Linguify

Over at Language Log, Geoffrey K. Pullum has found the need for a new term: linguify.

To linguify a claim about things in the world is to take that claim and construct from it an entirely different claim that makes reference to the words or other linguistic items used to talk about those things, and then use the latter claim in a context where the former would be appropriate.

I note in passing that linguifying a claim is usually (but not always) done in such a way that the new claim is false instead of true, and it is often (but not necessarily) done with the intention of achieving a humorous effect.

And it turns out that Pullem himself has a history of linguification.

Comments

[amada repair]

What a good read for the day!