Re/Re/Rewrite May 2022: Make Words
Hello Rewriters!
Last November, John Koenig published a lovely little book titled The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows in which he provides words and definitions for feelings not yet identified or articulated. Here’s an example:
Slipfast
adj. longing to disappear completely; to melt into a crowd and become invisible, so you can take in the world without having to take part in it – free to wander through conversations without ever leaving footprints, free to dive deep into things without worrying about making a splash.
From slip, to move or fly away in secret + fast, fortified against attack.
He also offers visual representations of the words in a YouTube collection of brief videos.
And, Matt Webb, writing on the blog Interconnected, muses that, “The invention of new words provides new scaffolding for thought.” He introduces the concept with an example based on the word, horse. For example, we know that horseradish is a root and a condiment and that it has nothing to do with horses. But most would describe horseradish as harsh and bitter. With that, could we define a new word, horsehistory as “the socially uncomfortable parts of our history that we brush under the carpet?”
For this month’s re/writing, we invite you to do the same, to make words and concepts for those things heretofore lacking language. As a starting point, perhaps try making new words related to writing or making. So, create a word, define it, use it in a sentence (or essay, or video, or painting, or whatever), and share it with the group in this folder before we meet on Sunday, May 29 at 7:00pm ET.