# Sniglet > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sniglet > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sniglet.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniglet > Source revision: 1339460203 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Term for a made-up word}} A '''sniglet''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|n|ɪ|g|l|ɪ|t}}) is an often humorous word made up to describe something for which no dictionary word exists. Introduced in the 1980s TV comedy series ''[Not Necessarily the News](/source/Not_Necessarily_the_News)'', sniglets were generated and published in significant numbers, along with submissions by fans, in several books by [Rich Hall](/source/Rich_Hall), beginning with his ''Sniglets'', ''Sniglets for Kids'', and ''More Sniglets'' in the mid-1980s.{{cite news| url= http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-17/milkshake-duck-theres-nothing-new-about-invented-words/9336600| title= Milkshake duck, sniglets and why there's nothing new about invented words| first= Roslyn |last= Petelin| date= 17 January 2018| website= abc.net.au| access-date= 16 July 2018}}. ==Origin== ===Development by Rich Hall=== The term ''sniglet'' was conceived by comedian [Rich Hall](/source/Rich_Hall) during his tenure on the 1980s [HBO](/source/HBO) comedy series ''[Not Necessarily the News](/source/Not_Necessarily_the_News)''.{{cite web|last=Wallraff|first=Barbara|title=Shouldn't There Be a Word ... ?|date=1 March 2006|work=The American Scholar|url=https://theamericanscholar.org/shouldnt-there-be-a-word/|access-date=28 May 2018}} Each monthly episode featured a regular segment on sniglets, which Hall described as "any word that doesn't appear in the dictionary, but should". In 1984, a collection of sniglets was published by Hall, titled ''Sniglets (snig' lit: any word that doesn't appear in the dictionary, but should)''.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/snigletssniglita00hall|title=Sniglets (snig'lit): any word that doesn't appear in the dictionary, but should|last=Hall|first=Rich|date=1984-01-01|publisher=Collier Books|isbn=0020125402|location=New York}} This was followed by a "daily comic panel" in newspapers, four more books, a game, and a calendar.{{cite book | last = Metcalf | first = Alan | year = 2002 | title = Predicting New Words: The Secrets of Their Success | page = [https://archive.org/details/predictingnewwor00alla/page/23 23] | isbn = 0618130063 | publisher = [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt](/source/Houghton_Mifflin_Harcourt) | url = https://archive.org/details/predictingnewwor00alla/page/23 }} Many sniglets are [portmanteau](/source/portmanteau) words, a comic style often traced to [Lewis Carroll](/source/Lewis_Carroll).{{citation needed|date=April 2016}} The Hall books have their entries arranged in alphabetical order, like a dictionary, with information on how to pronounce the word, a definition, and sometimes an illustration. The original book has two appendices, "Anatomical Sniglets" and "Extra Added Bonus Section for Poets", and ''More Sniglets'' includes an "Audio-Visual Sniglets" section. All five books included an "Official Sniglets Entry Blank", beginning, "Dear Rich: Here's my sniglet, which is every bit as clever as any in this dictionary." The ''Game of Sniglets'' is a board game in which players try to identify the official sniglet from a list that also includes sniglets created by fellow participants to go along with a provided definition.{{Cite web| url= http://www.blippee.com/game-instructions/instructions-games-gang-sniglets.pdf|title=The Game of Sniglets Playing Instructions|website= Blippee.com|access-date=2016-04-06}} Players earn points by either guessing which word is the official sniglet or by having their word chosen as the best candidate; the points earned determine how many spaces players can advance on the game board. The game instructions offer suggestions for creating a new sniglet, such as combining or [blend](/source/Blend_word)ing words; changing the spelling of a word related to the definition; or creating new, purely [nonsensical words](/source/nonsense_word). ===Precursors=== In 1914, humorist [Gelett Burgess](/source/Gelett_Burgess) published a dictionary of original [neologism](/source/neologism)s, ''Burgess Unabridged: A New Dictionary of Words You Have Always Needed''. Humor writer [Paul Jennings](/source/Paul_Jennings_(UK_author)) had published made-up meanings of real place-names in a 1963 essay appearing in ''The Jenguin Pennings''.[https://audioboom.com/posts/2655528-ware-wye-watford ''Ware, Wye, Watford'', read by the author.] Author [Douglas Adams](/source/Douglas_Adams), while travelling with British comedy producer [John Lloyd](/source/John_Lloyd_(producer)), suggested they play a game he had learned at school in which players were challenged to make up plausible word definitions for place names taken from road maps; the definitions they came up with were later incorporated into a 1983 book, ''[The Meaning of Liff](/source/The_Meaning_of_Liff)''.Gartner, Michael (15 March 1987). [https://archive.today/20130131212915/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/newsday/access/104356826.html?dids=104356826:104356826&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+15,+1987&author=By+Michael+Gartner&pub=Newsday+(Combined+editions)&desc=WORDS&pqatl=google Words], ''[Newsday](/source/Newsday)''{{cite book|title=Nebulae of discourse: interpretation, textuality and the subject|first=Wojciech|last=Kalaga|year=1997|publisher=Peter Lang Pub.