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Questions tagged [neologisms]

A neologism is a newly coined word or phrase that has not yet been accepted into mainstream language.

A neologism is a newly coined word or phrase that has not yet been accepted into mainstream language.

Examples of current neologisms include:

  • taser (named for Thomas A. Swift's electric rifle)
  • meme (shortened form of mimeme from Ancient Greek mīmēma, "imitated thing")
  • nonagamist (backformation modeled on bigamy or monogamy).
295 questions
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Where is "tofu" for "font fallback box glyph" coming from?

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noto_fonts#Origin_of_Noto_name: sometimes there will be characters in the text that can not be displayed, because no font that supports them is available to the computer. When this occurs, small boxes are shown to…
daxim
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Compressed vs. zipped

Is it correct English to use the term zipped instead of compressed when dealing with computer files? Is it a neologism that is widely accepted as part of modern English?
Stephane Rolland
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A word to describe a couple conjoined at the earbud

Considering how common it is, I would think that we need to create a word for a couple that is conjoined at the earbuds, as in I couldn't find an appropriate word in the Urban Dictionary.
Roobie Nuby
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Does the sentence, “Lots of twilhearts went to the movie” make sense? If it does, what does it mean?

I’ve been making dictation of English news broadcasting for a couple of years in order to maintain listening proficiency of English. On yesterday's AP radio news broadcasted through AFN Tokyo (Eagle 810), I heard the following lines reporting the…
Yoichi Oishi
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Standalone usage of "tid" from tidbits

Watching an old episode of Home Improvement recently, Eavesdropping Neighbour: I was just hearing some tidbits of your conversation. Tim: Sounds to me like you heard the whole tid. This sounded as a dialogue writer's invention to me. Is there…
JoseK
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2 answers

Is there a term for the principle governing the efficient spatial arrangement of items within a container?

This question was prompted this morning (and yes, it's silly) when I opened the refrigerator to see (yet again) that someone had placed several short items on the top (tall) shelf, usurping space from items that can't be stored on any other…
Jeff Cohan
  • 445
3
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3 answers

Is referring to 'Frankenstein's monster' as 'Frankenstein' a neologism?

I just read this question and one of the answers started with "Ordinarily, Frankenstein is a noun referring to a fictional monster" As every nitpicker knows, Frankenstein is the doctor who created the (nameless!) monster. How does one call such a…
FooTheBar
  • 139
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Word for correcting incorrectly?

Is there a word or phrase for when someone corrects another person's statement, which is, in fact, already correct? Sometimes the "correction" can be wrong, or sometimes it can be redundant (as in my example below); I have not made the distinction.…
James McInnis
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Is it brexiteer or brexiter?

The recent facts about the so called Brexit has generated new terms like brexiteer: (politics) Someone who supports Brexit, the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union. Wiktionary also mention "brexiter" as an alternative form. Since…
user 66974
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What would the opposite of "orthopedic" be?

So, I'm wondering, what could the opposite of "orthopedic" be? More precisely, if a force is "orthopedic" in nature (so it would give a correct posture), what would a force that causes bad posture/bad bones position be called? The closest I could…
lil'lex
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Can some words of constructed languages be neologisms as well?

Recently I have found that words such as hobbit, quidditch even Khaleesi are used in the everyday language when not referring to the books and films they were invented for in the first place. Can they be considered as neologisms or just nonsensical…
Ireth Tasartir
  • 370
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Is 'againsting' a [new] word?

The wikipedia article on linguistic competence says: Againsting the syntax-centered view of generative grammar(syntactocentrism), he specifically treats phonology, syntax and semantics as three parallel generative processes, coordinated …
Joe
  • 335
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vote
2 answers

Bomb defusal? Is "defusal" a word?

Is "defusal" a legitimate verbal noun form of the verb "to defuse". Is it correct to describe a guide on how to defuse bombs as a "bomb defusal manual"?
Olly
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Is 'botifed' the right word to say humans are behaving more like robots?

From this article: "We generally view the machine/human divide as a one-way street of advancing technology. Machines, we are repeatedly told, are becoming more human-like—but humans are also becoming more…
Relango
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Sapiosexual without the sexual connotation

I have been hearing the word "sapiosexual" referring to a person attracted to another because of the mental abilities, but attracted not in a sexual way, and I believe "sapiosexual" isn't the most accurate term for this context. Is there a word to…
Purefan
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