I like making up words, words that describe it as it is. Here’s a selection of my made-up words and phrases:

  • straightwards – adjective, the direction that is neither left or right. It is close to forwards but it MUST be linear.
  • huggle – noun, not quite a hug, not quite a cuddle.
  • sockle – noun, a sock for a small child.
  • panticles – noun, pants for a small child.
  • verb – verb, i.e. ‘you can verb anything these days’ means you can turn anything into a verb.
  • bobble – verb, to bounce along the ground on your bottom (bottom shuffling, what some babies do).
  • knee pits – the underside of knees
  • elbow pits – the underside of elbows
This is definitely a sockle

This is definitely a sockle

Here are a selection of words that someone like me probably made up, said to their friend, who said to their friends, and their friends. And one of those friends said it to someone who works for Oxford University Press in the dictionaries department. It was that word which have made it into the Oxford English Dictionary:

  • selfie
  • twerk
  • buzzworthy
  • jorts
  • omnishambles
  • vom

So the next time I read the list of new words added to the OED and I see one of mine I will open a bottle of champagne. I don’t think I will be walking straightwards after that.