Another Rendezvous

It drives me crazy to see what some people do to the English language. They tack the suffix –wise to end of almost any word. They seem unaware that homonyms aren’t interchangeable. They make nouns into verbs and verbs into nouns at will. I have to force myself to remember this behavior is precisely what makes English a living language. You never see people adding new words or new usage to Latin, do you? One of my favorite authors, Lewis Carroll, loved to make up words when the ones in the dictionary seemed inadequate. Here are a few favorites: “slithy,” a combination of lithe and slimy; “mimsy,” which might be miserable and flimsy; “gallumping,” which can mean galloping triumphantly; and “frabjous,” which is either fair and joyous or fabulous and joyful. Then of course there’s “snark,” a creature you must watch out for. Because it might really be a "boojum" - you never can tell.