Bloviation, Bicapitalization, and Invariant Be: There's a Name for It (#19)

In our extensive Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms, you'll find a name for . . .

• the use of a capital letter in the middle of a word or name--as in iMac or eBay: bicapitalization (also known as CamelCase, embedded caps, InterCaps, and midcaps)


• feigned ignorance, confusion, or bafflement (think of Socrates--or Lieutenant Columbo): dissimulatio


• a verb form, characteristic of African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), that's used to indicate a habitual and repeatable action: invariant be


• speech or writing that's wordy, pompous, and generally devoid of meaning: bloviation


• a compound word that contains rhyming elements, such as fuddy duddy, pooper-scooper, and voodoo: rhyming compound


• a system of punctuation intended to help people read a text aloud: rhetorical punctuation


• an anecdote or short story that concludes with an elaborate pun: feghoot


• three distinct words derived from the same source but at different times and by different routes of transmission (e.g., place, plaza, and piazza): triplets

More Words About Words:

• Word Words, Paraprosdokian, and Restaurantese (#18)
• Word Salad, Gongorism, and Consonant Clusters (#17)
• Filler Words, Diglossia, and Syntactic Persistence (#16)

Blackboard: examples of bicapitalization