Of the praise of neologisms, the promiscuous coining of words, as if it meant initiative and daring, new and fresh life, strength and courage, I say that it more often means laziness and shallowness. The wish to explore and use existing resources is the mark of a sound economy. This habit of easy neologism is all of a piece with our hasty ways in agriculture, our trial marriages and our constant moving. It is a pioneer habit, like the rest.
Van Wyck Brooks
Opinions of Oliver Allston (1941)
