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Goofy Words.
What nonsense has done to our words, and words have done to our nonsense.
“You have to be odd to be number one.” Dr. Seuss
Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), author of 42 children’s books, didn’t want kids. As he once confessed, “You have’m, I’ll amuse’m.” He created The Cat In the Hat because he found Dick and Jane boring. Oh, The Places You’ll Go was supposed to be read by expectant mothers.
He also coined the word “nerd” for his book If I Ran the Zoo.
“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells,” Geisel once said, and he certainly believed in nonsense. Little did he know he’d be coining a term (nerd) for future tech billionaires everywhere.
In turn, they would invent their own odd words like “zap” and “pram,” while rendering words like “help” completely useless to the average computer user.
He prided himself on taking no guff from children, which he accomplished quite cleverly by not having any.
Not only did Geisel create “nerd,” he also created “guff,” which went on to become “I don’t take no guff.” He prided himself on taking no guff from children, which he accomplished quite cleverly by not having any.