Rtfm 09 Say What? Poem by Stewart McKenzie

Rtfm 09 Say What?

Rating: 4.0


Where do words come from?
I never made one up -
Well, maybe one or two,
But they didn’t catch on.
I never knew anyone who made one up.
I never heard of anyone who made one up -
Except scientists,
Who were not much good at it,
And James Joyce,
Who was much too good at it.
No less a wordsmith than Shakespeare himself
Tried and failed,
Try these on your spellchecker -
Tortive? Propugnation? Assubjugate?
Humpty Dumpty did it better.
And yet my language is full of words,
And my world full of languages.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Michael Shepherd 30 March 2005

As a child, I coined 'dungeonary' which the whole family used with confidence. Later acquaintance with basement nightclubs confirmed its validity!

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