I’ve seen descriptivists take the position that if enough people use a made up word it counts as communication, but the only people I’ve ever seen saying “well I’m gonna call a tree a xopo instead” are prescriptivists who don’t understand descriptivism.
There are so many specific technical things in my workplace that have words in the small group that cares about them.
They won’t find their way into dictionaries, but they are meaningful and useful. Some words like that have leaked into popular speech; my work isn’t the sort to have its gone grown words spread.
(My phone dislikes me pluralising “cares”. I presume it was taught in America)
I’ve seen descriptivists take the position that if enough people use a made up word it counts as communication, but the only people I’ve ever seen saying “well I’m gonna call a tree a xopo instead” are prescriptivists who don’t understand descriptivism.
There are so many specific technical things in my workplace that have words in the small group that cares about them.
They won’t find their way into dictionaries, but they are meaningful and useful. Some words like that have leaked into popular speech; my work isn’t the sort to have its gone grown words spread.
(My phone dislikes me pluralising “cares”. I presume it was taught in America)