51吃瓜s We Wouldn't Have Without Books

Blatant

It鈥檚 no surprise that authors are renowned for coining new terms鈥擲hakespeare alone contributed hundreds of words and phrases to the English language. The Bard of Avon’s coinages remind us that so many of our words are created not by ruler-bearing grammarians, but by creative thinkers who build beautiful worlds鈥攁nd words鈥攆or us to relish.

Take our first word, blatant, coined in 1596 by the poet Edmund Spenser for 鈥淭he Faerie Queen.鈥� Where would we be without this 鈥榖ursting鈥� word to underscore a bald-faced lie?Venture ahead to savor more surprising words that famous writers dreamed up for us. Without them, our language would be lacking!

Blurb

Blurb is the best onomatopoeic word for that zippy write-up that succinctly scintillates on a book鈥檚 cover, compelling us to read 鈥渢he year鈥檚 best!鈥� Blurb was coined in 1907 by the humorist Gelett Burgess. In those days, book covers always included the picture of a gorgeous gal in various postures of flirtation or frailty. Burgess named his buxom babe 鈥淢iss Blinda Blurb.鈥澨�

The creeps

With over 250 coined words cited in the OED, Charles Dickens ranks 6th on the 鈥榥umber of English words coined by an individual author鈥� list (Shakespeare鈥檚 #1 of course). We like the creeps, or at least the term, because it has a contemporary feel. Dickens coined this it in 1850 for David Copperfield. He was probably influenced by the word creepy, which crept up in 1831 to denote a cold, slinking sensation of fear.

Chintzy

Think Aunt Mable鈥檚 doily-littered living room. Probably painted gold. The look is gaudy, outdated, and cheap. Let鈥檚 thank George Eliot for this term鈥攂ut not the look! The author of Middlemarch took chintz (a kind of fabric used for drapes), added a -y, and BAM Aunt Mable鈥檚 cabinet of teacups and kewpie dolls had a perfect descriptor. We鈥檇 love to get rid all things chintzy, but then we wouldn鈥檛 have the word anymore. We鈥檙e at an impasse with this one: is cheap worth it?

Gremlin

Roald Dahl didn鈥檛 invent the word gremlin, but he popularized it in 1942 with his first children鈥檚 book, The Gremlins. Dahl had been in the British Royal Air Force (RAF), which is where he first heard the word. Gremlin was a slang term tossed around by pilots and technicians to describe the imaginary creatures they blamed for mysterious breakdowns and equipment failures.

Intensify

We’re thinking the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was influenced by laudanum (opium-laced alcohol) when he coined intensify. He was a notorious addict. Coleridge wrote his famous Kubla Khan after a drug-induced dream in which he saw “caves of ice,” “pleasure-domes”, a “woman wailing for her demon-lover,”–oh, and he heard voices predicting war and chaos. Definitely intense! So intense that he needed a word for “make (even) more intense.”

Newspeak

With each passing day, it feels like author George Orwell may have been eerily more prophetic than we gave him credit for in high school English. Newspeak is just one of the terms Orwell coined for his dystopian novel 1984.听Now, the term has real-world applications, describing quasi-official language that claims neutrality but serves a political or ideological agenda. Newspeak is also a great word to wield when politicians speak in such tongue-tied jargon, it鈥檚 impossible to understand them.听

Pandemonium

Whenever you鈥檙e in the presence of sensitive ears that would blush at the sound of 鈥渉ell,鈥� use pandemonium instead. We kind of like 鈥淲hat the panda鈥� (let them think you鈥檙e talking vegetarian bears). When writing about the fiery locale, use the capital P because Pandemonium was the capital of 鈥淪atan and his Peers鈥� in John Milton鈥檚 Paradise Lost.听

Pedestrian

Impossibly, this word wasn鈥檛 used in Ancient Rome as some of us word nerds thought. (Leave it to the Latin root ped, 鈥渇oot,鈥� to fool us). Even Milton didn鈥檛 have pedestrians walking barefoot on hot coals in Pandemonium. No, pedestrian, 鈥渁 traveler on foot鈥� was coined in 1791 by William 51吃瓜sworth, whose poetic pedestrians 鈥渨andered lonely as a cloud鈥� seeking a 鈥渉ost of golden daffodils.鈥� Beautiful imagery, and oddly ironic given that pedestrian also means 鈥渓acking vitality and imagination.鈥�

Robot

The word robot was coined by the Czech writer Karel 膶apek in 1920. He introduced it in his play 鈥淩ossum鈥檚 Universal Robots.鈥� 膶apek chose the Czech word robota, meaning 鈥渟ervitude of forced labor,鈥� for the slave-machines in his play. Funny enough, 膶apek first considered using labori instead of roboti but he thought it sounded too bookish. We agree it suggests the wrong genre. I, Labori sounds like the opening to a chest-pounding Roman oration.

Scaredy-cat

Dorothy Parker introduced scaredy-cat in her 1933 short story 鈥淭he Waltz.鈥� In it, a woman is basically talking to herself about how to answer an awkward man鈥檚 invitation to dance. She knows she’s supposed to, but…well you’ll see. One of the replies-in-her-head: 听鈥淥h yes, do let鈥檚 dance together鈥攊t鈥檚 so nice to meet a man who isn鈥檛 a scaredy-cat about catching my beri-beri.鈥� At first, you think the woman is accepting the invitation (is beri-beri a hat? A swing dance move?). Look up听beri-beri, and you鈥檒l learn it鈥檚 a disease resulting in paralysis of the limbs, 鈥渟evere emaciation, and swelling of the body.鈥� This lady would rather sit on scorching flames in Pandemonium than dance. Dude, get a hint!

Sensuous

Sensuous听isn鈥檛 about sex, people! That鈥檚 more of sensual鈥檚 role (with the 鈥渃arnal鈥� pleasures of the flesh). But sensual wasn鈥檛 always sexy; it was originally about the senses. Over time, English-speakers have been steaming up the meaning. To such an extent, apparently, that John Milton (of Pandemonium fame) coined sensuous in an effort to create an asexual word that brings us back to our five senses. Unfortunately, sensuous, too, has fallen prey to the lusty, but we鈥檝e tried to clear the steam a little bit here.

Superman

It鈥檚 a bird, it鈥檚 a plane鈥t鈥檚 a word coined by George Bernard Shaw in 1903! Granted, Shaw had a lot of help. He was merely translating Friedrich Nietzsche鈥檚 脺产别谤尘别苍蝉肠丑 (鈥渁 highly evolved human being who transcends good and evil鈥�). And even Nietzsche鈥檚 use was influenced by centuries-earlier German writers. Superman didn鈥檛 dress up in red and blue spandex until 1938, the year the popular super hero comic strip was released. Had Shaw not given us superman, the 鈥渃hampion of the oppressed鈥� could have been named Overman or Beyond-Man. Those were the feeble translations of 眉产别谤尘别苍蝉肠丑 that Shaw was up against, which is why he鈥檚 our superhero. 听