Photo by: autumn_bliss (Flickr)
Do you ever begin to write something (anything) and then a new word pops into your head and somehow you work it into your sentence, only to wonder later, “Wait — did I just make this word up or is it a real word?” You look down at this alien word before you and you genuinely believe in your entire being that the word works. Do you pass it off like you know what you’re talking about and risk the possible embarrassment of someone calling you out on your faux pas of it being a phony word? Or — do you erase it and find a word that you know exists in the human language? Or none of the above?
Earlier this evening I was posting on a message board when I used the word, “guise”. In my head, for some reason, the word suddenly became foreign to me. I began to question everything about it. I wanted to say that I used it correctly because it sounded right but what if I was wrong? So instead of just accepting my choice of words, clicking submit, and being done with the particular thread I was reading, I had to stop and look up the word. I had to verify its very existence.
It exists and I used it right. Whew. Seriously, though — close call. My next attempt to inject new vocabulary into my words (written or otherwise) may not turn out the way I had hoped. (Wait — why is inject suddenly sounding off to me?)
I wonder why it is that words we know exist or use often suddenly get switched up in our brain and we begin to question them as being real or question its usage. (Or does that sound completely nutty?) Maybe it’s my brains way of saying, “Feed me more vocabulary.. Nom Nom.” (Or maybe it’s my brain’s way of saying LET ME SLEEP! As I haven’t had a full nights rest in 10.5 months.)
I am not completely alone here, am I? You’ve either made up words or thought you MAY have made up words, right?
Right?
Okay, good.
