cromulent

[Steve Kl.]

I'm not saying I own the word, nor am I claiming a trademark or anything
like that.

I was just reporting that I have the domain because I thought it was cool.

And if someone want to by kromulent, or whatever, more power to them.

On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 11:40 AM, Steve Kl. <stevekl at gmail.com> wrote:

> Of course I can. I've paid for the domain. I *do* have content there, just
> nothing much at the moment. It's not like I'm parked on it. I moved off
> Peter's material and at some point I'll put up stuff of my own.
>
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 11:29 AM, Ronald Butters <ronbutters at aol.com>wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Ronald Butters <ronbutters at AOL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: cromulent
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> You can't keep rights to a website if you don't use it, isn't that =
>> right?
>>
>> Also, I think, anyone could purchase rights to any variant that no one =
>> has yet squatted on, e.g., <www.kromulent.com>,  <www.cromulentt.com>,  =
>> <www.cromulente.com>, <www.cromulentish.com>,   <www.kromulent.com>, =
>> <www.kromulentski.com>,  <www.kromulentskaya.com>,  =
>> <www.kromulentskawye.com>, <www.cromulent.net>, <www.cromulent.org>, =
>> <www.my-cromulent.com>, etc.
>>
>>
>> Also, you can't own a word (as Steve knows), though you can register a =
>> trademark for or associated with (e.g., as a slogan) a real product or =
>> service if you can convince the USPTO that it is not going to be =
>> confusable with someone else's trademark; that it is not generic; that =
>> it is not disparaging, scandalous, or obscene; etc.
>>
>> And of course you cannot claim copyright (or patent) to a single word.
>>
>> As for whether or not the word CROMULENT "should" be in the OED (or =
>> American Heritage, NOAD, Merriam-Webster, etc.), I leave that to the =
>> lexicographers, keeping in mind that if all the "fun" words were placed =
>> in a desktop dictionary one's desk would probably collapse.
>>
>> I agree that Urban Dictionary is an "indispensable" collection of public =
>> opinion (and stuntful posturing, some of which borders on mere =
>> truthiness). But it is not a real dictionary any more than Fox News is a =
>> scientific poll of the political opinion of a cross-seciton of public =
>> opinion.
>>
>>
>> On Nov 3, 2010, at 2:52 PM, Steve Kl. wrote:
>>
>> > I just wanted to point out I own www.cromulent.com   :D
>> >=20
>> > Currently nothing's there -- it was my late husband's vanity site -- =
>> but I
>> > will eventually do something with it.
>> >=20
>> > - Steve
>> >=20
>> > On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 2:38 PM, Paul Frank =
>> <paulfrank at post.harvard.edu>wrote:
>> >=20
>> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >> -----------------------
>> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >> Poster:       Paul Frank <paulfrank at POST.HARVARD.EDU>
>> >> Subject:      cromulent
>> >>=20
>> >> =
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>> -----
>> >>=20
>> >> So what does a word have to do to get into the OED? Take cromulent,
>> >> which Jonathan Lighter once used in this forum: it gets 55,900
>> >> googlits (that's more than twice as many as the word googlit itself,
>> >> which isn't in the OED either). The locus classicus of cromulent is
>> >> The Simpsons in 1996. My guess is that there are hundreds of =
>> thousands
>> >> of perfectly good English terms in, say, Termium
>> >> (www.termiumplus.gc.ca) and IATE (iate.europa.eu) which are not =
>> listed
>> >> in the OED, mainly because they're too boring or too technical to
>> >> interest OED lexicographers. But cromulent is a fun word that has
>> >> gained a life of its own. And the indispensable Urban Dictionary
>> >> acknowledges this.
>> >>=20
>> >> Paul
>> >>=20
>> >> Paul Frank
>> >> Translator
>> >> Chinese, German, French, Italian > English
>> >> Espace de l'Europe 16
>> >> Neuch=E2tel, Switzerland
>> >> paulfrank at bfs.admin.ch
>> >> paulfrank at post.harvard.edu
>> >>=20
>> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >>=20
>> >=20
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>

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