WEBVTT 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm a lexicographer. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I make dictionaries. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And my job as a lexicographer 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is to try to put all the words 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 possible into the dictionary 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 My job is not to decide what a word is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that is your job 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 everybody who speaks english 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 decides together what's a word and what's not a word 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 every language is just a group of people 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who agree to understand each other 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 now sometimes when people 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are trying to decide if a word is good or bad 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they don't really have a good reason 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they say something like, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "because, grammar!" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Laughter). 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and i don't actually care about grammar too much 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 don't tell anyone 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but the word grammar-- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 actually, there are two kinds of grammar 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there's the kind of grammar that kind of lives inside your brain 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if you're a native speaker of a language or a good speaker of a language 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's the unconscious rules that you follow 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when you speak that language 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and this is what you learn 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when you learn an language as a child 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 here's an example 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this is a wog 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 right, it's a wug 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now there is another one 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there are two of these 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there are two 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (audience): wugs 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 exactly! you know how to make 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the plural of wug 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that rule lives in your brain 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you never had to be taught this rule 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you just understand it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this is a experiment that was invented 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 by a professor 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at boston college 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 named jean burco0gleesin 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 back in 1958 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so we've been talking about this for a long time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 now these kinds of natural 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 rules that exist in your brain 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there's not like traffic laws 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there more like laws of nature 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and nobody has to remind you to obey 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a law of nature, right? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when you leave the house in the morning 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 your mom doesn't say, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "hey honey, it's going to be cold 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 take a hoodie, don't forget to obey the law of gravity" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 no body says this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 laughter 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 now there are other rules 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that are more about manners than they are about nature 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so you can think of like 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a word is like a hat 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 once you know how hats work 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 nobody has to tell you 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 don't wear hats on your feet 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what they have to tell you is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 can you wear hats inside 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who gets to wear a hat 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what are the kinds of hats you get to wear 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 those are more of the second kind of grammar 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that linguists often call usage 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as opposed togrammar 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 now, sometimes people use 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this kind of rules-based grammar 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to discourage people from 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 making up words 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and i think that is, well, stupid 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so for example, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 people are always telling you, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "be creative, make music 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 do art, invent things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 science and technology" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but when it comes to words, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they're like 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "don't! no. creativity stops right here, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 whipper-snappers, give it a rest" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but, that makes no sense to me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 words are great 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we should have more of them 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 i want you to make as many new words as possible 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I'm going to tell you six ways 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that you can use to make new words 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the first way is the simplest way 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 basically, steal them from other languages 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 linguists call this borrwing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but we never give the words back 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so I'm just going to be honest 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and call it stealing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we usually take words for things that we like 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like delicious food 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we took cumquat from chinese, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we took caramel from french 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we also take words for cool things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like ninja, right? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we took that from japanese 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which is kind of a cool 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 trick cause ninjas are hard to steal from 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (laugter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so another way that you can make 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 words in english is by squishing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 two toehr english words together 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's called compounding 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 words in english are like legos 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if you use enough force 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can put any two of them together 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we do this all the time in english 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 words like heartbroken 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 bookworm, sandcastle 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 all are compounds 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so go ahead and make words 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like duck face, just don't make duckface 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 another way you can make words in english 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is kind of like compounding 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but instead you use so much force 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when you squish the words together 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that some parts fall off 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so these are blend words 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like brunch 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is a blend of breakfast and lunch 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 motel is a blend of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 motor and hotel 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who here knew that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 motel was a blend word? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 yeah, that word is like so old 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in english that lots of people don't know that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there are parts missing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 edutainment is a blend word 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of education and entertainment 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and of course electrocute 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is a blend of electric and execute 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can also make words by chaning 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 how they operate 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this is called functional shift 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you take one word that acts 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as one part of speech 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you change it into another part of speech 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 okay, who here knew that "friend" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 hasn't always been a verb? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 friend, used to be noun 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then we verbed it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 almost any word in english can be verbed 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can also take adjectives 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and make them into nouns 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 commercial use to be an adjective 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and now it's a noun 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can green things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 another way to make words 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in english is backformation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can take a word 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and kind of squish it down a little bit 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so for example, we had the word 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 editor before we had the word edit 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 edit was formed from editor 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 sometimes back-formations sound 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a little silly 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 bulldozers bulldoze 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 butlers butle 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and burglers burgle 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 another way to make words in english 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is to take the first letters of something 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and squish them together 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So National Aeronautics and Space Administration 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 becomes NASA 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and of course you can do this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with anything--OMG! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, it doesn't matter how silly 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the words are 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they can be really good words of english 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 absquatulate is a perfectly good word of english 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 mugwhump is a perfectly goo word of english 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 words don't have to sound normal 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they can sound really silly 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 why should you make words? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you should make words because every word 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is a chance to express your idea 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and get your meaning across 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and new words grab people's attention 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they get people to focus on what you're saying 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and that gives you a better chance 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to get your meaning across 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a lot of people on the stage have said, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "in the future, you can do this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can help with this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can help explore 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can help us invent" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can make a new word now 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 english has no age limit 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 go ahead 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 start making words today 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 send them to me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and ill put them in my online 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 dictionary word bank 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Thank you so much 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Applause).