the challenge
Our creative challenge for today is to invent a new word. As simple as that.
With the Dictionary Prim, our goal is to use a Seed as an inspiration for a new entry in the dictionary. And the random Seed I got is from the seempli ReShape collection.
Let’s give it a try.
my insight
Here’s the word I came up with together with its “formal” definition.
time·zon
/tīmzən/noun
The time horizon. The farthest point of time one can imagine in the future or in the past. The end of time.
“He felt he would love her until the timezen”
reflection
I was lucky to get a ReShape Seed when playing with the Dictionary Prism. I think that inventing a word based on a visual trigger makes the challenge easier. Using a textual trigger would be much more difficult because I would need to break free from the text already in front of me.
The visual cue on the Seed looks like a sand clock. At the same time, one might see it as an endless corridor — its ceiling and floor are meeting on the horizon. The word I invented just takes and combines the two ideas.
It’s not every day that we get a chance to invent a new word. Children do it all the time. First very naively, and later by deliberately using language as a playground. Adults seldom do it. We are surrounded by too many words as it is, you might think. The point is that playing with language, extending it, breaking it and later reconstructing it, is just like using raw material to create an artwork or to build something new.
And sometimes, inventing a new word also changes your perspective: it makes you think about something you haven’t until now.
mental notes
- Language is a playground.
- Inventing new words is an invitation to see things differently.
now it is your turn… be creative!