When I coined the term Lingovations (you must look this latter term up in Google), I had intended something very specific. It involved an artful melding of words to create a new word which better described something (i.e., an object, a situation, a feeling, etc.) than any other word already acknowledged and in common use in the English Language. More than a neologism, a Lingovation has a certain non-pop-culture zing , and is the product of much cerebration [my Asian friends will forgive this last word choice, as I had intended to describe "much thought," and not a comical mispronunciation of something which you might use to describe a "big party."]
No... A Slingovation is quite simply a made up word, or grouping of words (as might be used to describe a Law of Physics, a medical condition, a ceremony, a protocol, or just about anything -- my preference is to invent medical conditions, much like some of my distant acquaintances in the legal "class-action lawsuit business" are wont to do) which is used to mystify, qualify* or intimidate our audience. I like to use a Slingovation every so often, with great conviction to see if people will nod their heads in vigorous agreement, as if they knew what I was talking about.
Sometimes, if a Slingovation sounds reminiscent of a more familiar word or grouping of words, it can be doubly funny. These are like malaprops, but are premeditated.
Just last week I mentioned to a scholarly-looking fellow at a local Dunkin' Donuts -- try their iced coffee to truly understand what is meant by "America runs on Dunkin'!" -- that the economy was suffering due to "sociological deprofriation." He said, "Damn right." He was not a law enforcement officer, by the way. I believe that he was probably a state legislator.
Douglas E Castle
p.s. A Note follows.
Note: A brief list of a few cute Slingovations might include: asbestosis, deniable plausibility, limpococcus, Glaubner's Syndrome, Hooked On Colonics, Lakanookie Pandemic, Brownsteppers, pestophilia, chremises, prawnbrokerage (hmm...)...
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