Tuesday, February 26, 2008

New Words: Terms that May Not be Endearing

English has always been a bit of a mongrel. It has Germanic origins, with French and Latin added for flavor. Words from many other languages have been added as the British Empire grew. The fast pace of technological change has also made a significant contribution. English speakers have always found ways to bend and twist the language to make it more useful and more amusing in describing the people, places, things and events that make up our daily lives.

Here are few examples I found while searching the Internet today.

Anti-Fonzi: Uncool. (A bit dated don't you think?)

Billary: Pertaining to Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Blankle: A common US colloquialism for blanket that was added in December to the Oxford English Dictionary. Something about always gathering at the ankle and leaving the rest of you quite cold, I believe.)

Bullshot: An artificial screenshot used to promote a computer game. (Others might call it marketing, but one mans marketing is another mans fraud.)

Celebufreak: A freak with fame.

Godzone: A humorous name for New Zealand, taken from the first two words of a popular description of the island nation as "God's own country".

Henchgoon: An administrative assistant.

Latte Liberal: A dismissive term for a fashionable liberal. (the way the word is used today I thought liberal was a dismissive term.)

Locavore: Someone who eats food grown and produced locally.

Nanoblahblah: Nanotechnology nonsense. (My favorite variation on the theme is, Nanobabble, I think it's the same thing, people keep talking about technology until you go away.)

Obesogen: a chemical that causes weight gain.

Tapafication: The tendency of some restaurants to serve small tapas like portions.

I always enjoy language and would welcome your sharing variations that you have come to know and love.

Thanks.

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