Crabgrass by Tauhid Bondia for February 09, 2025

Miles made a rookie better’s mistake, he bid too high on a 50/50 chance.

Oh wow, Kevin got one over on Miles. And on vocabulary!

It’s not a word, it’s an abbr.

Why invent a word like fict when you can just use the word fib which is close enough?

This one is extra wonderful, I think. I love this comic strip! Mr. Bondia is a genius creator. I mean … the Dad …

It’s not a word. You just shortened a preexisting word.

Aah, the perils of owning an unabridged dictionary.

Its a word root not a word

I would have lost that bet.

it IS a word. Has to do with old musical structures." …a note altered by an accidental flat accordig to the rules of Musica Ficta.." (OED @nd Ed)

How long will it take Miles to pay it back?

The noun “fict” was used in the 1600s (and probably in the late 1500s) to mean a note in music the performers, say, flatted even though it wasn’t written that way. We still use the term “musica ficta” for this; we always have. Let’s say a little melody is written with the pitches F-G-A-B-A. To avoid the nasty (to them) sound of that B clashing with the F (the interval between the two is called a tritone), they could sing a B-flat instead. There are lots of other cases where one should flat or sharp or even natural a note to avoid a dissonance. But that’s it for the word “fict” as a noun. Now, as an adjective, it lasted for about a century longer. But do Miles or Kevin know that?

I’ve heard of fanfic, but not fict.

According to Merriam Webster ……“Fict” is a word …… it is also an abbreviation or a truncated word ……. so by definition, a word indeed. …… By the way, or BTW, Acronyms like USA,KFC, or BTW for that matter are also words because they are pronounced AS words.

I love this strip and all its characters.

All words are made up.

New words get introduced to the dictionary every day. It has to be used and put into circulation before it can but there’s no harm in trying. I made up a word around a decade ago that I was trying to get into circulation but it never caught on, the combination of action + attitude = Actitude.. Apparently it’s the name of a clothing line for upbeat people

Fact, not fict.

What? It is a perfectly cromulent word.

It’s for this reason that we had elaborate, frequently debated rules when playing Scrabble. Word roots, frequently found in the more erudite dictionaries, were not allowed.

The Google gave me this: “Fict” is not considered a standard English word in most contexts; it is considered an obsolete term, meaning it is very old and no longer commonly used, derived from the Latin word “fict” which means “to feign” or “to invent” – essentially meaning “fiction” or “fictitious.”.

Just never bet. Bad habit to risk getting into.

Kevins mind is already gearing up for the upcoming texting language boom. He’ll be a thumb warrior in no time!

It’s a perfectly cromulent word. I’m sure Kevin is anaspeptic, phrasmotic, even compunctuous to have caused Miles such pericombobulation.

You know I just had to Google it.

Perhaps my brain is woebegone, but I do not get the Dad’s statement. Someone help me, please!