Librarians are often riveting conversationalists because of their overuse of acronyms and library jargon. Another powerful, yet often overlooked, professional conversation tool is that of the made-up word. The trick is to take a normal word and add a suffix or two to it.
An example: find + able + ity = findability.
Can you find this word in a dictionary? No, it has no findability.
[Note: The editors invite their loyal readers to post their own made-up words in the comments section below.]
Thursday, October 05, 2006
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23 comments:
Suckability - the extent to which findability is obscured by one's OPAC.
informationist
Laura Bush must have taught that skill to her husband. GWB is the master of that particular skill.
I had a library school lecture this week which used the word "webified". Doesn't quite fit the pattern, but close.
"teamship" and "groupship" which I hate (but then, I've always detested group work) from a library management course.
also, the joy of "aboutness", which is made up, but which I sort of enjoy.
until you are cataloging art history slides
I've had users say they want things that are "about" and they didn't mean the subject.
I find most words in general and certainly those used during "circability" have "profaneability."
However, I am an expert at making anything profane. I'd give examples, but don't want to offend any delicate sensibilities... etc. etc.
Maybe not quite the same, but we use "Tuesdayness" and "Tuesdayish" to describe certain days at our library where the shit hits the fan. This seems to happen the most on Tuesdays.
"workshopability" and "paradigm-enabled"
but I'll fight to the death to defend our use of "thinginess" (usually in the phrase "oh, the sheer thinginess of it all!")
from September's 'College & Research Libraries News'- reimagineering...
How about a synergistic paradigm shift?
I might have just made this up but I think I've heard it somewhere recently in the thinkworld of libraries and information. "Infopreneur". In context: "Messrs Sal & J of this blog are Infopreneurs for taking their professional understanding into a new and unique business".
And thinkworld? what's that all about? Can't it be stopped?
Talking about Wikipedia, I remarked about the anonymousity of the entries.
My absolute favorite made up "Library 2.0" (which is another winner) word is Biblioblogosphere. Not only does it take a made up word from the technology world "blogosphere" which is from weblog + atmosphere but adds that wonderful librarian kick with the biblio prefix; which happens to refer to "book" in Greek. Although the "biblioblogosphere" rarely refers to books at all.
from october's 'american libraries'- blogvangelism... this is a fun game!
A new bigwig here used the phrase "colocated" during her presentation, as in: "The University, to show the importance of both departments, colocated their offices on the same floor of the new building."
Cringe factor: 8.
I'm bracing myself for more pearls like this one...
This, from a database license:
fixity.
Don't know what it means.
And related to "anonymousity" comes "anonymize", which means to make anonymous.
heh heh.
Great thread.
Does "colocated" have anything to do with a "colonoscopy"? How about
"Bibliographicolonoscopy"?
"Toxicality" - a library locale fouled by a library patron.
"The men's bathroom in my library often becomes a toxicality by day's end."
Linguification - the creation of new words solely for the purpose of demonstrating that we can create new words whenever we damn well feel like it.
Checkoutable -- the characteristic that allows an item to exit the library facility.
Unfortunately, I panicked at one point and used this one today. I repent!
Able to be shipped out:
mailable
"No, that item's noncirculating, so it isn't mailable."
Cluicity- the extent to which a patron has a clue.
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