A Word of Wishdom

We are a wordy windbag of a culture, given to name anything in our consciousness. Hence “SigAlerts” (traffic jam) and “spam” (bad e-mail).

So what about a rolled-up piece of tape for sticking things to the wall?

Two seventh-grade classes in Eugene, Ore., have coined a name for this very thing--”spinnopp.” It’s a fine word, ergonomically balanced, with a twin double consonant construction at the end. If you wouldn’t mind using it, the students could use your help.

The students are trying to get the word into the dictionary, but the people there have said the word must be in general use to become a candidate for entry. So Marcia Olson’s language arts classes are busy writing to newspapers and Web site coordinators to get the word out there. The goal is to collect 15 million citations.

“I know to some people it sounds kind of silly, but this shows determination by the kids,” Olson said.

It’s not often that we can be of service. So for Mrs. Olson’s first- and second-period classes, here you go: spinnopp, spinnopp, spinnopp, spinnopp, spinnopp.