Coining a New Word - PARTEFACT

[John Winter]

I don’t know what word you use in the States when you find just a piece of an object (relic) and post in on a forum for identification. This short tale is how a word we use in the UK came about.

Just as new coins are made in a mint, people can invent new words. Many have entered the English language because people have ‘coined’ them. A good friend of mine who used to write for magazines started using the word Partefact many years before but it wasn’t until 1997 he explained how it had come about. He said:

“I felt the description ‘fragment’ was unsatisfactory and rather down-putting. On mature reflection I have to concede I did not make a good choice, and one or two people have told me that they ‘hate’ the word.”

What do you think? I haven’t seen the word used on here, but I can tell you that the word coined by my friend has entered the detectorist lexicon and is universally used in the UK. Furthermore, I can’t think of any better!

ONE OF MY ‘PARTEFACTS’

 

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[John Winter]

A quick search tells me that the word HAS been used on here ... but by English subscribers!

 

[BC1969]

yo no hablo inglés..the proper queens English that is, I'll stick with my americanized slang.
Kewl word by the way! Partefact!..I could use that. though good luck getting somebody with a southern drawl to pronounce it correctly

Mike

 

[John Winter]

yo no hablo inglés..the proper queens English that is, I'll stick with my americanized slang.
Kewl word by the way! Partefact!..I could use that. though good luck getting somebody with a southern drawl to pronounce it correctly

Mike

Hi Mike ... I think you should use what the words you are happiest with. Language is changing all the time, but not always for the better. Partefact is a word that meets a need in our hobby. We adopt many words from you ... do you have a need for this rather cute English word, do you think?

 

[uglymailman]

We kin it John. Your post looks masonic at the bottom. BC, we can pronounce it correctly down here. But we don't shorten it like Nawrlyns or Luvil.(Translation for you John, New Orleans and Louisville)

 

[CoilyGirl]

I love this John Winter!

 

[John Winter]

I love this John Winter!

Hey ... steady on Gal.
Oh, I think that I misinterpreted ... you love the subject?

 

[John Winter]

We kin it John. Your post looks masonic at the bottom. BC, we can pronounce it correctly down here. But we don't shorten it like Nawrlyns or Luvil.(Translation for you John, New Orleans and Louisville)

How very perceptive of you. You are quite right, but that's a different story. I know exactly what it is!

 

[CincinnatiKid]

Awesome!
Peace

 

[RJ55]

Not for sure, but I think the awesome thread about created a lynching. Might ought to leave well enough alone, Just saying.

 

[CoilyGirl]

How very perceptive of you. You are quite right, but that's a different story. I know exactly what it lis!

I mean I love the word partefact.

 

[gamiller]

I mean I love the word partefact.

Sounds like Barney Stinson.

 

[BosnMate]

We kin it John. Your post looks masonic at the bottom. BC, we can pronounce it correctly down here. But we don't shorten it like Nawrlyns or Luvil.(Translation for you John, New Orleans and Louisville)

Not enough ewes in Luvil if you are talking about the one in Kentucky, and in Nawrlyns is the R silent?

 

[BosnMate]

John Winter, I love, and will use the word partefact, however I will be using proper Oregon English pronunciation, which will probably be with a Spanish accent in a few years. Something like "el partefacto." Kidding aside, great word. Your photo however looks to be whole, not part, I see an R and a masonic square and compass, do you know what the rest is supposed to look like?

 

[uglymailman]

Not enough ewes in Luvil if you are talking about the one in Kentucky, and in Nawrlyns is the R silent?
Bosn, all I know after workin with people from there, is they are pronounced with one syllable and takes practice to do it to their satisfaction. If you have any "e's" in Luvil and don't have some sort of "r", no matter how small, in Nawrlyns, ya ain't doin it right.

 

[BosnMate]

Uglymailman, To my untrained ear, and admittedly I'm hard of hearing, but Luvil sounds to me more like Luvul, and I can't pickup on the R sound in Nawlyns. Perhaps if I wear my hearing aids. X son-in-law was from Luvul. Anyhow, the English language sounds to me like it's pronounced most any way a speaker decides he wants to use it. Like on old boy I knew that had a "bob war" fence. I said don't you mean "barbed wire?" He said, "That's what I said, bob war."

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Why here I thought pull-tabs and bottle caps were evidence of where people had partied in the past. Hence "parti-facts".

 

[John Winter]

Why here I thought pull-tabs and bottle caps were evidence of where people had partied in the past. Hence "parti-facts".

Always good to hear alternative explanations. i would just say that pull tabs are pull tabs and bottle caps are bottle caps. A 'partefact' is a piece or part of a larger item that is in initially unidentifiable i.e. Part of a larger Artefact.