They say that Shakespeare either coined or brought into common usage some very familiar words, such as “assassination” (MacBeth), “bedroom” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), “countless” (Titus Andronicus), “fashionable” (some other play), “frugal” and “laughable” (Merchant of Venice), “lonely” and “useful” (King John). Not all of his coinages were “successful” (Titus, again), however, such as “crimeless” for innocent, “facinorous” for wicked, and “recountment” for narrative.
All this as a lead in to this new guy on the unit, who aspires to be a poet/spoken word artist. My nickname for him is “Green Mile”, because he sounds exactly like John Coffey. He has invented some new words and some creative usages of familiar words. Only time will tell if he’s the Bard of the era.
I submit for your consideration, complete with Green Mile’s definitions:
Trans-gent-dyke (n.) – One of them f—ked up dudes, don’t know if he a man or a woman.
Oyster (n.) – You know, like a clam, but in a lake. Some people call ‘em “cloysters.”
Jaunt (n.) – A general purpose noun, possibly derived from “joint”. Ex. “You eat that chicken? That jaunt was bangin’. Or “I wrote a new jaunt” (poem). Or “I read the shit out of that jaunt” (book).
Med-i-nurse (n.) – A medical staffer who works at a federal prison. Ex. All the change jinglin’ in her purse, I hear her comin’, it’s the medinurse.”
I wish I could remember more of these words, but it’s hard to hear over the constantly flushing toilet! I do wonder, though, if our John Coffey may have a pet mouse?
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