You know that phenomenon when you find yourself reading way past your bedtime and your eyes start to cross a little? And suddenly, common words don't look ... right? You see the word "and" and it looks like the publisher goofed up. You think, "That should say 'and' and it says, wait ... what?! It does say 'and.' How could that be?" And then (because of my age) I think, "Wow. I might be having a mild stroke." so I put my arms over my head and stick out my tongue (because, according to the internet, if you can do those things, chances are you are not having a stoke.) Then I turn off my clip-on reading light, say my prayers and generally go right to sleep.
When I wake up the next day, I check the last sentence I read. "And" is "and" ... and appears to have always been that way.
Now I have this thing going on where I type a word and Word doesn't like it. That normally doesn't bother me in a first draft; misspelling stuff is part of the "get it out, get it out fast, get it out now!" But twice so far I have stared angrily at the monitor, feeling strangely victimized. "There's nothing wrong with that," I think, almost seething with resentment. I do the right-click thing to have Word offer me some correctly spelled options, but the word I want isn't there. The word I want is already on the page.
The first time it happened, the word was "annoyment," as in: Vicki felt a flash of annoyment.
The second time it happened, the word was "functual," as in: "I'm sorry. That restroom isn't functual."
"Functual" is an even better word! If it were one, that is.
Look at NaNoWriMo, for crying out loud. That's a word. Blogger doesn't even flag it as a misspelling anymore. And don't even get me started on the word "blog."
Time to stop squandelling word count here and get back to work before my eyes cross for the day.
This made me laugh so much--I have definitely been there, many times! Or in the opposite place, where proper, "approved" words look stranger than the made-up ones. The weirdest was when I was writing "faith," which you think I would be SURE how to spell by now. But, no, I had to stare at it for about 5 minutes, quickly going from, "That must be spelled wrong," to "Is that even a word at all???" :)
ReplyDeleteI hope your NaNo endeavor is progressing without too much annoyment!
NaNo Schwamo! I go over to your blog to see what's new and there's Madeleine Rose ... on the outside! ... wearing a hat! Congratulations on your All Hallows baby, my dear! She's beautiful.
DeleteMade up words are so much fun ... they look so perfectly right/write. Keep it up ...
ReplyDeleteWill do, Vijaya! Do you think cross-eyed, tired writing could have been the catalyst for Lewis Carroll's lovely word, "chortle?" I do!
Delete"Functual" sounds like a blend of "funky," "Feng Shui," and "punctual." Like an earthy groove that's on-time and properly aligned with the mystical forces around us.
ReplyDelete"Annoyment" sounds like an ointment that's guaranteed to annoy, kind of like getting Ben-gay in your eyes.
Great words. ;)
Chris! Let's collaborate on a new dictionary! Those definitions are brilliant. If I wasn't dashing out the door for the NaNo marathon at the library, I would use them in sentences.
DeleteI'm good with making up words. All the best have done it. It's time for spell check to catch up with the minds of those who are functual in an advanced creative orbit. Spell check is such an annoyment sometimes!
ReplyDeleteWell, that's just brilliant, Johnell — I couldn't have "said" it better myself!
DeleteSpell check keeps me straight, for sure! I used to think I was a half way decent speller, but not so much anymore...
ReplyDeleteSpell check is terrific, Leandra ... unless you meant to say "from" and you typed "form" ("from" is the most frequently misspelled word I find in all my work: "Where are you form, Madame?" And it's funny—I NEVER misspell "form." Weird, huh?
DeleteThat's funny that Blogger doesn't flag NaNoWriMo anymore! Wait...it flagged it in my comment, so I guess it still flags it in comments! I write until my fingers won't stop typing, then fall asleep and get up and start all over again, but I'm writing mostly non-fiction articles for $$$. I get to write on my book in between assignments, but most of the time at this time of night, I'm writing about bulletproof glass or cloud technology or some other blah blah blah boring stuff!
ReplyDeleteLOL! I love creative spellers. We wouldn't have half the English language without them. =)
ReplyDelete