We’re just ending our unit on the Origins of the English Language, with discussions ranging from Shakespeare (we talked about Hamlet being the foundation for The Lion King and used Shakespearean insults) to the guillotine (an eponym word that catches the attention of the boys, at least) to examining the prefix-root-suffix nature of most words (they didn’t know that ET the movie and creature was really short for extra-terr-atrial) and inventing new words. We use Frindle as a way into the fun of inventing words (I read aloud sections to them).
We use a wiki to create an online dictionary each year but it goes beyond that (I wrote about this project recently for the Choice Literacy online magazine). Each year, since 2005, my students add one new invented word to an ever-growing wiki dictionary that now has about 400 invented words. Some students today are collaborating with their siblings and friends from years ago. It’s pretty neat and the wiki is the perfect platform for this work, too.
Here are a few words from this year that I found interesting:
Alphapet (2010) – A pet that knows how to spell. Listen to the word
Bannacofalota (2010) – A cold you get from eating to many bananas and drinking to much coffee. Listen to the word
Canacoca (2010) – A candy that tastes like anything you want. Listen to the word
Erming (2010): When you step on the back of someone’s heel. Listen to the word
Floopy (2010)- The act of feeling off balanced, and crazy. Listen to the word
Gorf (2010) -When a frog barks. Listen to the word
Hiccsnbow (2010) –The act of sneezing,burping, hiccuping and throwing up at the same time. Listen to the word
Lofx (2010) – A ball that never stops bouncing. Listen to the word
I’ll share out some more tomorrow and I may Twitter-blast some invented words today.
Peace (in the invention),
Kevin