Oops!

Back on February 2 I posted that I thought I may have invented a new word. Insomniate. Perhaps engaging in or being personally involved with insomnia?

I also included this in that post - Yes, I did go to Merriam-Webster to check. This is what they had to say -

insomniate

The word you've entered isn't in the dictionary.

It turns out that I should have looked further. I recieved the following email the other day.


Stan,

Insomniate is in the OED. See below

I like your blog. I found it via Schott's Vocab.

Dave Goudy
Port Orchard WA

† in'somniate, v. Obs.
[irreg. f. L. in- (in-2) + sommus sleep + -ate3.]
trans. To put to sleep.
a1657 R. Loveday Lett. (1663) 267 A Mercurial Caducæus to insomniate the Argus-eyes of jealous people!

I am embarrassed to say that it never crossed what passes for my mind to check the OED!

Lesson learned.

I will leave you now with a smirkle on my face. Perhaps that may be a new word? A combination of a smirk and a chuckle?

By the way...No exact results found for "smirkle" in the Oxford dictionary. This is what the search results revealed -

"Did you mean smirkily?

Did you mean smirk?

Did you mean smirked?

Did you mean smirker?

Did you mean smirkier?

And...Smirkle, it turns out, isn't in the free Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, where you just searched."

I was also thinking of sniggle (a combination of snort and giggle) and a combination of chortle and guffaw, but I couldn't decide between guffortle and choffaw. Maybe I will just leave them to wander around the Word Farm for a bit.

All this because I seek to become more flatulent in my native language.