|isbn=082043289X}}{{cite book|title=Limits of Language: Almost Everything You Didn't Know about Language and Languages|first=Mikael|last=Parkvall|year=2006|publisher=William James & Company|isbn=1590281985}} The similarities and relationship between the content of this book and the Hall concept of sniglets is noted, by Barbara Wallraff, in ''Word Court'' (2001).{{cite book | author = Wallraff, Barbara | year = 2001 | title = Word Court: Wherein Verbal Virtue Is Rewarded, Crimes Against the Language Are Punished, and Poetic Justice Is Done | page = 306 | isbn = 0544109937 | location = New York | publisher = Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | url = https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0544109937 | access-date = 2 April 2016 }} Douglas Adams believed that when the format of Lloyd's satirical TV show ''[Not the Nine O'Clock News](/source/Not_the_Nine_O'Clock_News)'' was sold to America—where it became ''[Not Necessarily the News](/source/Not_Necessarily_the_News)''—the producers also took the made-up word definition concept, which became the sniglets popularized by Hall.{{cite web | author1 = Adams, Douglas | author2 = Pearlman, Gregg | name-list-style = amp | date = 1987-03-27 | title = Exclusive Interview With Douglas Adams (Author of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'') | url = http://www.liquivista.com/eeeeeegp/NotGiants/Projects/Adams.html | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130923091354/http://www.liquivista.com/eeeeeegp/NotGiants/Projects/Adams.html | archive-date = 2013-09-23 }} ==Beyond comedy== In a 1990 interview, Hall was asked if the "Sniglets books [were] completely for comic value?" He answered,{{quote|Yeah. Well, no. I wouldn't say they're completely for comic value. I mean, I get letters from schools all the time saying how they've incorporated a sniglet book into their reading program. You can look at a lot of the words and sort of break them down into their [etymological](/source/etymological) origins. And you can learn a lot about how and where words derive from. When you assign this frailty of human nature a word, then the word has to work. It has to either be a hybrid of several other words, or have a [Latin](/source/Latin) origin, or something.{{cite journal | author = Lerner, Reuven M. | date = 1990-09-25 | title = An interview with Rich Hall | journal = The Tech |publisher=[MIT](/source/MIT) | volume = 110 | issue = 37 | page = 10 | url = http://tech.mit.edu/V110/N37/hall.37a.html }}}} Anne Wescott Dodd's ''A Handbook for Substitute Teachers'' (1989){{Cite book|title=A Handbook for Substitute Teachers |last= Dodd| first= Anne| publisher= C.C. Thomas|year=1989|isbn=0398055394|location=Springfield, Ill.}} and Marcia L. Tate's ''Reading and Language Arts Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites: 20 Literacy Strategies That Engage the Brain'' (2005){{cite book|title= Reading and Language Arts Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites: 20 Literacy Strategies That Engage the Brain |first= Marcia |publisher= Corwin Press|year=2005|isbn=1412915104|location=Thousand Oaks, California|author=Tate}} suggest creating sniglets as a classroom activity, and so bear out his claim. Popular English language experts such as [Richard Lederer](/source/Richard_Lederer_(writer)) and [Barbara Wallraff](/source/Barbara_Wallraff) have noted sniglets in their books, ''The Miracle of Language''{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780671028114/page/58|title=The Miracle of Language|first=Richard|publisher=Pocket Books|year=1999|isbn=0671028111|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780671028114/page/58 58]|author=Lederer}} and ''Word Court: Wherein Verbal Virtue Is Rewarded, Crimes Against the Language Are Punished, and Poetic Justice Is Done'', respectively. Barbara Wallraff has borrowed the idea for her book ''Word Fugitives: In Pursuit of Wanted Words'', where "word fugitives" is her term for invented words.{{Cite book |title=Word Fugitives: In Pursuit of Wanted Words |last=Wallraff |first=Barbara |publisher=Harper |year=2006 |isbn=0060832738 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/wordfugitives0000wall/page/5 5] |url=https://archive.org/details/wordfugitives0000wall/page/5 }} Wallraff's ''[Atlantic Monthly](/source/Atlantic_Monthly)'' column "Word Fugitives"{{Cite web| url= https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/fugitives/index.htm |title= Word Fugitives | website= The Atlantic |access-date=2016-04-06}} features words invented by readers, although they had to be [pun](/source/pun)s, which many sniglets are not.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}} ==Examples== * Aquadextrous: possessing the ability to turn the bathtub faucet with the toes.{{Cite book|title=Sniglets|last=Hall|first=Rich|publisher=Macmillan Publishing Company|year=1984|isbn=0-02-012530-5|location=New York|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/snigletssniglita00hall}} * Castcaspers: dead actors who appear on television.