Wait?! I'm Allowed to Make Up Words?

I saw THIS VIDEO recently* (I'd post it here directly, but apparently Yahoo's videos hate me) about how Shakespeare supposedly made up an estimated 1,600 of the 17,000** words he used. (I saw 1,700 quoted on another site and 3,000 somewhere else, so I'm not really sure about the exact number. 1,600 is just what they say in the video.)

Some of those words include:

-Amazement

-Bloody

-Critical

-Dwindle

-Exposure

-Frugal

-Gloomy

-Hurry

-Indistinguishable

-Lonely

-Majestic

-Obscene

-Premeditated

-Radiance

-Suspicious

I've done a little bit of looking into the matter, and while I can't be sure if Shakespeare actually coined these words or if his usage was just the earliest written record of them, it seems to be commonly accepted that he made them up.

So that's what I'm going to talk about today.

Now, not only did I stare in awe of the long list of words ol' Billy (allegedly) came up with right off the top of that glorious bald head of his, I also burned my dictionary in the kitchen sink while laughing hysterically and cheering, "Why didn't anyone tell me that was okay?!"

Alright...I didn't do that last thing. But only because I'm not sure how the market (that's what I pretentiously call the writing community. Lol at my lameness) reacts to made up words these days. Do any of you know?

If I were pressed for an answer, I'd say it isn't cool. I mean, can you imagine if a bunch of writers were throwing words they just came up with into their stories? I guess you could try to go off context clues, but I still see that being very confusing.

Was it confusing when Shakespeare did it? Did some of the people in his audiences raise their eyebrows at those words?

  

And just how did those words go about becoming a part of day-to-day vocabulary? Is it like the weird-ass slang that gets used today? (Y'know, one jerkwad says it and it catches on with all the other jerkwads in a 30,000 mile radius. I think they might have a special newsletter just for douchebags...)

Also, if he did coin all these words, can you imagine a world in which he didn't? Would those words not exist?

As you can probably tell, I've got a lot of questions about all this.

Oh, hey! Look at that--I just stumbled onto a fairly recent word someone made up.

Refudiate: v. to reject or refuse.

You can't see it, but my right eyebrow is raised so high it's pretty much off my forehead. I probably won't be using that.

Now, who did you say made it up?

Pfffffft.

Now, I never speak politics with anyone...which is good, because Sarah Palin isn't a politician. She was obviously a reality TV star trapped in a politician's body. And since all that's been cleared up and she's now sitting on her rightful throne as queen of ***the worst thing on TV Sarah Palin's Alaska, let me just say...

Pffffffffffffffffttt.

And I only "pft" because she went on to compare herself to...

William Shakespeare.

Yeah, that pretty much mirrors my reaction perfectly.

Friends, please believe me when I say, DON'T DO THAT! Never, ever, ever, EVER compare yourself to one of the greatest wordsmiths to ever live. It makes you look incredibly pompous.

Now, for the record, all Mrs. Palin said is "Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!" So she didn't actually compare herself to Shakespeare.

Nope--technically speaking, she played the very old and very tired "he did it, so can I" card.

Don't do that either. Just because a master did something, doesn't mean you can do it. We're all still apprentices, grasshopper. Maybe when you're a huge hit and your name is known worldwide, you can use that card. (Maybe.)

But that's a topic for another day! For now: made up words.

Recent additions to the Oxford Dictionary include: LOL, OMG, and <3. (Yes, <3 is now in the dictionary as a verb meaning "to love." I'm so going to start saying, "I less than three you.") Wow...the "words" we're coming up with kinda suck. Shakespeare gave us "rant" and all we can pump out is freaking LOL?

Maybe we don't need to try making up words after all...

Buuuut...in one of the drafts of BROKEN, I used the word "douchebaggery." Yeah, not a word. It's not in the current draft, but if I could find a way to fit it back in, I would. I didn't invent this word (it's pretty common gamer slang) and the meaning is...fairly clear, so I think things like that should be okay.

All in all, if you want to use make up words in your WIP, I say go for it under the conditions that it A) is easy to pronounce, B) sounds pleasant when said aloud, and C) has a clear meaning.

Have you ever used a made up word in your WIP?

HAPPY WRITING, LOVELIES!

*I realize this Shakespeare stuff isn't anything new...but I'm just finding out. Don't blame me, blame my crappy high school English teacher for never telling me.

**Am I the only one that thinks 17,000 is a ridiculously low number? Is that right? Only 17,000?

***I've got nothing against Sarah Palin. If you happen to be Sarah Palin, I KEED, I KEED! Really, though, I've never seen a single episode of the show and therefore can't pass true judgement on it.