This week I’m setting a creative challenge. It’s an apparently simple task, invent a word, and write the definition of it – as it would be entered in the Oxford English Dictionary.
That means that after you’ve explained its various meanings you need to show the history of your word. So:
- Where was it written?
- Who wrote it?
- What date was it first published?
- Quote a line from the publication that shows how your word was used.
- Include at least two more quotes from later publications that used your word and reference them with author, title and date.
This is a task that we were set on the Imaginative Writing BA, by the late Edmund Cusick. So far as I’m aware, he created this exercise.
Funnily enough, I’ve been thinking about the late, lamented Edmund recently following yet another friend’s untimely death. I remember that exercise; definitely a favourite since I so enjoy making up words. Lovely that you are keeping Edmund’s memory alive, Cath.
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Condolences, Ruth.
It’s one of my favourites too, and a great introduction to the OED. I spent a whole afternoon browsing the volumes for inspiration.
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OOh fabulous, I love a good rummage in the dictionary!
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