However, in searching for a word to describe such an occasion, I found that none exists! Really! None! In this world where we like to assign especial importance to some ages (e.g. 40) over others (e.g. 23), it seems astonishing that there's not a word to describe this special set of birthdays. Certainly, birthdays like 33, 55, and so on are palindromes (and many people make special recognition of palindrome birthdays), but so is 101, and that – though very impressive in many senses including its acknowledgment of sheer longevity – isn't a number where all the digits are the same. Although it has been suggested (probably by just one person trying to be funny) that we use the word "schnaplefest" for this type of birthday, that hardly seems to be common usage, and it still doesn't describe the number itself—just the celebration of the corresponding birthday.
So what
is the word for a number in which all the digits are the same? As far as
I can tell, in this vast and ever-growing language we call English,
there is none! I am completely floored by this simple and fundamental
gap in our collective vocabulary. But I have a solution. We'll make a
new word!
And it's going to be "equidigital!"
In
thinking about this neologism, I really got attached to the prefix
"iso," which means "equal" and is Greek in origin. I originally decided
on "isodigital," but "digit" is Latin-based, and my purism just wouldn't
allow me to combine languages like that! Fortunately, "equ" is a Latin
prefix, and means (unsurprisingly) "equal" as well! If you want to be
really strict about it, most words with an "equ" prefix seem to refer to
a sense of balance between two things rather than unlimited comparable
identities, but in a strictly literal translation, "equidigital" means
"having equal digits," and it has a better ring to it than other
possibilities I considered. When you're making a new word, you have to
make sure it's catchy and pronounceable, after all!
So, happy 3rd equidigital birthday to me! I can't think of any better present than a brand-new word!
*Another reason this year is momentous is that I'm exactly half the age of my dad! That only happens once in a lifetime!
2 comments:
May I ask where and how you got the word "GALORIOUS?"
How appropriate a question, for an entire post about a word I made up, because...I made it up (as you probably guessed). When I was about ten, I invented a personal brand I called "Val's Galore." Despite the grammatical incorrectness of the name, I kept it as my "company" name for all creative endeavors well into adulthood. So when searching for an adjective to describe my personal blog, I settled on the related, completely unique and non-existent term, "Galorious!"