Neologism of the Week

microWales (MY-kroh-waylz) noun (singular and plural)

A unit of measurement of area equal to one millionth the area of the country of Wales (a little over 5 acres). Hence also milliWales, nanoWales, picoWales, femtoWales; and gigaWales, megaWales, kiloWales, etc.

Created by Paul Hughes in conversation. Derived from the assumption that anything can be measured in units of either Wales or double-decker buses, with micro- (one millionth) prefix added.

John: "Any boat can be measured in terms of the cost of a Wayfarer [a 14-foot sailing dinghy]."

Paul: "Well, you know anything can be measured in terms of Wales or double-decker buses. [A microprocessor] would be 0.00000000001 Wales. Or a microWales."
(John Penton and Paul Hughes, in conversation, 25th June 2003)

Note: Paul's estimate of a microWales for a microprocessor is actually rather inaccurate. The particular microprocessor Paul was talking about actually has an area of 55.7 femtoWales (55.7 × 10^-15 Wales).

Internet bonus: Hoover, sandwich, rollerblade, portakabin: these are all eponyms, words that originally were names of people or companies but have entered the language through common usage. The latest word to join their ranks is google: originally an internet search engine, the word is now commonly used to mean "to search on the Internet". Google (the company) are not happy about this, as they wish to preserve their brand identity and trademark status: they are fighting a legal battle to stay out of the dictionary. Read the BBC News story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3006486.stm.

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John:	"Any boat can be measured in terms of the cost of a Wayfarer [a 14-foot sailing dinghy]."
Paul:	"Well, you know anything can be measured in terms of Wales or double-decker buses. [A microprocessor] would be 0.00000000001 Wales. Or a microWales."