Wednesday 28 March 2018

We are the World Blogfest ... # 12 - 'Levidrome' - a Canadian lad's word ...




At just SIX Levi Budd, from Victoria here on Vancouver Island, has a fascination with words ... and devised 'Levidrome' ... as an equivalent to Palindrome ...  yet different!  With me?

Levi Budd
c/o Times Colonist

 I think I need to be six again ... but here goes:  Levidromes are different - they are always paired with their levidromic word and both words are valid dictionary words - each with a different meaning.


Also Levi noted that there was no name for words that are words when spelt backwards ... eg spit makes tips spelt in reverse ... though if you spat I'm not sure you'd get tipped ... but that's another story ...


Want some examples?!

Wolf = Flow
Stressed v Desserts:
 .... very appropriate for us all - stressed writers mostly need desserts ... not sure that will be a Levidromic sentence though ...

Any others ... anyone?!

As an extra back up, in Latin ... 'Lev' means "light in weight" ...

... while 'drome' comes from Palindrome ... because of the backward spelling bit: it fits as it comes from a Latin origin ... as well as being a brilliant idea from a six year old - Levi - he is definitely not the light one ...




c/o End Paper:
The Paper Blank Blog
 He's gained a following and a determination from peoples around the world and from Star Trek - 'that be in space me thinks' - the Capt James T (William Shatner) Kirk has used it, Canadian musicians too, Beer companies in Sweden and Chicago have put it on their labels - young Levi Budd is learning about branding early in his life ...


William Shatner has petitioned Oxford Dictionaries to get the word into their dictionaries ... young Levi has advocates all over the world promoting his word for inclusion as an entry into various dictionaries.


Words to love - Levidrome Movement
To top it off ... Budd's levidrome happens to be a portmanteau word ... and eponym ... I'm learning - but hey don't tell anyone?! ...  check it out here at OxfordDictionaries' blog ... Ben Jonson features in 1637 ( a mere 380 yearsago) ... when Ben's collection of poems "Underwoods" first came to the fore ...


It's everyone's word, anyone can get behind it and make a difference ... it just needs to make its way into ordinary usage ... I think we could do our bit here in our blogging fraternity ...


Schools are doing it ... I think we can join up too and spread the word around ... use it often and regularly ... we can add to 'levidrome's' organic growth into the world of dictionary land ...


Simple n'est pas?!!  Let's use Levidrome in our blogs occasionally ...


Great I can promote a six year old from Vancouver Island ... so thank you Levi for being so enamoured with words ... I guess my spelling here might befuddle you ... being an English woman amongst the internet and its readers ... American spelling taking over ... but perhaps we could bring English back in ... it'd make my life easier?!

Bringing Light into others' worlds


Here's to Levi and his word ... let's go advertise 'levidrome' for him ... if schools can do it ... surely we can too?!





Yeah ... it might even feature in my A-Z ... how cool is that ... my lingo is changing!

Here's to LEVIDROME ... and Levi Budd ...

Oxford Dictionaries: Weekly Word Watch ... 

Times Colonist newspaper - Let's all say 'Levidrome' ...

Welcome to the Levidrome list - here's Levi with his parents explaining his idea - great short video to watch ... 


Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters International Stories

43 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

How amazing.
Yay for Levi - and his new word. And concept. What will be be doing by the time he is sixteen, and twenty six...

Gattina said...

A little too difficult for me !

Rhodesia said...

I have always known words that spell a different backwards as a heteropalindrome devil and lived. I am sure though at 6 none of this had registered in my vocabulary!! Well done Levi.
Hope all is well. Cheers Diane

janice h said...

I was a word-loving kid, too, and I remember being very young when I noticed the usual suspects like live and evil and the ones Rhodesia mentioned. That love never goes away, so I predict a happy, word-loving future for Levi on his wordroad. (In Greek, words with 'drom' are from the word for road.)One of the things I have fun with in Greek is that there's a built in grammatical structure available for combining two words into one compound word, and another for absorbing foreign words by giving them Greek verb endings, e.g parkáro = I park.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

What a smart young man. I never would've thought of that at his age.

Joanne said...

very clever lad. Oh, you are making me think on a rainy Wednesday. Much to ponder from your post.

RO said...

I'm always impressed when young people love words and reading, and this young man just seems so phenomenal and bright. Thanks for sharing! Hugs...RO

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

@ EC - yes he is an extraordinary lad ... and it's great to see he comes from here in Victoria, British Columbia. To think forward ... yes at 16 or 26 ... some wordy genius I think ... a puzzler perhaps ...

@ Gattina - no worries ...

@ Diane - I'm not sure I'd realised the word heteropalindrome - as you mention devil and lived ... but certainly none of this as a youngster would have made me investigate further as Levi has done ...

@ Janice - well thanks you've given us something else to think about ... as well as expanding on Levi's word 'Levidrome' ... Fascinating about the Greek grammatical structure ... I'd love to study more along those lines - interesting to see 'parkaro' becoming I park. I had a look in google ... but it gave me some Greek to decipher - so I've left that! Your knowledge of Greek is fabulous to have ... and the wordsmith in you - no wonder you enjoy writing and creating ... the artistic talent shines through ...

