Word by Word

Practical insights for writers from Jessica P Morrell

Merriam Webster adds 455 New Words

Written By: Jessica Morrell - Oct• 28•21

English, the ultimate mongrel language, is always evolving.

And word geek that I am, whenever new words are added to the dictionary I’m fascinated and excited. How about you? For example joining the party: whataboutism, amirite, digital nomad, and dad bod.  

Many words reflect contemporary circumstances such as long COVID, super-spreader, and vaccine passport. There’s also astroturf which means political messages, campaigns, and organizations that seem like a grassroots efforts run by ordinary people, but are actually backed  by a powerful group. You can read more here.

And don’t be afraid to invent your own word mashups and search out inventive, resonant word pairs. I jot them down….honeymoon luster, fawning prig, feral cunning. 

Keep writing, keep dreaming, keep collecting fresh language.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.