In Frindle by Andrew Clements, Nick makes up a new word, "frindle" to take his language arts teacher at her word. Mrs. Granger told the students that by using a word, each person made a decision about what words would be used in the dictionary and in speaking.

Once Nick introduces his new word, all of his friend begin to use it. It annoys Mrs. Granger and many, many students get detentions and writing assignments for using the word when they had been asked not to. Eventually, the principal, Mrs. Chatham, visits the Allen family at home one night. She tells Nick's parents what has been happening and lays the blame at Nick's door. Surprisingly, Nick's mom doesn't think that using the word is that big a deal. The problem isn't really resolved, and Nick believes that in some ways Mrs. Granger enjoys their little battle over the use of words (which she absolutely loves—the words, that is).

When Mrs. Chatham has left, Nick's father speaks to Nick. Because there has been a fuss, his father thinks Nick should stop:

"Well," said Nick's dad, "if it gets everyone upset and makes the principal come talk to your mother and me, then it must not be fun for everybody, is it? And I think you should just tell all your friends to knock it off, right now...I mean, tomorrow."

So while Nick's mom sees no harm in using the word, Nick's dad believes that the disruption it causes at school makes using the word a bad idea.