I was lamenting to Rick that no one left any comments under my last post (with the exception of Eric… but he doesn’t count. No, I mean that literally – he doesn’t know how to count…), which kind of made me wonder just how weird everyone thinks I am. But Rick replied that “sometimes your posts are just insights into what makes you you… not much to say to that except to sit back and take it in.” And then he emphasized that I’m NOT weird, I’m merely “eccentric.” (Wait – is that better?) Of course, all of that made me worry – because “who I am” is not necessarily “normal” (or even sane, half the time). And do I really want the entire world to be privy to this fact? (The “entire world” being the five or six people who read my blog on a regular basis…) Oh, who am I kidding? You five people already know I’m, uh, “eccentric.” Yeah. :)
So what’s weirder – to write and draw silly stories, or to believe in the existence of non-existent words? I’ve given Faisal lots of grief over his insistence that “comfortability” should be a part of the English lexicon. So imagine my surprise when I read this article on CNN yesterday. That’s right: Merriam-Webster, respected wordsmiths – who do, in fact, publish a dictionary full of REAL words – chose a non-existent, made-up word as their “Word of the Year.” I can only assume this gives Faisal, along with linguistically-challenged people everywhere, hope for the future of our ever-changing language.
But at the present time, an attempt to look up “comfortability” on the Merriam-Webster site will result in a polite admonishment (“the word you’ve entered isn’t in the dictionary”), and a list of suggestions for possible words you REALLY meant to type in: perhaps you meant confirmability, computability, comparability, confirmabilities, corruptibility, comparabilities, comfortably (oooo… so close), computabilities, compressibility or compatibility.
But what I find interesting is the actual definition of this prestigious Word of the Year. As it says on the Merriam-Webster website, “truthiness” is defined by the American Dialect Society as “the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true.” I am inspired to create my OWN made-up word along these same lines – I think I’ll call it “believement.” Believement is the stubborn insistence that a non-fact is, indeed, a fact, when said non-fact has, in fact, been shown to be a non-fact. In other words, it is Faisal’s believement in the truthiness of comfortability that enables him to hold fast to his views. And THAT is to be commended.
The last time we had a discussion about the non-existence of comfortability, Faisal felt compelled to point out to me that “doctors” apparently make use of the word. He followed it up by asking, “you know what they call the last doctor in a graduating class? Doctor.” Yes, but do you know what they DON’T call the last doctor in a graduating class? Writer. They don’t even call the FIRST doctor in the graduating class “writer.” So if some brilliant surgeon is running around a hospital asking nurses to check on the comfortability of patients, I’ll let it slide. It won’t be that last doctor in the class, though – he probably ended up with a job at Starbucks after he realized he had zero comfortability with malpractice lawsuits. “But Lisa, you said ‘he’ – WOMEN can be doctors, too.” We’re talking about the LAST doctor in the class. Definitely a man. Kidding! Just kidding! (No, seriously, I’m pretty sure it’s a man… :))
As my friend Nick has pointed out to me many times, our language is an ever-changing linguistic entity – words no one had heard of fifty years ago are now a part of our everyday conversations, AND a part of our dictionaries. So if, some day down the road, “comfortability” should pop up in a reference book, I will graciously accept its existence, and congratulate Faisal for holding true to what he believes.
Because that is the true heart of believement.
8 comments:
As an anonymous reader of this "blog", I would like to commend this Faisal character for his courage in this time of adversity and character assasination. To sit here, I mean there and be ridiculed by a person who obviously fantasizes more about making unattractive canines in human mates and not respond in kind, is surely insight into this Faisal's strength and character. I am sure he could tell you a story or two about goldfish and swimming away, far way, but I digress...
Now even though it may be argued that this column was in fact a 'left-handed' compliment of sorts to Faisal because of his conviction in his 'believement', it must also be remembered that those who mock and use sarcasm are usually persons who often fail to recognize abilities far greater than their own. These individuals later simply are left behind in their own small minded dwellings, comfortability, and surroundings, while academics, such AS doctor's, lawyers (of the prosecutorial kind), AND Non-marginal writers progress forward advancing our culture and society.
In conclusion, I have but one word left to say here that seems rather appropriate and point settling: SMELT.
'nuff said.
Are you implying, O Anonymous One, that Faisal is in possession of some "ability" of which I myself am not, and, therefore, I resort to sarcasm as a way to express my jealousy? If this is your believement, you are sorely mistaken. I assure you there is nothing Faisal can do that I can not carry out with equal aplomb -- my comfortability in this fact is absolute.
And I'll have you know that the last time I kissed a goldfish, it did NOT swim far away, but merely stopped breathing and proceeded to float belly-up in the tank. I am certain this was not a reflection on me -- it was simply the fish's time to go.
Now, all of that aside, I do have to applaud you on your exceptional use of the word "smelt." Well done.
Supposably, a word will be accepted as normal if it gains wide societal acceptableness...
So there is hope that comfortability and believement will soon be as accepted as truthiness has become... supposably.
Word, Rick, word.
No, no -- FICTITIOUS word, Rick. Fictitious word.
Hey Faisal, what's up...I mean, hey anonymous, what's up.
I'm sure I'm late to the party here, but I wanted to weigh-in. I remember so little from my college days, but I do remember a few things from my UT linguistics class which I loved. Lisa's correct, linguistically speaking there are two types of grammar. One type is what we all naturally think of when we think of grammar. It’s the conservative and scholastic grammar taught out of text books and required for all of those pesky English papers and reports we had to write. This grammar is usually upheld as the ONLY standard by grammatical snobs, purists and the like even when a word not considered scholastically grammatical is understood by a significant language group. The second type is much more liberal. It accounts for adaptations and additions in languages which are spoken and understood by people – understood by a significant portion of the population…either nationally or regionally. The point for the second type is simply this: If a word, phrase or communication structure becomes mutually intelligible by a significant number of people in a language group then it’s “grammatical.” I’m not advocating the use of Ebonics necessarily, but linguists have shown that even Ebonics, however ignorant and uneducated it may sound, has legitimate grammatical rules consistently followed. Lisa’s right, languages change and the textbooks are often slow to follow. Both types of grammar are important and needed. They sort of check and balance each other.
I like to think of this kind of the way we think of music. There are strict musical rules in place for meter, key signature, notation etc and musical snobs insist these are the only legitimate rules to follow….and yet…there’s music out there sung and played that by many that obeys few of these rules and yet is appreciated and enjoyed by many. In the end it’s still music none the less.
Great topic Lisa.
I KNEW if I kept checking back here, you'd have something to say about this topic, Nick. :) I seem to remember having a similar conversation with you several years ago, about a word I can't even remember now... but I'm sure whatever it was, it's been added to the dictionary by now. (Which is more than I can say for comfortability... :))
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