Is there a word for the mark made when someone falls backward in snow?

Is there a word for the idiom "hanging by a thread"?

Is there a word for melted snow? Or a tangled lock of hair? Or the pricking, tingling, or burning sensation on the skin?

Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes! Sitzmark, filipendulous, snowbroth, elflock and paresthesia, respectively. I learned the words from "A Word a Day," a feature of Wordsmith.org.

As you know from my last two articles, I'm a big fan of Wordsmith.org. I always learn something from it, whether it be a word new to me or from the daily quote. A recurring theme — and my favorite of all the themes — is "There's a word for it," which is why I've created this critical thinking and vocabulary activity.

Instructions

Teacher preparation

1. Go to Wordsmith.org. Using Search, type "There's a word for it."

2. Scroll below the advertisements, and choose two or three words from the 10 pages of words that fit the theme.

3. Review this website for newly created words. Focus on only the words that have explanations for how they were created.

In class

1. On the board or overhead project, write the words you've chosen and ask students if they know what the words mean.

2. Work with students to dissect the words: What part of speech do students think each word is? Why do they think that? Depending on the course level, you may need to review parts of speech particularly verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs.

3. Show students example sentences with the words in them.

4. Explain that in English there are words for many — but not all — parts of speech. For example, there is no unique word for female cousin or male cousin as there is in other languages.

Likewise, there is no unique word for stepmother, stepfather, stepbrother or stepsister. You can explain, as Jacquelyn B. Fletcher does, the particular "anger, shame, pain, jealously [and] loyalty" that surrounds those traditional terms. (Depending on students' level, you can have them read Fletcher's article and discuss it before moving forward with this activity.)

Tell students they do not have to be constrained by reductive traditions; they can create their own words. Consider, for example, the now popular "to friend" and "to defriend," terms created because of Facebook.

5. Have students work individually, in pairs or in small groups for the next steps.

6. Have students review the list of newly created words and have them choose one (be sure to have them use only the words with explanations for how the words were created).

7. Ask students to write their choice on the board or overhead and explain to the class the word's definition and how it was created. So students do not repeat words, you may want to assign each student or group specific letters of the alphabet and ask them to choose from words beginning with that letter (Group 1: A, Group 2: B, Group 3: C, etc.).

8. Suggest to students an action (verb) that does not have a word for it. (Remind students to put the word in its infinitive form.) Here are a few to get you started. As far as I know, there are no words for the following:

  • When you stick your tongue to a frozen pole and can't remove your tongue (see the classic movie, "A Christmas Story").
  • Toothpaste dripping from your mouth and onto your pajama top, shirt or blouse.
  • Drinking hot chocolate with whipped cream and the whipped cream sticking to your nose.
  • Misplacing your keys, and after spending a lot of time searching for them, finding them. (Remind students to put the word in its infinitive form.)

Have students create sentences using the present-tense words they've created. Check to be sure the words are used appropriately (e.g., as a verb). Have students create past-tense and future-tense forms and create past- and future-tense sentences.

9. Suggest to students a person, place or thing (noun) that does not have a word for it; here are a few to get you started. As far as I know, there are no words for the following:

  • A person whose hair is half one color and half another color
  • A place that is thick with sweet-smelling pollution
  • A material that is hard until you touch it and then it becomes liquid

10. Suggest to students a description (adjective or adverb) that does not have a word for it. (Remind students that adverbs often end in "-ly."). Here are a few to get you started. As far as I know, there are no words for the following:

  • A flavor that is sweet, salty and spicy
  • Screeching loud laughter
  • Silent crying

Have students create sentences using words they've created. Check to be sure the words are used appropriately (e.g., as an adjective or adverb). See if students can create adverbs from their adjectives and vice versa.

11. Ask students what idioms they know. Choose two or three, and ask students to create a word for each idiom. Here are a few to get you started. As far as I know, there are no words for the following:

  • Cat got your tongue?
  • Icing on the cake
  • Third time is the charm

12. See if students can create sentences using the new parts of speech they've created e.g., one noun, one verb, one adjective and one adverb from their lists.

13. See if students can create sentences using the new words for idioms they've created.

14. Have students illustrate their work and present their work to the class. In their presentations, they should explain the process they used to create their words.