{{Cite web|url=https://www.astro.umd.edu/~avondale/extra/Humor/MiscellaneousHumor/Sniglets.html|title=Sniglets|website=www.astro.umd.edu|access-date=2016-08-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920222001/https://www.astro.umd.edu/~avondale/extra/Humor/MiscellaneousHumor/Sniglets.html|archive-date=20 September 2016 |url-status=dead}} * Chwads: discarded gum found beneath tables and countertops. * Essoasso: One who swerves through a service station to avoid a red light. * Glutetic chair: the chair design found in movie theaters. * Icelanche: When ice at the bottom of an upturned glass suddenly moves toward the mouth as one attempts to finish drinking the liquid. * Jokesult: When someone insults you, you call them on it, and they say, "It was just a joke." * Larry: a frayed toothbrush. * Premblememblemation: The act of checking that a letter is in a mailbox after it has been dropped. * Snackmosphere: the pocket of air found inside snack and/or potato chip bags. * Terma helper: The extra verbiage used to stretch a 600-word essay to the required 1000. * Toboggan hagen: a large ice cream sundae. *Eyes-Hockey: The substance found in the corner of your eye in the morning. *Pursabyss: where unrecovered belongings reside within a woman's handbag. ==In popular culture== [Homer Simpson](/source/Homer_Simpson), a [fiction](/source/fiction)al character of the animated television series ''[The Simpsons](/source/The_Simpsons)'', suggests ''Son of Sniglet'' as a good book to name as a favorite and a life influence when he is completing his college application in the episode "[Homer Goes to College](/source/Homer_Goes_to_College)".{{cite book | author= Groening, Matt | year = 1997 | title= The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family | page = 122 | isbn =978-1435245471 }} The fictional character [Dale Gribble](/source/Dale_Gribble) in the animated television series ''[King of the Hill](/source/King_of_the_Hill)'' explains his inappropriate laughter upon successfully sabotaging a new relationship of fellow character [Bill Dauterive](/source/Bill_Dauterive), saying "just remembered a funny sniglet!"{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1188294/|title=King of the Hill : Episode "Untitled Blake McCormack Project" (2008)|website=IMDb.com|access-date=2016-04-06}} The satirical newspaper ''[The Onion](/source/The_Onion)'' published an article in 2001 mocking sniglets as an obscure fad.{{cite journal | date = 2001-03-28 | title = Man Won't Stop Coming Up With New Sniglets|journal=The Onion | volume = 37 | issue = 11 | url = https://local.theonion.com/man-wont-stop-coming-up-with-new-sniglets-1819565982 | access-date =2018-09-09 }} ==See also== {{div col|colwidth=22em}} * [Daffynition](/source/Daffynition) * [Dord](/source/Dord) * [Eggcorn](/source/Eggcorn) * [Jabberwocky](/source/Jabberwocky) * [Mondegreen](/source/Mondegreen) * [Phono-semantic matching](/source/Phono-semantic_matching) {{div col end}} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Further reading== === Primary sources === Rich Hall released several volumes of collected sniglets, illustrated by Arnie Ten: * {{cite book | url = https://archive.org/details/snigletssniglita00hall | title = Sniglets (snig'lit): Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, but Should | first = Rich | publisher = Macmillan | others = Illustrated by Arnie Ten | year = 1984 | isbn = 0020125305 | location = New York, NY | author = Hall | url-access = registration }} * {{cite book | title = Sniglets for Kids | year = 1985 | isbn = 0899543979 }}{{full citation needed|date=April 2016}} * {{cite book | url = https://archive.org/details/moresnigletssnig00hall | title = More Sniglets (snig'lit): Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, but Should | first = Rich | publisher = Macmillan | others = Illustrated by Arnie Ten | year = 1985 | isbn = 0020125607 | location = New York, NY | author = Hall }} * {{cite book | url =https://archive.org/details/unexplainedsnigl00hall| url-access =registration| title = Unexplained Sniglets of the Universe (snig'lit): Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, but Should |first=Rich| publisher = Macmillan |others=Illustrated by Arnie Ten| year = 1986 | isbn = 002040400X | location = New York, NY | author =Hall }} * {{cite book | url = https://archive.org/details/angryyoungsnigle00hall | title = Angry Young Sniglets (snig'lit): Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, but Should | first = Rich | publisher = Macmillan | others = Illustrated by Arnie Ten | year = 1987 | isbn = 002012600X | location = New York, NY | author = Hall }} * {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780020404415|title=When Sniglets Ruled the Earth (snig'lit): Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, but Should|first=Rich|publisher=Macmillan|others=Illustrated by Arnie Ten|year=1989|isbn=0020404417|editor-last=Slichter|editor-first=Ann|location=New York, NY|editor-last2=Tourk Lee|editor-first2=Pat|author=Hall}} * ''Game of Sniglets'' (1990), {{OCLC|25494206}}.{{full citation needed|date=April 2016}} * ''Sniglet a Day – 1994 Calendar'' (1993), {{ISBN|0836273796}}.{{full citation needed|date=April 2016}} ==External links== {{Wiktionary|sniglet}} * {{cite web|url=http://msgboard.snopes.com/message/ultimatebb.php?/ubb/get_topic/f/95/t/000699/p/1.html|title=snopes.com: Don't you have a word for...?|work=snopes.com|access-date=3 April 2016}} * [http://www.arnieten.com/ Arnie Ten official website] Category:1980s neologisms Category:Nonce words Category:Protologisms Category:1980s in comedy --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sniglet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniglet) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniglet?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.