Go Ahead - Coin That New Word

In the PR game, words really matter. The well chosen or well-coined word can really change the discussion, raise awareness and influence decision-making.

Too often, we in PR fall back on old words, and as a result, we send the signal that we only have old things to say. Not good.

So go ahead and coin that new word, or try that new phrase. It just might be the key factor in the success of your campaign.

This post was prompted by a terrific William Safire column in this past Sunday's New York Times Magazine. The first part was about the rampant use of abbreviations, or as they are now being called, "abbreves."  A sample from the column:

Today, the fave (for “favorite”) abbreves are obvi (a shortening of “Thank you, Captain Obvious”) and belig (a clipping of “belligerent,” retaining the soft g). Nobody in the young-barflies crowd orders “the usual”; it’s the yoozh. My grandnephew Jesse concludes sentences with whatev, which is probs (for “probably”) “whatever.” In this cacophony of abbreves, word endings are scattered all over the floor. Go fig.

His second section was on the coinage of new words using "templates" of old words. (BTW, as he points out, a newly created word or phrase is called a "neologism" (knee-OL-o-ism)). Examples per Safire:

• Phrasal templates, e.g., "the mother of all [fill in the blank]"


• Single word templates, e.g., "[blank] chic", "[blank] point" (talking point, tipping point, etc.)


• Prefix and suffix templates, e.g., neo-, -oholic, -sphere

What these templates do for us is allow us to influence the discussion by talking about what we want to talk about in terms people already understand. So, for example, a  "TV-oholic"might be someone obsessed with TV, while "Obama-gate" is sure to be coined for the first scandal of the Obama Administration