In Nathan Bierma's language column in the Chicago Tribune, he mentioned that he had a professor who was trying to get the word presticogitation in the OED. Of course, we all know prestidigitation is used to describe magicians who are nimble with their fingers. So this word would mean nimble with your mind. He even had his students use it in their writing, and I see it has 54 citations in Google. It is now even defined in an online dictionary, though one about the fringes of English.

However, when he visted John Simpson at the OED, he got rather a cold shoulder about the word. John, though, was impressed that the professor (James Vanden Bosch) was able to successfully con students into putting the word to print. Simpson's comment was, "Everybody wants to get a word in the OED."

Little does he know!

Well, if it catches on then it will surely eventually get in. I have my doubts, though. It's not a particularly useful word and it's long and complex - none of which characteristics are likely to help a word to gain acceptance.

So is "presticogitation," then, intended to be a complimentary term? If so, what troubles me about it is its very similarity to "prestidigitation," because while prestidigitation requires nimble fingers, it also involves fooling people. A quilter, for example, has nimble fingers, but a quilter is not a prestidigitator.

It appears in this list of protologisms on Wiktionary. I notice that the e-word is not in there. Here's your chance, K., to add it. Funny word-aside on Italian presto 'nimble' from Latin praestus 'quick' from praesto 'at hand'; it is related to Greek kheir 'hand', PIE *ghes-, *prai-ghes-to-. Imagine, fingers (digiti) on a hand. Or fingers in the pea-soup brain pan-drippings of cogito ergo soup.

The Simpsons has deliberately tried to get words into the dictionary, but the only one that actually made it was "D'oh", something that was for years specified in scripts as something like "Annoyed Grunt", and was never intended to be a new one.

I feel there is almost a cultural sense of pride in not allowing others the satisfaction of getting new words into the dictionary. Presticogitation isn't even that cromulent of a word. It is clumsy to look at and pronounce, and took me a couple of attempts to pronounce it correctly. Had I been in the class with the professor in question, I would have refused to use such an inane word.

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Simpson's comment was, "Everybody wants to get a word in the OED."

It gives them a false sense of embiggenation.

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It gives them a false sense of embiggenation.

I agree with you, Sean, that it is an awkward word. I'd never use it, that's for sure.