Word Fugitives
It is a book by Barbara Wallraff. I picked it up after I received a recommendation from that writing class I took. It was actually quite interesting to read- although I know believe I know nothing about words. Not like these people do anyway.
One of the things she does in the book is give you a list of words and definitions. Your job it to decide which are true words and which have been made up. I thought you might like to try some. Here are four examples. Two are true words having been found in a dictionary somewhere (not a foreign language dictionary) and two are made up words. Which are which?
For the answer, please see the comments section.
If you are interested in more - check out the book.
1- Dunolly- an improvised umbrella.
2- Glackett- the noisy ball inside a spray-paint can.
3- Knackatory- a place to buy knickknacks.
4- Quodammadotative- a thing that exists in a certain way.
Good luck!!
One of the things she does in the book is give you a list of words and definitions. Your job it to decide which are true words and which have been made up. I thought you might like to try some. Here are four examples. Two are true words having been found in a dictionary somewhere (not a foreign language dictionary) and two are made up words. Which are which?
For the answer, please see the comments section.
If you are interested in more - check out the book.
1- Dunolly- an improvised umbrella.
2- Glackett- the noisy ball inside a spray-paint can.
3- Knackatory- a place to buy knickknacks.
4- Quodammadotative- a thing that exists in a certain way.
Good luck!!
posted by Miss Tobler @ 6:40 PM
4 Comments:
At 7/27/2006 6:59 PM,
Miss Tobler said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
At 7/27/2006 7:48 PM,
Miss Tobler said…
Answers: Dunally- a made up word. It is actually a town in Australia that was once an important gold-mining town.
Glackett- also a made up word. It is a town in Maine.
Knackatory- is in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Quodammodotative- also appears in the Oxford English Dictionary but is pretty much obsolete. In 1656 a THomas Stanley who wrote: "Things are sudivided into foure Genus's, Subjects, and Qualitatives and Quodammodotatives as to others." I understand, don't you?!?
At 7/27/2006 9:38 PM,
Telima said…
Wow, I totally guessed wrong!! I had the two that weren't real pegged as the real ones! Oh, well...I always knew my vocabulary wasn't very good. Keryn's the one with the huge vocab...I wonder how she did? =)
At 7/27/2006 10:49 PM,
Keryn said…
I feel a little silly about this! I actually have heard of quodammodotative, although I couldn't tell you where, or even what it means or even what the definition really means. Weird, huh? As for the other three, I had no idea. So I guessed--and, oddly enough, I guessed right! But I can't take credit for guessing right on knackatory--it really was a pure guess. So there you have it.
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