English Dictionary of Non Words

A graphic design graduate has created a dictionary of non words after learning the Oxford English Dictionary kept a vault of failures.

Luke Ngakane was carrying out research for his Graphic Design degree project at Kingston University when he came up with the idea.

Now, after a successful response in the media he is collecting a selection of terms for a second edition.

Eventually the hope is that some of them will be accepted as proper words.

His English Dictionary of Non Words was created using a lot of the techniques used to make the original dictionary.

The whole piece is hand set in lead type but printed in off-white ink on white paper to represent the shady status of the words.

The dictionary was created using traditional printing techniques

One of Mr Ngakane's favourite words is 'furgle' which means to feel around in your pocket for a coin or a key.

Another is 'polkadodge', the dance that pedestrians do in the street when they both move in the same direction to avoid bumping into each other.

His dictionary also includes 'earworm' (a catchy tune that frequently gets stuck in your head), 'sprog' (to go slower than a sprint but faster than a jog) and 'dringle' (a watermark left by a glass of liquid).