Nonce upon a time…

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Nonce words are words invented for a particular occasion usually made by blending of two existing words; often blending two concepts or objects in response to a specific context.

Family slang can be littered with these. Here are few of my daughter´s, invented during early language development which have become common usage in our house:

Birdknocker (woodpecker)

Bounceline (trampoline)

Quackling, (a baby duck - quack and duckling)

Floudery (flour and powdery)

Examples found in books by Roald Dahl

Snozzcumber

Grumptious

Examples used by Ken Dodd, a British entertainer

Titilifarious (titilating and hilarious)

Plumtuous (plump and sumptuous)

Some have even made it into the Oxford Dictionary, recognised as compound words.

Imagineering

Fantabulous

Julie MacDermott, UK

 


12 Jul 2011
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