Quizzes & Puzzles1 min ago
invented names
13 Answers
I remember hearing recently about a famous poet who made up words where appropriate words did not already exist. One (or more of these words) are now commonly used in everyday speech, but I can't remember who or what the word is.
I remember being very surprised as it was such a normal word
Sorry this is a bit far fetched but has anyone heard of this and know any more details?
I remember being very surprised as it was such a normal word
Sorry this is a bit far fetched but has anyone heard of this and know any more details?
Answers
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Do you mean the word 'blurb', one of several coined by Gelett Burgess ?
see
http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-bl u1.htm
see
http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-bl u1.htm
I think there are a number of examples so you might have to give a few more clues.
However one of my favorite similar examples is the sub-atomic particle the quark.
This name was stolen from Jame Joyce's Finnigans Wake "..3 quarks for Muster Mark..." Quark meant crow or caw, Murray Glen-Mann lifted this expression because quarks often come in threes.
I'd imagine Joyce is the only poet to inadvertantly name a subatomic particle
However one of my favorite similar examples is the sub-atomic particle the quark.
This name was stolen from Jame Joyce's Finnigans Wake "..3 quarks for Muster Mark..." Quark meant crow or caw, Murray Glen-Mann lifted this expression because quarks often come in threes.
I'd imagine Joyce is the only poet to inadvertantly name a subatomic particle
Many poets have played with language to the extent that they have coined new words.
When Robert Graves met Thomas Hardy after the First World he told him that: "Once or twice recently I have looked up a word in the dictionary for fear of being again accused of coining, and have found it there right enough � only to read on and find that the sole authority is myself in a half-forgotten novel."
Can you remember anything else about what the word was or anything more about the poet?
When Robert Graves met Thomas Hardy after the First World he told him that: "Once or twice recently I have looked up a word in the dictionary for fear of being again accused of coining, and have found it there right enough � only to read on and find that the sole authority is myself in a half-forgotten novel."
Can you remember anything else about what the word was or anything more about the poet?
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