how words
work
Eight ideas behind every word English could have had.
01every word is a hill
Sounds rise to the vowel, then fall away. Blimp climbs and falls. Lbipm can't.
02start, vowel, end
Every syllable has three parts. Only the vowel is required. Build one.
03blick, not bnick
- blick 91
- glip 90
- bnick 23
English allows blick but never used it. Bn never starts a word. New words live in gaps like that.
04common beats legal
- plusten 93
- vluspen 19
Vluspen almost passes, but no English word starts with vl. Use the openings English loves, and stay clear of real words.
05sounds carry feelings
- gl- shines glow, glint
- fl- flickers flash, flicker
- sn- sniffs sniff, snout
- sl- slides slip, slide
- cr- crashes crack, crunch
- -ump weighs thump, lump
- glip 90
- glomp 77
Glip sounds small, glomp sounds big. I is small, o is big. K is spiky, m is round.
06lean on the first beat
- FRANdle
- BLOSket
TA-ble, GAR-den. Most English words stress the first syllable. A short vowel wants a consonant after it.
07one wug, two wugs
- one plock, two plocks
- one wug, two wugs
- one fradge, two fradges
A real word takes a plural. Its last sound picks which ending.
08spell it english
- -ck plock
- -dge fradge
- double strobble
- qu quamble
Borrow the spellings English already uses, and readers will say it right the first time.
now name something
- pick a feeling
- make a batch
- keep the high scores
- say them out loud
- check the name is free