Word on the street

I've just seen a great film. Go and see it, and help me get a new word into the New York Times crossword.
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There's a film currently out in the US, made, the participants thought, to die a slow death in obscurity shown, if at all, in the early hours on little known cable channels, only the makers submitted it to the Sundance film festival and now it's in cinemas. Wordplay is a documentary about the New York Times crossword puzzle, its fans (including Bill Clinton and tv presenter Jon Stewart who both make appearances in the film) and the puzzle enthusiasts who enter the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

It's a fun film, even for those who struggle with the Guardian quick crossword like me, even though every participant is a self confessed geek, even though American puzzles are different to British ones (the black squares have to be symmetrical - who knew?)

After the screening of the film I attended, two former tournament winners and stars of the film, Jon Delfin and Ellen Ripstein, were around for a question and answer session.

There's a word that my mum and I made up in 2004 for a Guardian article. It describes the phenomenon where people may have a good individual experience of a public service but they do not translate this into thinking that public services are generally good. The word, a play on 'nimbyism' (Not In My BackYard) is 'jimbyism'. Jimbyism is, of course, Just In My BackYard.

Since this word first appeared in print I've been trying to earn it a place in the Oxford English Dictionary. To do so it has to appear a certain number of times in a certain number of publications over a particular timescale. I've enlisted many friends in this task - one even tried to slot it into the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4 when they interviewed him, but in the heat of a live two-way he failed to do so. But now I've seen Wordplay, I have a new goal - to get it in the New York Times crossword.

I asked Jon and Ellen whether this was possible. If I write to Will Shortz, puzzle editor of the New York Times, explaining what I am trying to do, would he put jimby, or jimbyism, into a puzzle did they think? Jon was pretty sure the answer would be no. First it would have to be in the dictionary - a vicious cycle.

But we continued talking. Given that British crosswords are so different to American ones, he said, did I think the film would get much of an audience in the UK?

We struck a deal. I would do all I can to promote Wordplay (very good film - go and see it, write to your MP, demand your local cinema shows it, blog about it, talk about it) and Jon and Ellen would promote jimby.

(Did I mention this great new film, Wordplay?)

I'm going to send this article to Will Shortz. Jon and Ellen are surely now obligated to send it to everyone they know, particularly in the crossword world. And as the film showed, if there's one thing serious crossword solvers dislike it's losing - I expect jimby to be in common use across the US before next year's tournament.

(Wordplay - great film. Go see it.)

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