2 thoughts on “I know of no more enjoyable intellectual activity than working on a dictionary.”
Hey Erin,
I loved your Ted talk and agree completely. I wanted to give you a word I’ve been using for a while and my friends have caught on. It’s ‘pushthroughitiveness’ and it is a far more descriptive word for pushing through despite all obstacles, than determination or tenacity or hanging in there, or similar words. I hope you love it.
I loved what you said about making up our own words! I do so often. HUGENORMOUS (usually in all caps both for shouting and effect) is one of them same for GINORMOUS… Hugenormus is a combination of huge and enormous and is smaller than Ginorumous, which is a combo of giant and enormous. I also use firefly as a verb meaning to cancel a program before it’s time also to be Fireflied as in having something canceled on you before you ever knew what was coming. Then perhaps my most crass though I love kids would be calling them “crotch-fruit” this struck me after so many friends spoke of their kids as the “fruits” of their labor.. I’m thrilled to know I’m not the only one adding strangeness to the English language. I enjoyed your TED talk very much.
Erin McKean's Other Blog 
Hey Erin,
I loved your Ted talk and agree completely. I wanted to give you a word I’ve been using for a while and my friends have caught on. It’s ‘pushthroughitiveness’ and it is a far more descriptive word for pushing through despite all obstacles, than determination or tenacity or hanging in there, or similar words. I hope you love it.
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I loved what you said about making up our own words! I do so often. HUGENORMOUS (usually in all caps both for shouting and effect) is one of them same for GINORMOUS… Hugenormus is a combination of huge and enormous and is smaller than Ginorumous, which is a combo of giant and enormous. I also use firefly as a verb meaning to cancel a program before it’s time also to be Fireflied as in having something canceled on you before you ever knew what was coming. Then perhaps my most crass though I love kids would be calling them “crotch-fruit” this struck me after so many friends spoke of their kids as the “fruits” of their labor.. I’m thrilled to know I’m not the only one adding strangeness to the English language. I enjoyed your TED talk very much.
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