Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Hangry time

Ben just said, "Mom, could you get me some more milk? Before I get hangry."

I won myself a fabulous dictionary, the New Oxford American Dictionary, by touting the not-quite-a-real-word word hangry at the New Word Open Mic held during the Dictionary Society of North America meeting a couple weekends ago. I sure as heck didn't coin the word—a blend of hungry and angry, a mood well known to many people—but the lexicographically inclined people in attendance voted for hangry's aptness and utility as a word, so I won the dictionary. (Which, if you pay attention to such things, has really hawt introductory sections.)

If you want to read more about the New Word Open Mic, see here.

Bizarre experience: Being asked afterwards, "What dictionary are you with?" I...I'm referentially single. I'm not going steady with any particular dictionary. I am exactly the sort of geek who's secretly thrilled to be mistaken for a lexicographer, and acutely disappointed to 'fess up that I'm not a lexicographer at all. (Sigh.)

So, hangry is not a word that is listed in the dictionaries...yet. I like to think it'll gain wider use in the next couple decades and earn a slot in the dictionary. Because it's so perfect! Some people have no grasp of the word's meaning, and those people are incredibly fortunate. Being hangry means going a little too long without a meal or a snack, and losing your coping abilities. Road rage, hollering at everyone in the household, being inordinately frustrated by the small hitches in life, losing the ability to keep your voice from being a shriek, finding the world conspiring to make things difficult for you. And then you eat a little something, and the world is a much brighter place. My, wasn't it silly to get so upset about those things!

The savvy hangry-prone individual will take precautions. One friend has begun carrying a spare Luna bar at all times, just in case hunger hits. I have been known to eat a snack immediately before going out to meet someone for lunch or dinner, because if I'm already hungry before I leave the house, I'll be a wreck by the time the waiter delivers my food. Best to nosh on something and stave off the hangries, no?

Hangry. Name it. Use the word. And ward off hanger.

9 comments:

SiddityintheCity said...

Hmmmm.

Hangry. I like it! And have certainly been hangry on many occasions. Adopted.

Good job, mini orange!

Oh...and it's siddity...gmail, too. Hee.

TEH BALE makes me hangry for some superhero deliciousness?

Maman said...

next he will be enjoying the color pank

Anonymous said...

A few years ago the CBC (Canada's national TV/radio broadcaster) had a series of similar programs and contests called "Wanted Words" where they solicited ideas from listeners for new words that filled a void in the language. I don't remember very many of them, but the few I do remember are:

"bagmata" - the red marks you get on your palms from carrying heavy grocery bags

"aneurythm" - when a song gets stuck in your head and you can't get rid of it

They published 2 books from the contest too.

I like 'hangry.' I was feeling hangry just yesterday.

amusing said...

Lordie, my mother was hangry today when we finally got to the mall to fetch the grandson's webkin. She missed the sign for J.C. Penney, drove to the opposite side of the mall in some strange geographic rationale of mall layout and was pissed as hell when she got inside and realized how far she had to walk. It was way after lunchtime and she was hangry.

I'll start working the word, Orange. We'll get it in the dictionary!

Orange said...

Remember that the hangry-prone can also be just plain hungry sometimes—I was famished en route to lunch today, but did not rage against the world. I haven't figured out what perfect storm of circumstances conspire to cause hangriness. Science! We need studies!

I love bagmata! (The word, not the bagmata themselves.)

E. said...

Oh, I need this word. For me, hungry and hangry are practically synonymous. (Just ask my old man.) But actually for me it's more hranky, as in hungry and cranky. But hangry is much more pleasing given its aural overlap.

Anonymous said...

Then there's always "horngry" - the state that describes wanted both sex and pizza at the same time.

amusing said...

Ick. Pizza and sex don't go together, do they? That hot cheese drips in the wrong place and it's like a bad waxing accident....

Orange: You're a Rockin' Girl Blogger now. Rock on.

Jennifer said...

I read something about a certain Japanese videogame which had a "hangly man"