Comic Book Coinages

Authors

John McClellan

Abstract

My wife and I were on a plane high over the Atlantic en route to England. We occupied aisle seats, and next to us was a young English lad, obviously returning home with his parents (in the row behind us) after a visit to the United States. On the boy's lap was a comic book -- I've forgotten the title -- and an English dictionary was at his side. A Latin dictionary lay on the floor. He had a puzzled expression on his face and it seemed as though he might be close to tears for his chin trembled ever so slightly. After observing him for a while out of the corner of my eye I leaned towards him and asked if something was troubling him. Silently, he pointed to the comic book open on his lap, and to a fearsome drawing of some beings undoubtedly from outer space. The caption of the drawing, hand-lettered, and frighteningly large, was S-P-P-L-E-E-C-H!

Recommended Citation

McClellan, John (1980) "Comic Book Coinages," Word Ways: Vol. 13 : Iss. 3 , Article 9.
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol13/iss3/9