Highxicon? Sniglets?  No, I swear I’m not speaking another language.  Instead, I’m just hoping to improve one through adding some new vocabulary!  These words will help us, as Highlands students, describe moments we all have but can’t define.

A sniglet can be officially defined as any word that should be in the dictionary, but isn’t. Sniglets were a concept originally invented by comedian Richard Hall back in the 1980s.  They first premiered on the HBO comedy show Not Necessarily the News, as each episode had a segment dedicated solely to providing the world with these new words. As sniglets gained popularity, three books were published: Sniglets, More Sniglets, and Sniglets for Kids. Each book contained a long list of sniglets, alphabetized and defined just like a real dictionary.

So, where does the Highxicon come into play? The Highxicon is Highlands High School’s first ever sniglet, a noun that can be defined as any word that should be within the vocabulary of Highlands students, but isn’t… yet!

Every week, I will be releasing a plethora of new words to add to our Highlands Highxicon. With each word, I’ll provide a part of speech, definition, sentence containing the word, and a brief description of where the new word came from. For example, the word Highxicon was created combining the word “Highlands” (our school, obviously) and lexicon (the vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge) to represent a combination of the two.  

Without further ado, here is the first ever set of words within the Highxicon.

1. Cafundrum (noun)- the feeling you get when you haven’t decided what you want to eat yet but are already at the front of the line

The daunting choice between pizza or a burger had me in a cafundrum.

Cafeteria (a restaurant or dining room in a school or a business in which customers serve themselves or are served from a counter and pay before eating) + conundrum (a confusing and difficult problem or question) = cafundrum

2. Hunglare (verb)- shooting a sharp look at someone taking too long to make a choice or obtain food in the cafeteria line

I hunglared at the boy who was taking too long to assemble his salad.

Hungry (feeling or displaying the need for food) + glare (stare in an angry or fierce way) = hunglare

3. Resass (noun)- an enjoyable class during the day that provides relaxation

Choir is my resass because I love singing so much that it doesn’t feel like work.

Respite (a short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant) + class (an occasion when students meet with their teacher for instruction; a lesson) = resass

Fun Fact: Resass is also formulated to sound like “recess”, which is neat as a resass is a class that is just like recess!

4. Wordo (noun)- any word created by a Spanish student by adding an o to the end of the word in a futile attempt to make it sound Spanish

I began to make up wordos during my Spanish presentation when I forgot the vocabulary.

Wordo was inspired by my Spanish class, where many students, myself included, have tried to turn English words into Spanish words by adding an “o”. For example, “shirto” or “pantso”.

5. Snext (adjective)- a word describing a friendship or other relationship that is conducted solely over texting and Snapchat, not face to face

When my best friend moved away, our relationship became totally snext.

Snapchat + text= snext

However, I shouldn’t be the only one having all the fun.  I challenge YOU to add to the Highxicon! To submit new words, you must define the word, give it a part of speech, and tell me what existing words it was derived from (or however else you came up with it), and then post it in the comments below. I will be picking the best few each week to add to the Highxicon, as well as releasing a few words of my own.