In trying to express themselves, graduate students often make up words. Some of these are useful, pithy neologisms. Most of them, however, are misguided attempts to avoid using shorter, simpler, more meaningful words.
Every Friday, I will attempt to define one term from the Graduate School Dictionary, full as it is of portmanteaus, malapropisms, and outright gibberish.
Each example is one that I have actually heard used, or else that I have found myself using.
Here is this week’s selection:
complexicatable, a.
[ ˈkɒm
plɛksɪˌkeɪtə
1. Prepared, whether by design or by chance circumstance, to become needlessly problematic or convoluted.
2. Characterized by an intricate internal structure that is not immediately apparent, or that is not actually present.
3. n. That which has been complexicated, or which is a complexicate.
Possible root words: Complex, complicate, explicable, explicate.
Aural appeal: More pleasant than moist, but less pleasant than yogurt.
Completely unnecessary syllables: At least 1 (ex).
Number of uses on the Internet, according to Google: 0
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