Allan Metcalf
American linguist
WORDS ABOUT WORDS
If you want a new word to succeed, don't use it to make a joke. Don't brag about it; better yet, don't even mention it. Just slip it in where it will seem natural and pass unnoticed.
—Allan Metcalf, American linguist, Predicting New Words, 2002
Posted on March 9, 2000 at 7:32 AM
WORDS ABOUT WORDS
Most words come into being naturally. They need no high-tech lab, no fertility drug, no artificial insemination. People just naturally give birth to words every day. These naturally born words are the healthiest and the most likely to survive.
—Allan Metcalf, American linguist, Predicting New Words, 2002
Posted on January 4, 2000 at 4:24 PM
WORDS ABOUT WORDS
Countless new words are born every day. They are part of a perpetual process of birth and rebirth natural to all living languages. As you mostly unconsciously search your memory for words to express yourself, you use not only the words that are already there but also new combinations of familiar elements. The process is so normal that if often goes without notice, even by yourself...You can hardly spend a day without coining a new word or two.
—Allan Metcalf, American linguist, Predicting New Words, 2002
Posted on October 20, 2000 at 10:18 AM
WORDS ABOUT WORDS
Every year there are many thousands of potential new words, some of them deliberately coined, others spontaneously created in response to new situations. They are like seeds in the ground, waiting for rain and favorable weather to sprout.
—Allan Metcalf, American linguist, David K. Barnhart, American lexicographer, America In So Many Words, 1997
Posted on June 22, 2000 at 7:12 AM
WORDS ABOUT WORDS
It may help to think of language as a great field of word plants. Whenever most people focus their attention on one subject, it's like a great dose of fertilizer and rain on that portion of the field. Existing words grow and flower into new meanings. Nouns sprout verbs.
—Allan Metcalf, American linguist, The Washington Post, November 10, 2001
Posted on October 21, 1998 at 5:26 PM
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