@ Alex - me neither ... I might have noted it - but that've been that ... young Levi is certainly going places ...

@ Joanne - well that's good the rain leaves us time to think and ponder on words ... thank you ...

@ RO - me too ... I just had to write about him - having seen a few articles about him - obviously so clever and thoughtful about life and words.

Cheers to you - Levi is one little lad we should know about ... and watch out for 'levidrome' appearing in our vocabulary in the future ... thanks for visiting - Hilary

Tyrean Martinson said...

I'm all for making up new words! That is so awesome!

Nilanjana Bose said...

Brilliant kid! Definitely not a light one!

Paula said...

I am amazed a six year old could come up with this. Thanks for educating me today!!

Andrea Ostapovitch said...

I'll get on board with that for certain! Everything needs its own word, and I am quite surprised that there isn't one in place for words like wolf and stressed. Levidrome it is, although I cannot for the life of me think of any others right now...oh, there's one - now to won!

Andrea

Anabel Marsh said...

Cool kid!

DMS said...

Yay for Levi. I think the word Levidrome is fun and I hope he is able to get it into the dictionary. It sounds like it is on its way to being used regularly all over the world. I enjoyed the examples of levidromes. As for spelling- I just recently realized that although I grew up in the US- I spell a lot of words the English way. :) I am guessing from reading- but who knows.


~Jess

Sandra Cox said...

What a fun post and fun word. Go, Levi!

Chatty Crone said...

Amazing.

Is zerorez the same thing - a cleaning company here.

You are too smart for me!

sandie

Nasreen said...

This is a fun post! Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

I just searched levidrome on Elgoog, sorry Google, and apparently, emordnilap — palindrome backwards — is in competition with levidrome, but has lost out in the battle to for inclusion in the dictionary. Good for Levi.

Click to visit Keith's Ramblings

L. Diane Wolfe said...

What a smart boy to note there wasn't a word for that. I hope it does catch on everywhere.

Computer Tutor said...

What a great concept. Like an anagram but better. Go Levi!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

@ Tyrean - he's come up with an awesome idea hasn't he ...

@ Nila - and he's brilliant too ... yet light ...

@ Paula - some kids are just plain clever ... and Levi fits this mould ...

@ Andrea - thanks ... it's a good cause to follow - nothing like new words. Now to won = well done another levidromic word. Good to know Levidrome has entered your vocabulary ...

@ Anabel - some kid isn't he ...

@ Jess - Exactly 'yay' for Levi ... and isn't it one clever and fun word - it does sound like it's taken on and is on its way into the dictionary.

What fun to find you spell some words the English way - and as you mention is probably a habit caught from your reading ... interesting to find that out.

@ Sandra - so glad you enjoyed the post ...

@ Sandie - Zerorez - sounds like it is the same thing ... if it can be used as a common word, rather than a name - I'm sure it could ... interesting addition to the post and to words in general ...

@ Nas - glad you enjoyed it ... Levi will be pleased!

@ Keith - what fun you've made of the post ... and isn't it great that levidrome seems to be winning ... and I'm sure will get included in due course ...

@ Diane - yes some smart kid - and I hope it'll catch on and he can have his word included in the dictionaries in the future ...

@ Jacqui - as you say ... like an anagram, only better ...

Thanks so much - let's help get levidrome included into the dictionaries ... cheers Hilary

Lynda Dietz said...

What a clever thing to come up with! That's a great word.

Levi's Dad said...

Hi Hilary, I am Levi's dad and I will show him this post today!

Thank you for your support of fun ideas, initiative, and for your passion for language! The best part of this whole process has been seeing how many people are engaging in great conversations about words!

So now on to the big question! What is your favourite levidrome? Levi really like nematag-gateman!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

@ Lynda - isn't he one clever lad ... and look who's appeared after you commented ... his Dad ...

@ Levi's Dad - how wonderful to see you ... and thanks so much for showing him my post - amazing you found it - shows you (me - actually) how the world works ...

We bloggers all love language - and so many are authors in their own rights ... it's a great crew here ... I will have to come back re getting my brain cells in gear ... I'm just off out - but will put something to work! Nematag ... sounds like an excellent one ... he's one clever son ...

Hi Levi - your Dad is doing great keeping Levidrome up front ...

Cheers to you both and to Lynda - it looks like we might be able to ripple 'levidrome' out a little further ...

Congratulations - cheers Hilary

bazza said...

What an amazing little boy and what a wonderful story! I find that some kids just fall in love with words almost as soon as they can speak.
My grandson, Sonny, has always loved words and he picks up word-changing games very quickly.
CLICK HERE for Bazza’s meretricious Blog ‘To Discover Ice’

A Heron's View said...

Not wishing to be rude, but did I really need to know all of this. When considering that not even my learned ex solicitors clerk of a friend knew these levi words however, many thanks for the information x

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

@ Bazza - doesn't he sound an incredible lad - with a great father, who has been over to comment!

