (NY Daily News Sunday full-page feature, Celebrity Surveys for Cosmopolitan Magazine, cover stories for Parade Magazine) and got the opportunity to write and talent coordinate a Nickelodeon series hosted by Leonard Nimoy. The Wilens had an unusually versatile writing range from Reading Rainbow episodes, to off-color comedy skits for Dr. Ruth Westheimer’s TV show, Sexually Speaking, plus three optioned screenplays. And that's just for starters . . .