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Isn't this the case for every word? I would cut off my right hand if you found, for example, the word banana in old texts from the time before bananas were disc
by yiyus 11y ago
Isn't this the case for every word? I would cut off my right hand if you found, for example, the word banana in old texts from the time before bananas were discovered.
- maxerickson 11y agoIt's fortunate that the presence in the text would be evidence of earlier discovery. (I think I get what you meant, but it's hard to express that meaning succinctly and not fall into the above trap)
- wodenokoto 11y agoI think the word googolplex was invented before anyone really needed it. But I agree with you, that it would generally be silly to invent words for concepts that have not yet been met by any speakers.
- yiyus 11y agoIndeed, there are some exceptions. In the book "La Colmena" (I guess it is called "The Hive" in English), by Camilo Jose Cela, there is a man who invents words. He meets with writers in a café, and all of them listen to him with much expectation: "did you invent any new word, master?" and he says something like "Bizcotur" and everybody acclaims him: "Wonderful!", "Sublime!".