Spread the word

We were discussing how much we hated a certain mobile phone ad.

"Yes, it's so pecky." I said
"What does that mean?" asked my flatmate.

I couldn't believe I had used this word. It just slipped out. When we were 15, it was one of our favourites, invented by Emma whilst at a sleepover at my house. I was asleep at the time but apparently it was triggered by the dawn chorus.

" I hate birds," said Emma to Claire. "They have red legs. And pecky beaks."

Pecky became our worst insult. It entered immediately into our language, and people who didn't even know its origin seemed to grasp its essential meaning instantly. Even parents - like Emma's dad, a project manager at a housing association, who came home from work once and confessed he'd accidentally used it in a meeting.

But gradually it dropped out of usage, like so many good words. Join my campaign to enrich the language, and share with me what words you have invented.