Earlier today I was asked by a blogging friend if I had coined the word “Baditude”. I thought some of you might be interested in my reply:

“Baditude” is one of several words that I think I coined and don’t think I heard anywhere before, but I’ll bet the minute I claim that I coined a word, someone will say it came from someplace else–not in a nefarious way but a factual one–but for now, I think I coined it.

I’d rather coin several words I like and not be concerned about who claims or gets credit for them than to hold off using them just because someone else might have thought of the word first.

The same is true for phrases and quotes too. I posted a quote recently and for the first time put my name on it. I cringed doing it because even though I believe I came up with it first, I’d hate to have someone accuse me of stealing it from someplace else, so I usually just say the quote or phrase as part of a post and not make a big deal about it or attribute it to anyone. I figure if I was the first and it is worth remembering, it was worth sharing regardless of who is credited with it.

What’s that saying, “Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.” (And no I didn’t coin that phrase but I wish I had. It’s a good one!)

Russ