this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2026
63 points (97.0% liked)

Ask Lemmy

37581 readers
914 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I have, twice that I can remember.

  • Nukamajig - microwave. I still use it from time to time because it's too stupid not to.
  • Miscombobulate - mixup and confuse. Just now, between the time it was and when the appartment building's laundry room was closed for the night.
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 1 points 1 hour ago
[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Swedish is awesome with compound words, say that you forget the Swedish word for "computer", "dator", you could just use "informationshanteringsmaskin" instead!

I used three words to make one compound word, the words I used was:

"Information", "hantering" and "maskin"

[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 1 points 44 minutes ago

Informationhandlingmachine ?

[–] shai_hulud@lemmy.world 5 points 6 hours ago

My partner says "pizza rind" for the crust edge that she won't eat.

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 4 points 6 hours ago

I have cryptolalia. So... squirtainly.

[–] Zexks@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Nukamajig is something id expect in fallout

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 2 points 2 hours ago
[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 4 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

I remember there was a reddit community about this for a while, but I can't remember what it was.

My favorite that I've used on occasion during a brain fart is 'food laundry' when I can't remember 'dishes'

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 2 points 2 hours ago

I love it lol

There's a similar thing called "sniglets" (words for things that don't have words).

[–] SeductiveTortoise@piefed.social 3 points 8 hours ago

A friend went through a lot of relationships last year and at one point I just lost track of their names so I started calling them a random woman's name which stuck, and now the whole group of friends refers to his various love interests with that name.

[–] Tonava@sopuli.xyz 6 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, since in my native language creating new words is a build-in feature (I'm finnish). You don't know what's that called? Forgot the word? A new thing that doesn't even have a word for it? Just slap two or more together and it's fine

[–] Pirtatogna@lemmy.world 6 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

Agglutinative/synthesizing language.

--Edit--

The way this works is by combining roots/stems, adding derivational suffixes and using transparent compounds. In effect you can create words for novel ideas that feel instantly clear to all the speakers of the language because the building blocks follow a set of familiar patterns and rules.

[–] Tonava@sopuli.xyz 3 points 7 hours ago

Yep. There's multiple layers to it as well, as you can make up compound words, and then you can do the "bending", adding specific endings to make the word mean whatever. You don't even really think about it, you just do it kinda naturally when needed.

For a random example today I used "ylöspäinkapuava", "(someone/something) climbing upwards". Ylös = up, päin = towards, ylöspäin = upwards, kavuta = to climb, kapuaa = someone/something climbs, kapuava = someone/something is climbing (adjective) -> ylöspäinkapuava. You could use "ylöskapuava" (up climbing) to make it simpler, but that leaves out some nuance and sounds more like just getting up after you fell down.

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 12 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

I have long covid, I'm in the menopause, and I deal with three separate languages each day.

Anyway, gulls are sea pigeons. You're welcome.

[–] turboSnail@piefed.europe.pub 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

And pigeons are flying rats.

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago

And doves are just pigeon racists.

[–] RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Sea pigeons works at least. Had a guy call an apple turnover an apple pasty. I mean, it's the same shape so yeah it works

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 2 points 2 hours ago

I thought that was just Britishese.

[–] hector@lemmy.today 3 points 13 hours ago

Ya it's an apple pasty, eh?

[–] Signtist@bookwyr.me 26 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

My family calls the TV remote a "gonk" because apparently my grandpa called it that once back when they were still a pretty new thing, and it stuck. My mom and her siblings passed it on to their own kids, and now there's just a small packet of people in Minnesota who call TV remotes gonks, much to the confusion of our peers.

[–] ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip 11 points 16 hours ago

This is exactly how hyper specific regional dialects get those extra weird words that're like how TF did this small town all start saying this word

[–] Demonmariner@lemmy.world 4 points 17 hours ago

That's silly. Everyone knows they are called motes.

[–] Perspectivist@feddit.uk 5 points 15 hours ago

Similar thing happens to me with certain subjects I mostly only ever discuss online in English or hear talked about on English-language podcasts.

Then when I try talking about them in my native language, I often realize I don't have the vocabulary for it. Depending on who I'm talking to, I'll either just drop the English term in there or have to pause and hunt for the closest equivalent in my own language - which isn't always easy.

[–] hypnicjerk@lemmy.world 17 points 20 hours ago (1 children)
[–] hector@lemmy.today 6 points 13 hours ago

That is one of the betterific ones I've seen.

[–] HenriVolney@sh.itjust.works 5 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Happends to me all the time, more so since I got COVID. Especially embarrassing when public speaking

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago

Fun fact: the average person loses 3 IQ points every time they get covid.

[–] Hackworth@piefed.ca 14 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

The cloth you put on your pillow to catch nap drool.

[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 13 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

i have sat staring at the word I wrote: "uv" trying to figure out why it was wrong

uv course

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] fubo@lemmy.world 4 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

There's the -dooj suffix, which means "a familiar thing that should be around here somewhere, and that has such-and-so quality." This is useful for asking questions like "Where's the ... the clickydooj?"

  • clickydooj — TV remote
  • stickydooj — roll of masking tape, wad of blue-tack, etc.
  • pokeydooj — sharp tool, digging stick, etc.
  • dogwalkydooj — leash
  • scoopydooj — ice cream scoop
  • pinchydoojes — tongs
[–] ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip 1 points 16 hours ago

I'm not seeing anything related to this do you have a source somewhere I can read up about it? I've always used "doohickey" in this way and I'm wondering if it's related

[–] Endmaker@ani.social 4 points 19 hours ago

In the context of sorting rubbish:

combustibles / flammables -> burnables

[–] moondoggie@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

I don’t intentionally make them up, it’s just what comes to me as my brain frantically tries to figure out the right word. Like “fish museum.”

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 1 points 2 hours ago
[–] fubo@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago

They caught all the fish and put 'em in a fish museum
And charge the people twenty-five bucks just to see 'em

[–] calamitycastle@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

I find using jawn helpful. I'm not from philly but it works everywhere

[–] troot@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 16 hours ago

I make words up for things I don't even forget because at this moment I know it's the right word. And I keep them.

[–] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago

Hippiepotamus

[–] beelzebum@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago (2 children)
[–] DrBob@lemmy.ca 4 points 19 hours ago

I am sad to report that this is already a word. My condolences.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (2 children)

chingadera

also

dakine/ da kine for general use

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] thinkercharmercoderfarmer@slrpnk.net 3 points 19 hours ago (3 children)

Omnitemporally, or put another way, circumclockularly. That's how words innoventually enter the lexicon.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›