Monday, June 23, 2008

New Words

I usually expect my main source of new words to be the Word Spy (http://www.wordspy.com/) and I was very (!) surprised yesterday afternoon to find a new word at the General Mitchell Airport in Milwaukee.

I left my laptop in DC last week figuring I could do without it for the weekend. (I was right.) Going through security without a laptop is a breeze. I'm used to pulling my laptop out and putting it in the little gray bin, but not having to do that is just so much easier. So once my bags and shoes went through the x-ray machine and I walked through the metal detector, all I really had to do was put my shoes on. There was no reassembly of anything required.

Right past the formal security area is a place with a few chairs for people to sit down and put their shoes back on. I put my bags down, put my shoes on, and looked up. Why I looked up, I can't be sure. But I'm glad I did. I was evidently using the "Recombobulation Area". I looked at the sign three times to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was reading. Yes, it said "Recombobulation Area".

Now I was not particularly discombobulated at the time, although there were certainly people around me who were. And anyone traveling with kids and strollers seems perpetually discombobulated when tney go through airport security. But who knew there was an area where they could recombobulate?!

Let's be clear here - "recombobulate" is NOT a word found in the dictionary. In fact, neither is "combobulate". The word, evidently, can only be used in the negative, or whatever adding a "dis-" to the front of the word would make it.

Yes, I have been to a recombulation area and lived to tell the tale.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh this is so funny! I just got back from the milwaukee airport and I've been calling my friends to tell them about the "recombobulation area"! So I'm trying to look it up online and I came across your post.

Anonymous said...

I want to make a web site www.recombobulation.com but I dont know what to put on it.

NAL said...

i AM FROM wI AND HAVE BEEN USING THIS WORD FOR YEARS GLAD TO SEE IT FINALLY CAUGHT ON HAVE FUN DISCOMBULATORS

Anonymous said...

The art of recombobulation will soon be taught at the Medical College of WI; this recent medical/social discovery is certainly going lead to a nomination for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize in Medicine.
Mitchell International Airport is making
SE Wisconsin a kinder, gentler place!