The newspapers at this time of year are usually full of interest features about the words which are making their first appearance in the new edition Oxford English Dictionary. It's easy space filler for them at what is usually a slow news time of year, and allows them every year to comment on how fast the world is changing, kids today don't talk like we did when we were young, and how this was all trees when I was a girl.
At home I've got a copy of the 1915 dictionary, whose 'new words' section includes exciting new coinings like "U-Boat", "Birth Control", "X-Ray", and "Mafficking", some of which have survived the test of time. The new edition has new entries like "Chugger" (One of those charity types who grabs you in the street and uses emotional blackmail to get cash out of you for a 'good cause'), "Krump" (Aggressive dancing whilst wearing clown makeup), and "Smirt" (A subclassification of flirting which will vanish from the dictionary as fast as it appeared).
In the hope of getting my name into the next edition of the dictionary, here are some of my own Neologisms.
Kerrang-Utang: A short, fat, hairy man who listens to too much rock and heavy metal.
e.g. "Amy Lee was doing a signing at HMV last night, so Oxford Street was rammed with Kerrang-Utangs"
Krautosapphophobia: An irrational fear of the pairs of hard-faced, wiry German women one meets in backpackers hostels.
e.g. "I was going to knock on their chalet door and ask Birgid and Helga for a drink, but I had an attack of Krautosapphophobia"
Ex-lacks: A person so lacking in self-awareness that they blame ex-friends, partners and employers for problems which they created.
e.g. "David says that he was fired from his job because his boss was overpromoted and jealous of his talent, and it had nothing to do with him spending all day on LJ, IRC and playing EVE Online."
Jawdy: Someone who goes on and on and on about how the North of England is superior to the South, despite having lived in Islington for twenty years.
e.g. "I went for a drink in Battersea with David last night and he didn't shut up about Yorkshire all night. Fuckin' Jawdy."
New scientific terms.
Castrophysics: The art of manipulating irrational numbers through imaginary SpaceTime, as used by Socialists to demonstrate that left-wing economic forms are 'fair', 'just' and in any way workable when applied to actual people.
e.g. "The 2005 Nobel prize for Castrophysics went to Gordon Brown for his principle of Simultanaeity, by which he taxed £60bn out of pension funds whilst simultaneously claiming that the £60bn pension fund shortfall was caused by someone who left office ten years ago."
Gastrophysics: The science of taking ordinary garden weeds, getting them endorsed by a popular celebrity, and then selling them as overpriced cooking ingredients. Also known as "Rocket Science".
Any more for any more?
At home I've got a copy of the 1915 dictionary, whose 'new words' section includes exciting new coinings like "U-Boat", "Birth Control", "X-Ray", and "Mafficking", some of which have survived the test of time. The new edition has new entries like "Chugger" (One of those charity types who grabs you in the street and uses emotional blackmail to get cash out of you for a 'good cause'), "Krump" (Aggressive dancing whilst wearing clown makeup), and "Smirt" (A subclassification of flirting which will vanish from the dictionary as fast as it appeared).
In the hope of getting my name into the next edition of the dictionary, here are some of my own Neologisms.
Kerrang-Utang: A short, fat, hairy man who listens to too much rock and heavy metal.
e.g. "Amy Lee was doing a signing at HMV last night, so Oxford Street was rammed with Kerrang-Utangs"
Krautosapphophobia: An irrational fear of the pairs of hard-faced, wiry German women one meets in backpackers hostels.
e.g. "I was going to knock on their chalet door and ask Birgid and Helga for a drink, but I had an attack of Krautosapphophobia"
Ex-lacks: A person so lacking in self-awareness that they blame ex-friends, partners and employers for problems which they created.
e.g. "David says that he was fired from his job because his boss was overpromoted and jealous of his talent, and it had nothing to do with him spending all day on LJ, IRC and playing EVE Online."
Jawdy: Someone who goes on and on and on about how the North of England is superior to the South, despite having lived in Islington for twenty years.
e.g. "I went for a drink in Battersea with David last night and he didn't shut up about Yorkshire all night. Fuckin' Jawdy."
New scientific terms.
Castrophysics: The art of manipulating irrational numbers through imaginary SpaceTime, as used by Socialists to demonstrate that left-wing economic forms are 'fair', 'just' and in any way workable when applied to actual people.
e.g. "The 2005 Nobel prize for Castrophysics went to Gordon Brown for his principle of Simultanaeity, by which he taxed £60bn out of pension funds whilst simultaneously claiming that the £60bn pension fund shortfall was caused by someone who left office ten years ago."
Gastrophysics: The science of taking ordinary garden weeds, getting them endorsed by a popular celebrity, and then selling them as overpriced cooking ingredients. Also known as "Rocket Science".
Any more for any more?