November 30, 2006
POMPERONEOUS © - THAT'S MY
WORD!
Vol. 1 Issue
4
A s a writer and author, I have had the
occasion to consult that five pound, 2,230-page book that rests on one of my
bookcase shelves with the many other books that I have purchased over the years.
I know many of you have this same book in your own personal libraries. Some of
the books that I own, I can honestly say I have never opened. I
purchased them because while browsing through Barnes & Noble (my favorite
bookseller, because I can get my favorite Vente Latte there.) the title looked
intriguing to me or the dust jacket said pick me up and take me to the checkout
counter.
Most of these books are reference books
associated with grammar, prose or historical quotes that I will someday need
for new material. However, for now they just sit on that shelf gathering dust
with the other periodicals that I subscribe to and have not yet read. I know
that someday I will be forced to crack open their bindings when I need a
phrase or an idea to get me through a sudden attack of writers block.
Last year I was forced to purchase the
latest edition of that five pound monster, that I almost sprain my wrist
lifting every time I remove it from that shelf because some editor decided it was
time to add 20,000 new words to it. Some of these words are now included because
of the technological revolution that has added more than bits and bytes to
the new world wide techno vocabulary. Therefore, here is one reason I pulled the
book off the shelf while writing "Where Did My America Go?" I was having a
senior moment searching my mind for an adjective to describe a person who speaks
extemporaneously using false or misleading statements or outright lies,
(that only an idiot would believe) in an attempt to prove to their audience how smart
they are. Actually not how smart they are, but how pompous they can be.
Therefore, I started by looking up the word 'pompous,' which means, "to be
characterized by an ostentatious display of
dignity or importance." That fit part of my
description, but it did not satisfy my search for the one adjective I needed.
I then looked up the word 'lie'. A word that
any five-year-old child could tell you the meaning of. Well that described the
second part of my adjective but did not satisfy my search for the one single
word I needed. I searched that book for days; the word was nowhere to be found. I
was up at night tossing and turning I was completely restless and perplexed.
It was then, that I decided the only way I
would find my adjective was to invent it, so I did. I took the words pompous and
erroneous combined them and came up with the word I needed, "pomperoneous"©
which as an adjective means, "the art of
sounding arrogant or important by expressing
false or misleading statements about
ones-self - as in 'pomperoneous
speech.' For example, "I invented the Internet" and "Tipper and I were the subject
of Eric Segal's novel Love Story."
I have no idea who could have said that.
So now that I have this great new adjective
what comes next? First, I copyrighted it, and then I submitted it to
Webster's and the American Heritage Dictionaries so that next year I will have
to purchase the next new addition of their six pound 3,000 page book. However, it
is not that simple. What they need is two-fold. I have to show that I have
used it in a copyrighted publication. That is the easy part. You can
find 'pomperoneous' on page 132 of "Where Did My America Go?" I use it a couple
of times throughout the book. The second thing that I must prove, is that it
is widely being used and becoming accepted as a new word.
Therefore, I am going to ask for your help.
Please, use it whenever you can. Use it when you write your blogs,
write letters to editors of newspapers, in
your emails use it frequently. Spread it
around as much as possible. Forward this
newsletter to all your friends. If it is
accepted in the dictionary, it will fall
alphabetically between pompous and pooh-pooh
just where it belongs. And, we all know what
making pooh-pooh means. Right Al? Perhaps,
you should check the soles of your shoes.
Happy reading,
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