That's fantastic about your grandson ... so wonderful to see their particular traits come to the fore as they grow up ... you're good with words too - like grandfather, like grandson ... enjoy him: I know you do and will ...

@ Mel - that's fine ... but each to his own ... and the #WATWB (ie this blog fest: We Are the World Blogfest) reaches out to peoples around the world promoting ideas or peoples we know or have seen, who might be of interest to others ...

The cross-pollination of thoughts, ideas and achievements from different areas of the world is so enlightening - so I write what I hope others would like to read, but no worries if people don't read, or for that matter don't leave a comment - but I'm always happy when people come by ...

Cheers to you both ... and thanks for your visits - Hilary

Penelope Potty Snooper said...

I love words too and used to read the dictionary in the toilet for many years.... I am amazed at the ingenuity of this little lad. We all knew that there are words that make sense when spelt backwards but whoever thought of coining a word to name this phenomenon? He deserves his due recognition and looking forward to more of his discoveries in the word. Thanks for sharing this wonderfully uplifting post.
And even though I am not a native English speaker, I do miss the dominance of American English and now Digital English with its strange acronyms and short forms

Christine Rains said...

What a fantastic kid! I love seeing when young people have a love for words too. Have a great weekend, Hilary! :)

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

I love it when people have fun with words...especially a kid his age! Amazing. Thanks for sharing this...made me smile. :)

Emily in Ecuador said...

Excellent! A few months ago, I was actually researching this and could not find the correct word. No wonder - it doesn't exist. Great job by Levi to gain a following in his attempts. Thanks for sharing this Hilary - I just might use it in the future even if it does not get officially adopted.

Deborah Weber said...

Oh I have a great appreciation for a young wordsmith like Levi! And how fun to be part of the movement to get his word into popular usage and then into the dictionary.

Susan Scott said...

Great post Hilary! I too have a fascination with words eg put a 's' in front of words and you have swords .. words can of course be like swords, piercing, penetrating ..

Bright lad and such a FUN thing to do as well - sure to fire the imaginations of everyone ..

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

Bravo for that little boy! It's heartening to hear about a child that young who is already enamored with language.

troutbirder said...

Fascinating!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

@ Bellybytes - how fascinating to see (probably) how you learnt to read ... isn't Levi amazing and it's wonderful to see the concept of 'Levidrome' being picked up and spread around the world ... I too sure hope he gets his recognition ..

I know our language is always evolving ... and good to see you again ...

@ Christine - as you say 'amazing kid' - and when we see youngsters utilising their language ...

@ Elizabeth - Levi is one incredible kid ... and it's great he is loving his knowledge of words ... so glad this made you smile - me too ...

@ Emily - how funny ... well now you know - and never to be forgotten. It is wonderful that Levi's movement is growing and I hope it gets adopted officially ...

@ Deborah - isn't it amazing to find youngsters well ahead of us in their wordsmith skills; I hope 'levidrome' gets into popular usage - should be if Emily was looking for that sort of word ... strange, but true, co-incidence ...

@ Susan - oh yes ... I hadn't thought of that - adding a letter to make another one ... and that is particularly appropriate for me, over here, right now - but clever play with words ...

Oh yes - Bright lad ... and it seems to be firing many people's imaginations ...

@ Susan - yes he's some smart lad ... isn't it heartening to hear someone who spurs us all on through his use of language ...

@ Troutbirder - as you say ... 'fascinating' ...

Cheers and thanks so much - I'm sure Levi will be thrilled with your comments and interest - Hilary

Lynn said...

I'm always amazed by young people like Levi.

Levi's Dad said...

Hey,

Thought you may like this local article that just came out today. Keep (peek - that's a levidrome!) using the word folks, we are getting there!

https://www.vicnews.com/community/levidrome-slides-into-everyday-lexicon/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Lynn - isn't it great to read about people like Levi - not many in the world ... yet it's wonderful when one appears for us all to support and encourage ...

@ Levi's Dad - thanks for coming on again with the local article and reminding us that 'keep' and 'peek' are a levidrome ...

I will be using Levidrome for my L in the April A- Z challenge ... due up on 13th April ... lucky Friday 13th ... so should get lots of sightings then ...

Cheers to you both - and I'll keep using levidromes where possible ... happy chocolate Easters ... Hilary

Jo said...

Somehow I missed this post Hilary. I love the concept of Levidrome and that a 6 yr old came up with the idea.

As for English blogging, I have been here so long I don't know whether I am spelling things the English or the North American way any more.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Jo - no worries ... but it's great Levi is promoting this word .. and I sure hope it gets into the Oxford English dictionary. I do prefer my own language ... but suspect we're being drawn into Americanising it all - cheers Hilary

Pradeep Nair said...

Great story, Hilary. Amazing that a child could come up with something like this. Hope levidrome gets added to the dictionary.
Take care, Pradeep

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Thanks Pradeep ... I thought you might enjoy this post - lovely to see you here ... cheers Hilary