yupekosi

The subject of this article is just for fun. It might not be meant or appropriate for serious use.

yupekosi
Pronunciation	/ˈ�u.pe.ko.si/
Usage	2023: Obscure44-category system, Uncommon66-category system (22% ↗︎ ) Most speakers don't use this word.2022: Rare (16%)
Book and era	nimi ku lili (post-pu, marginal phonology)
Part of speech	Content word

yupekosi is a joke word and content word relating to changing a creative work and unintentionally making it worse. This word contains the marginal phoneme written as ⟨y⟩, that is, a phoneme not present the standard phonology.

In her original messages, jan Sonja stated that "nobody knows how to pronounce the y". In practice, it is often pronounced either as /j/ or [y ~ ɥ] – or as a different random sound each time the word is used.

Notably, yupekosi has a ku frequency index of 3, which would make it a nimi ku suli. However, a proofreader advised excluding it from this classification, and it is generally considered a nimi ku lili instead.

Etymology

The word yupekosi was coined by jan Sonja in 2019 as a keysmash.

Semantic space

The word yupekosi was originally defined as:

[…] to behave like George Lucas and revise your old creative works and actually make them worse

This references that American filmmaker George Lucas, known for creating Star Wars, revisited his original drafts for the prequels, which was criticized by numerous fans. In English, "George Lucas" is a slang verb with a similar meaning to yupekosi.

ku

For Toki Pona Dictionary, respondents in ma pona pi toki pona translated these English words as yupekosi:

change a creative work and unintentionally make it worse³41–60% of respondents