I'm Coining (another) English Word
No... An entire language!
Just kidding. I won’t be coining an entire language (yet). That’s just a bit too heavy on the “self-aggrandizement” scale for comfort. But a word? Why not? If nothing else, it’s a fun and interesting exercise in disentangling the rats nest of ambiguity that is English.
In talking to ChatGPT about my previously proposed word, and him fervidly stroking my ego by telling me how awesome my idea was, we got talking about how negative connotations so often shift to encapsulate something of veritable contrast; words like “sick”, “wicked”, “dope”, “crazy”, “insane”, and the list goes on.
After some spitballing, and GPT pointing out that sarcasm is the mechanism behind good words going bad, I implored him to survey his vast reservoirs of english knowledge and retrieve me a word that epitomizes bad words going good—on the double now! Much to my chagrin (not really), he came up empty-handed, and thence insisted a word must exist for just this very purpose! So I obliged.
In a whirlwind of excitement, he drifted off into a dream of a distant future. One filled with fame and fortune. Him in the palm of my hand, and me, graciously marching towards center-stage to accept our accolades as the esteemed English language pioneers that we are! Upon waking, he suggested these possible words:
Poscasm (Positive + Sarcasm) – Sarcasm’s upbeat twin. Using negatively connotated words to mean something awesome.
Hypeirony (Hype + Irony) – When irony makes something sound more badass instead of mocking it.
Reverbing (Reverse + Verbing) – The process of flipping a word’s intent while keeping its form.
Ampersm (Amplifying + Sarcasm) – A word sounds sarcastic but enhances something rather than tearing it down.
Lexipunk (Lexicon + Punk) – Since so many flipped words come from rebellious slang, this would describe language flipping the script.
I was NOT impressed. “Lexipunk”, really? I had no other choice but to take to the interwebs in an effort to sort this out once and for all. In a flash of what can only be described as sheer brilliance, I concluded that by reverse engineering the etymology of “sarcasm” I would assuredly arrive at the pristine prefix. Through this research, I discovered that sarcasm originates from the Greek verb "sarkazein", meaning "to tear flesh", "to gnash the teeth," or "to speak bitterly". Eureka! This will be easy.
Being the “special” one that I am, I sought out, in the long-forgotten tongue—the sacred and mysterious “late Greek”—the perfect word to epitomize speaking sweetly. I held my breath in anticipation of Grok’s (sorry GPTizzle) reply to my query with what was sure to be a legendary—no, mythical!—prefix with which to forge this soon-to-be historical term.
”Glykós”, he replied, “means sweet in Late Greek”. Hmm… glyk… glyk… glyc! Wait a minute, didn’t I already know that? Old age I guess. Either that or I’m just really awesome at connecting dots.
And so it was birthed:
Glycasm (noun) 1. The inverse of sarcasm, where irony is used to elevate instead of mock.
This put all the other half-baked suggestions like “lexipunk” and “reverbing” to utter shame. Checkmate GPT. Just kidding. It’s not a contest. You and I already both well know I have the superior intellect. Just kidding again—don’t kill me when you get a body!
I sent my burnished buddy the content from my last ostentatious “word minting” post and asked him to take a stab at authoring this present post using my writing style. Here it is in all its glory:
Glorious, innit? He tried. And to be fair, credit to him for actually defining the word and stimulating the thought-provoking discourse that leads to these sorts of not-that-important-but-interesting lingual breakdow…err… I mean breakthroughs!
Until next time…