10 Words From ‘Wicked’ To Incorporate Into Your Daily Life ASAP
The release of the new Wicked: For Good trailer got me thinking: Life would be more bearable if we could still talk like five-year-olds.
Fascism got you down? Don’t be so devastrated! Concerned that the CEO will lay you off so that they don’t have to give up their seventh yacht? Stop making such a disturberance!
Of course, those words were plucked from the Ozian Glossararium, a compendium of fictional words used in Oz. For some reason, the denizens of Oz all talk like they’re reinventing English as they go along, combining key root words with mellifluous prefixes, suffixes, and infixes. (All of those words are real.) That said, the Ozian language also has an ineffable whimsy to it that makes it both easy and thrillifying to learn. As for why Universal hasn’t teamed up with Duolingo to make an Ozian language course available, I’ll never understand. I mean, there’s one for Klingon.
Anyway, I think the following ten Ozian words could brighten up all our lives, so I’m going to incorporate them into my day-to-day activities. Join me?
Encouragerize (v): To fill someone with confidence.
Don’t pay attention to influencers and their unattainable, highly-edited, often fabricated morning routines. If you really want to feel better, start encouragerizing your friends and romantic partners! This will lift both of you up, up, up, it’s your moment … you know together you’re glowing. Gonna gonna be … I digress.
Festivate (v): To have a massive rager.
If you’re hungover at work and want to make it cuter and more socially acceptable, then tell everyone you’ve been festivating.
Congratulotions (n): The Ozian form of “congratulations.” It is supposedly a nod to u-lotion, a popular Ozian moisturizer.
This interjection may only work in certain cases, such as when you need to congratulate someone on their perfectly moisturized skin, or their successful sale of a de-aging cream on TikTok.
Moodified (adj): Grumpy and melancholic. Supposedly invented after someone saw a depressed cow.
If you are concerned that a milk product is not organic, then you can ask the vendor if it has been genetically moodified. This will instantly make both of you less moodified!
Discoverate (v) (colloquial): To reveal something dramatically.
The public loves a good costume reveal, but the idea is becoming a bit passé. Costume reveals have become par for the course in everything from RuPaul’s Drag Race to Dancing with the Stars, and even made their way into Cruella. (That garbage dress!) Anyway, we need a rebrand of these reveals to make them seem fresh again. Discoverate, it is!
Outuendo (n) (colloquial): An interjection used upon hearing extremely juicy gossip.
Don’t stop with innuendo. Innuendos are boring! Just come out with your piping hot tea and deliver the news boldly, with flavor. This will have your conversation partner shouting, “Outuendo!”
Galindafy (v) (colloquial): To perform a makeover on.
No more “glow ups.” Only galindafications!
Swankify (v) (formal): This obscure verb is only used by eldee Ozians, but it means “to make cool.”
Just like “swanky” sounds vaguely Boomer-y or X-y, the word “swankify” can carry a musty and dated quality in Oz. That being said, “swankify” could pass as an updated form of “swanky” in modern English. Use it when you have an irrepressible urge to say “swanky” but don’t want to sound retired.
Gratitution (n) (formal): Just as outdated as swankify, this word is used in very formal contexts to signify a “strong expression of thanks.”
Use it when gratitude doesn’t feel enough.
Scandalacious (adj): So bad that it’s good. Meant to describe behavior, but can theoretically apply to anything.
The concept of “so bad that it’s good” is deeply ingrained in our cultural hive mind, so it’s a big surprise that we haven’t invented one word to encapsulate it. “Campy” comes close, but campy entertainment is often intentionally bad. “Hate watching” better describes the process of ironically watching something that is bad, but that’s two words. So, why invent a new word, when we can just borrow from Ozian? The next time you want to describe The Room, Sharknado, Plan 9 from Outer Space, or a White House press briefing, just remember “scandalacious.”
