According to the Oxford English Dictionary there are between 2,500 and 3,000 new words added to the English language each year. Have you ever stopped to wonder where on earth they come from? Who designs and manufactures them? Where is the word factory? Whilst heavily engaged in the process of living recently I've had plenty of opportunity to let my mind wander, and I think I may have come up with the answer to this important question. The mine from which most of these new words are hewn is none other than our old friend the Word Verification system.
Just think about it. You decide to leave comments on some page, carefully compose a paragraph of Shakespearian quality prose and then it is lost to posterity because you type in "brutlok" instead of "brutlik". How many of those verification words have you ever seen before? Precisely. Absolutely none. They are fresh off the production line. Google has reached an agreement whereby it gets these new words for word verification purposes before they are allocated meanings and sent out into general circulation.
Armed with this insight, I have invented a new game for us to play. The next time you are confronted with a word verification request, make a note of the word. Then invent a meaning for it and show its use in a sample sentence. Here are my entries based on word verifications I have encountered recently.
1. Slyma: a small dribble of saliva (often secreted from the corner of the mouth) as in "Brian threw off his heavy coat and wiped the slyma from his grizzled chin".
2. Kersim: a minute part of a larger object (mainly used in relation to food) as in "Whilst in the past Brian would settle down for the evening with a large pie he now contents himself with just a kersim of pasty".
3. Deriesse: the final statement in an argument as in "With a look of fury Brian spat out a perfect deriesse as he walked out of the door".
Play along if you want but I am afraid you will not find any word verifications on my blog. You will need to go somewhere else for your fix. With that deriesse I will leave you for today.
(I should add that the Brian referred to is a figment of my imagination and is not based on any Brian in the vicinity. No, honestly, the Sage of Pempwell was a million miles from my thoughts when I was composing this).
(I should add that the Brian referred to is a figment of my imagination and is not based on any Brian in the vicinity. No, honestly, the Sage of Pempwell was a million miles from my thoughts when I was composing this).
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