Words, Words, Words... Let's Start with Foodie (extended)
Update: Suggestions for new words will be accepted until Monday, Oct 11th at midnight. Voting will begin on Tuesday the 12th.
As a writer, I have the privilege of making up words and shoving them into books as if they belong there. I do this knowing that it gives the word a certain veritas to make it to the printed page; as a tyke in a bookshop said, "It MUST be a real word, it's in a book!"
Okay, the truth is this. When I heard this kid at the store, someoneElse and I had just been discussing terms we made up for a book we were writing and I cringed at the power authors were being handed. Now I embrace the ability to create (or reuse) a word that encapsulates an idea beautifully and set it loose in the world.
Words like fruffle - a cross between fluffy and ruffled, coined for a very fruffly furling; Or entanglement - our term for what someoneElse and I are to each other.
Cute words for cute things. Who could object?
Other words float in from elsewhere and are not necessarily as universally welcomed. Words like...
Foodie
This single word can divide people more easily than many other topics in Foodlandia.
Personally, I don't mind it. To me, it's an enthusiastic, sort of childlike declaration of interest.
But others disagree, some vociferously.
So in honor of BHF10PP, we're going to pick a new word.
An additional word - because I am not about banishing words, only the people who use them badly. (Oops, was that the outloud voice again?)
Here's how this will work:
- Give us your suggestion in a comment. I will leave comments open here until noon Saturday Oct 9th.
- Once we have a list of nominees in comments, I'll put up a poll so everyone can pick a word they like. That will stay open until Monday so that people traveling home from the con-that-shall-not-be-named can vote, too.
- When we have a winner, I will design a t-shirt and send a free one to the first person who nominated that word. The rest of you will be able to buy one here, of course, and I reserve the right to make extra styles for other words I like.
That's about all there is to it.
So, tell me, what do you like to be called?
