March Word Fugitive

David K. Prince, of Lansdowne, Pa., writes, "Often my wife and I will decide to watch a DVD, and then she will delay coming to sit down, thereby subjecting me to the repeat-loop sounds and visuals of the DVD's main menu. What's the word or phrase for this interminable experience?"

January/February Word Fugitive

Carolyn Haggis, of Oxford, England, writes, "I'm looking for a word for the items of clothing which sit perched on a chair in my bedroom, waiting to be reworn. They are not yet ready for the laundry bin (since I plan to rewear them), but they are no longer suitable for the wardrobe (which I reserve for clean clothes). I assume others keep their lightly worn clothes in a similar purgatory?"

December Word Fugitive

Michael Muslin, of Chicago, writes, "After my girlfriend observed that train commuters with wheeled briefcases navigate their rolling offices without regard to anyone else, I realized I needed a word to describe an object which indicates the user to be a jerk. Cell phones used to be this type of object but, due to their ubiquity, are no longer." 

November Word Fugitive

Joanna Carr's "busy cities" are certainly where this problem is most noticeable, but I've experienced versions of it even on hiking trails in the wilderness:

Joanna Carr, of London, writes, "I often wish I had a word (to mutter under my breath) for people with absolutely no horse sense when using public transport or in crowds. You know, the ones who get off the top of the escalator and stop dead, people who swerve into your path, people who walk four abreast. Surely a good descriptive noun is long overdue in busy cities everywhere?"

Suggestions in the form of comments are more than welcome. Or e-mail them to me.

October Word Fugitive

Let's test the new word-fugitive delivery system. I've already received suggestions for the October word fugitive (below) by the old-fashioned route. But more are more than welcome, so feel free to post your word inventions as comments. Anything that appears here will be considered for inclusion in my write-up in the magazine. Except, please send requests for new words to me directly, by way of the Word Fugitives form.

Michael McWatters, of New York City, writes, "I use a computer for the better part of my waking life, and I've noticed that certain repetitive keyboard tasks are making their way into my non-computer life. For example, I recently knocked a jar off the counter, and a little voice inside yelped, 'Command-Z!' (the keyboard shortcut for Undo). Ditto for the time I accidentally ripped a page in a book. A friend mentioned that she recently lost her keys and thought, 'Command-F' (Find). There should be a term for this confusion, as it's only going to become more common."

Youthiness, nonchronformism, etc.

This blog, besides being a soapbox for me, gives those of you who are Word Fugitives enthusiasts a place to post your word inventions where other readers can admire them. You'll be able to see what others have come up with, too. (If you're shy, you don't have to post publicly - use the form at the upper right. BTW, please don't post Fugitives requests in the comments section if you hope to see them published in the magazine. Use the form.)

There has never been enough space in the magazine to share all the clever suggestions readers make to fill a given word need. Here are runners-up that almost found their way into print in response to "Please help me find an appropriate word for the reluctance or aversion of many persons (young or old) to revealing their true age." The readers I've credited aren't necessarily the only ones to have suggested their particular coinages; they're the ones whose wording caught my eye. Apologies to anyone I left out. Feel free to claim credit, if credit is due, in a post of your own.

Kostis Protopapas, of Tulsa, OK: "The aversion to revealing one's age could be described as "cryptogenarianism"."

Paul Gembus, of Topanga, CA: "First of all, since I am living in Southern California, this discussion puts an interesting spin on the concept of "New Age Living." Those individuals who are frequently shearing years from their ages should be cited for "underage thinking.""

Emily Jones, of Newtown, CT: "I've only seen it in older people, and I'd suggest either committing an unyouth, or the act of being unyouthful."

Janet Parrish, of Oakland, CA: "That tendency not to reveal one's age? duhhh: Obfuscageon. Of course."

John S. Stevens, of Chicago, IL: "For many years, people have guessed that I am many years older than I am.  Strangely, that still makes me one of those who has feelings of annumosity.  Though one might say of a fellow who has a strong case of annumosity that he is a Secret Age Gent."

David Viator, of Houston, TX: "An aversion to revealing one's true age is certainly epochryphobia.  The false age is epochryphal once spoken."

Jamie Labas, of Calgary, Alberta: "How about a "nonchronformist"?"

Saskia Wolsak, of Vancouver, BC: "The false age that they give you? It's an "era-similitude"."

Karl G. LaPinska, of Albuquerque, NM: "The most appropriately descriptive word to me is "ageless.""

Michael Marris, of Auckland, New Zealand: "I can only imagine that people - young and old and even down here in the Antipodes - who are reluctant to reveal their ages would constitute the "coy polloi"."

Geoffrey R Webster, of Grasse, France: "A few moments ago I was relating to my french wife that normally the Atlantic Monthly gets to me in the South of France to late to submit to the Word Fugitives. This time the July August issue gave me an opportunity to submit before the deadline {my other submission  - obsessive compulsive dishorder}. I then related my thoughts for a submission for the aversion to reveal age which is verititis or veracititis. She replied, 'Oh no- what about lie-ager, you know like teenager.' So there, you now have three submissions!"

Wayne Zafft, of Westwood, MA: "When someone is unwilling to give you their true age, they will instead give you their chronododgical age, often expressed in might-years."

Michael Sang, of Caldwell, NJ: "Those that have an "aversion...to revealing their true age" could be said to have ageita."

Gregg Cherrington-Kelly, of Grand Forks, B.C.: "spanless."

Stephen Hawk, of Sugar Grove IL: "In a nod to Stephen Colbert's coinage of "truth-y-ness," that which approximates the [actual] truth, I suggest "youth-y-ness." as in, "When asked her age, her answer had the ring of  youth-y-ness.""

Bill Hoskyn, of Tacoma, WA: "I seriously doubt that most age fabrications are premeditated.  Rather, when people are asked, "How old are you?," they come down with a sudden case of age fright."

Leslie Maxfield and S. George Djorgovski, of Altadena, CA: "People who do this are being disagenuous."

Connie Day, of Jericho, VT: "As one sometimes reticent to reveal my age, I am among the "close-monthed.""

Jay Fialkoff, of New York, N.Y.: "anniversarial"

Doug Drown, of Bingham, ME: "CIRCUMANNUATION: going around and around the matter of one's age without ever quite answering the question."  

Lee Bash, of Austin, Texas: "In response to Mr. Brown's request for a word describing the aversion some (older people, in this case) have to revealing their true age, and to, perhaps,  re-draw the age boundary, I submit to you the word gerimeandering."

Max Raskin, of Summit, NJ: "As a high school student, I am used to my friends trying to conceal their age with fake IDs. They are adolesenescent. Similarly the elderly are always geriatricking themselves (and others) into believing they are younger."