Is there a term for this or do we need to invent it?

Ok, I second. Motion on the floor people.

shearing, implies a smoother motion than cutting or clipping. Slicing is a distant second.

I’d use the word, but I’d want to spell it according to English rules if it’s to be taken as an English word: slitzing. So—motion to amend.

Seconded, good idea to keep English… English. (I thought of combining slicing and cutting. “Slutting” just doesn’t have a good ring to it, does it?)
Motion on the floor to amend verb to “slitzing”.

It currently exists as “Tranquility,” but I support this broader term; Can we bring slitzing out of committee and take a vote? It’s already been added to my Opera spell-check dictionary.
@Trillian aww… that’s a great portmanteau.

@VohuManah Slutting? Yeah, but I think it’s already taken.;-)

Does the original mover accept the amendment?

There is an actual website to proplse new words, I suggest you find it. With regard to this particular activity – it depends on the quality of the paper, doesn’t it?

i’d ask someone who works at a fabric counter at a craft store, they do it all the time!!

I considered spelling it, slitzing. I like it either way. If no one knows a previous term, then I shall use slitzing in everything I write & when in conversation. I hope it catches on.

Also, with it ending in ‘ing’ making it a current action, I propose, slitz & slitzed as other forms. I’m going to slitz the wrapping paper. I’m slitzing the paper. I slitzed the paper in half.

In other words, the infinitive is “to slitz,” and its conjugation is regular.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slitz

ooooh, dirty.

okey dokey

True, it could sound a little naughty. But so can a lot of things. Anyway, it’s being proposed for use in English, not Swedish.

Well… ‘slitz’ sounds dirty in both languages to me….

I like the Norwegian word for this action…. it means ‘to tear’ and it sounds like ‘reev’ with too long e’s. You could say ‘reeving’ ... ‘I was reeving the paper instead of cutting it.’

Either way, since I haven’t been able to find a term for this action (in the English language), I got in touch with Oxford Dictionary & the word Slitz with all forms of conjugation are now under review for consideration as a new word to be added to the Oxford English Language Dictionary. Hopefully they will really think about it, because I really do believe that this action deserves to have a name. How have we gone through so many gift giving holidays, with millions of people slitzing through wrapping paper & not be able to call it something? I’ll update this when Oxford gets back in touch with me. I’m guessing it’s not a simple process that they take lightly or quickly, so who knows when I will get an answer.

I’ll venture a guess to your question, @rpmpseudonym:

> How have we gone through so many gift giving holidays…

Wrapping presents is something we usually do in private, isn’t it?—so there’s not much need to discuss the technique.

Since I’ve always done my own gift wrapping, and my mother taught me when I was very young, and she just cut-cut-cut without slitzing, I didn’t pick up this how-to trick until I started buying fabric as an adult. And at the fabric stores I have never heard them call it anything but cutting. So I have thought of it as a variant of cutting and never needed to get more specific.

However, in teaching my sons to wrap gifts, I might well have said “There’s an easier way to cut the wrapping paper quickly and in a straight line without a lot of jagged little chopping marks. It’s called slitzing, and here’s how you do it.”

Adding a word to a dictionary takes a long time. The editors would want to see some number of instances in print and other media and validate its use through context. I think it has to be “collected” by some minimum number of contributors before it can become a serious contender. You can’t just make up a word and have it get in. Good luck, though.

@Jeruba , I agree, slitzing will most likely never occur in conversation, unless it’s a teaching lesson. I think I am coming at this from a writers perspective. Writing out the slitzing technique would take a few sentences & would weigh down the flow of reading. For a simple sentence as, ‘Mother was a skilled seamstress; slitzing fabric with one hand while the other tipped a mug of vodka to her lips.’ It reads quick & the imagery is perfect. I don’t expect the word slitz to be thrown around as if it’s the new ‘hello’, but I would like it to have some recognition. I know the process of new words being adding is tough, but it’s always worth a shot.

From a writer’s point of view, @rpmpseudonym, there is nothing better than having the perfect, precise word at your disposal. If you are employing a coinage, however, you must make sure to deliver enough context clues so that there is no doubt about the meaning of the word. That way, when the editors of the OED come collecting their specimens, they will capture a correct definition as well.

I would question whether slitzing can be a one-handed gesture. For me it isn’t: it doesn’t work unless the other hand is holding the material fairly taut.

@Jeruba “one-handed gesture”

That’s why mother is a skilled seamstress. :)

But yes, it usually takes two hands, one to slitz, the other to make material taut. I have given enough information to Oxford so they are fully aware of words usage. Even if it never becomes ‘official’ I’ll most likely keep saying it. It reminds me of the word, genuflect. It’s a great word (sounds a little funny) that provides a great image in just 9 letters. Kind of like slitz, genuflect isn’t said very much, but when it writing, it hastens along the action.

“Mother slitzed the fabric while the cigarette dangled from her lips. Her students genuflect in awe – not a single ash fell on the fabric.”

Now you’ve got me puzzled for sure, @rpmpseudonym. Unless this is being said facetiously, I can’t imagine any situation in which a roomful of students would all bend the knee in a posture of reverence as in a church. I would think it would totally stop the action.

It’s a sliding action with a cutting instrument.
Sliding/cutting…

Phonetically, I want to say “slutting” but that’s obviously not going to fly.

@Captain_Fantasy I like the word ‘reaving’ but they won’t wear that one either. Slitz? Come on.. it sounds like a porn mag.

I just looked it up. Actually ‘reaving’ IS this…. and doesn’t specifically need a new word.

reave2
vb reaves, reaving, reaved, reft [rɛft]
Archaic
to break or tear (something) apart; cleave