While trying to decide what to write about today, I stumbled on words invented by writers. It makes sense that language -- all languages -- are invented, though language is an innate part of being human.
Dr. Seuss invented "nerd," in If I Ran the Zoo. Lewis Carroll created "chortle," a portmanteau of chuckle and snort. J.R.R. Tolkien invented "tween." He used it to describe hobbits between the ages of 20 and 33. Charles Dickens came up with "butterfingers" in The Pickwick Papers, (which I have not read).
William Shakespeare invented over 2,000 new words! Surprisingly, "bump" is one of them.
There have been a lot of new words appearing in my lifetime. Brainwashing, fast food, UFO, and moisturizer (!) all appeared in the 1950s. Many of the more recent new words have to do with technology, which makes sense. Text-messaging, channel-surfing, blog, binge-watching, among others.
Some new words die a quick death, though not always painless. When I was in 6th grade in a small town in Wisconsin, my class created a new word, "cinch-ky," meaning it's a cinch. As in, "we have to do ten pull-ups? Cinch-ky!" It was very popular among the 5th and 6th graders, but it drove our teacher batty. She banned it and threatened that anyone who said it would have their mouth washed out with soap. This was the early 1960s. Policing your own vocabulary can be hard, especially for 10 and 11-year-olds, and one of my classmates said it, not to be disrespectful or provocative. It just slipped out.
The teacher made everyone leave the classroom except for the unfortunate boy. And yes, she washed his mouth with soap and water. No one used the word again, so she achieved her goal. No teacher could get away with that today, of course, and rightly so.
And maybe that's why cinchky never made it into the English language.