Copepidy!

Okay, I have no idea what that title means - I doubt it's even a word! It was the verification word I had to type in while commenting on someone else's blog today, and it just struck me as the funniest, cutest word I'd heard all day. I think I'll keep it!

I love being a writer! You get to do things like that - make up words. The feeling of power is awesome.

A "brumble" of thunder in the distance showed up in my first novel.

Think of Tim Allen, and a bunch of little green men chanting "Grignak! Grignak!"

Look at the Klingons for crying out loud - they've got an entire language of their own.

Of course, with great power comes great responsibility.

For example:

Some cartoonist/screenwriter thought "yabba dabba doo!" sounded good, and it became a legendary saying! Ask anyone now, forty+ years later, and that person could probably tell you who said it!

Tolkien, for example, created a new race of creatures called "orcs" for his Lord of the Rings series. Now look what's happened - his theretofore unheard of species now has a place in the Fantasy Role Playing Hall of Fame!

Ray Bradbury decided his starships needed a regular enemy to fear and fight and the next thing you know, an entire subculture knows how to swear at each other in a language that never existed pre-1960.(Swearing in "tlhIngan Hol", the Klingon language, is an art form embraced with fervor by hard-core Trekkies - books have been written about it and you can even get lessons if you know the right sources! And NO, I am NOT making that up! Click here to be taken to The Klingon Language Institute online. See, I told you I wasn't making it up!)

So, enjoy the power of creating new words, but use it wisely. You never know what you might start that could be held against you for the rest of eternity!


Copepidy!!


or, in Klingon:

Hab SoSlI' Quch!

(Note: this is a powerful insult; don't say it to friends.)