#WordWednesday

I'm kind of done with end-of-2017 and new year things, so let's get right into it. You might know by now that I like made-up words, some of my favourites being: carbage bag, cutism, drunkle and bargage bin.

Given my history, I now introduce another word that isn't actually a word…but which I think ought to be. It's fun to say and includes intriguing possibilities. This gem is "malodiferous." First of all, this is obviously about something bad and probably smelly and is much more fun to say than the actual word, malodorous. Somehow my word took on the ending of another actual word, maliferous, which means "rare, unwholesome or bringing/producing evil." A match made in heaven, don't you agree? Possibilities abound for my hybrid.

For example, in a steamy, Merlin-ish heart-throbber romance novel, you might come upon

Lancealittle charging in to rescue Againevere from the horridly malodiferous dragon onslaught…or…rat-hordes…or…some such. Then there is the modern-day image of terrifying, malodiferous tombs beneath a once-great city, where post-apocalyptic refugees languish in a squalor to which they have had to become inured. One might even try on the idea of easy-to-imagine malodiferous, slimy swamp creatures or malodiferous corpses waging battle against humans. Oh, wait. That's been done. They're called zombies.

But do you see? Malodiferous could do so much for modern literature. Watch for it at your favourite bookstore.