Here Are Some New Words For Us To Use
Merriam-Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary has sanctified some new words that are now officially part of the English language.
Plan to spend your staycation watching vlogs and webisodes? Or perhaps you plan to signal a flash mob for a quick bite of shawarma.
Thanks to officially sanctioned government torture, “waterboarding” is now in the dictionary. And here’s the meaning of some words you may wish to incorporate into your daily speaking:
locavore (one who eats foods grown locally), frenemy (someone who acts like a friend but is really an enemy), vlogs (a blog that contains video material) and webisode (a TV show that can be viewed at a Web site).
There’s also flash mob (a group of people summoned electronically to a designated spot at a specified time to perform an indicated action before dispersing) and green-collar (involving actions for protecting the natural environment).
Sadly, some words still didn’t make it this time. Words like “prepone” which is arranging for an event to take place earlier than planned, the opposite of “postpone.” Maybe next time.
Darn it, Alan, now you’ve made me want to go and buy that new dictionary! Merriam’s should be compensating you for this post! This plays upon my brain’s insatiable desire to consume new words…I can’t seem to help it, I’m a “vocabulavore”!
average james Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Way fun post Alan.
July 9th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
what about sexting, or Obamanation.
Don’t forget all the pc terms we have for illegal alien.
Epiphany Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Oh, you mean like, “immigrant”, “human being”… they’re already in the dictionary.
hhhhhah Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
how about undocumented worker, or transmigrant, or immigration challenged.
Most people like yourself just drop that evil term “illegal” to make it sound better.
Kregg Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 10:37 am
How about ‘criminal’ since they break the law by their presence?
July 9th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Here I’ve got some……
Blogaholic, anyone thought of that yet?
Expresso, that would be a quickly served espresso
Fiberal, I think that one is self explanatory
libpatriot Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
“Fiberal”… one who’s serious about following a high-fiber diet?
trees are people too Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Hmm…. I guess I misspelled it.
Fibberal
libpatriot Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Okay. I get it now.
Fibberal: n. 1. Someone who libels the aluminum industry. 2. A nickname for Al Gore used by climate change deniers. 3. A cast used for setting broken fibula bones. 4. A nominal Democrat who often votes the Republican party line. 5. The forty-sixth Vice-president of the United States, Richard Cheney. 6. A right-wing talk show host who makes a living telling untruths about liberals. 6. A career politician from the state of Alabama. 7. Any construct comprised principally of synthetic rubber and aluminum. 8. One who repeatedly breaks promises concerning personal condom usage. 9. Anyone who proclaims that legalizing gay marriage will inevitably lead to legalizing polygamy and/or beastiality. 10. Anyone who falsely claims adherence to a high-fiber diet.
Is really it possible to misspell a fake word?
libpatriot Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
“Is it really possible to misspell a fake word?”
libpatriot Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Oops…two number six definitions! Well, there goes MY big chance to edit dictionaries for a living!
trees are people too Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
You know Fiberal might just be a good name for a new high fiber breakfast cereal………….
libpatriot Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
It might at that, Trees, in which case you should probably go about trying to secure your intellectual property rights to the name.
average james Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
This is good stuff.
Fiberal……..that is funny. Way to go trees.
Fiberal, the definitions, way to go libatriot.
libpatriot Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
“Blogaholic, anyone thought of that yet?”
People may have thought of that already, Trees, but just found it too embarrassing to admit it. Coming soon: the Blogaholic Twelve Step Program.
GuidoVanHorn Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 1:54 am
forget blogaholic…what is blogahol?
Kregg Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 2:36 am
Blogahol is obviously the intoxicating substance behind the intellectually astounding logic, erudite prose, and soaring rhetoric displayed on this board by blogaholics. Silly Guido… ;-)
libpatriot Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 6:51 am
**HIC!**
average james Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Ha ha ha ha ha
July 9th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Trillion is the new billion.
hhhhhah Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Here is a revise for doctor evil.
1 million dollars…..100 million….1 billion..
umm 100 billion.. ok ok 1 trillion dollars.
trees are people too Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
HHHHHAH,
I’ve been hearing speculation that this current administration is going to introduce a new monetary descriptive term to address the concerns over the size of the deficit.
The term trillion is scaring people when used within a context such as 900,000 trillion……
So they’ve proposed a new stimulus package that will adjust the deficit to a less threatening and more easily understood number expressed as simply…1 Gazillion
So now instead of panicking over the enormously large sounding expression of “trillions”, we can rest assured that the deficit is only an easily managed 1 gazillion……
I think this new strategy will boost consumer confidence
trees are people too Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Using this strategy will also make it easier to pass additional “stimulus packages” as it won’t sound to alarming to simply spend an additional “gazillion”……..
The deficit will simply go from a low 1 gazillion to an almost imperceptible increase totaling a mere 2 gazillion.
average james Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
He he he he
July 9th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Colmesian: style of political talk radio show that involves a large degree of caller participation (esp. involving calls from the opposite political side)
Rocky the Liberal Rottweiler Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Don’t forget Rovian: accusing the opposition of ones own crimes and misdemeanors.
libpatriot Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
New adjective, defined by “Toward a worse or less advanced cognitive ability while adopting the philosophies of Glen Beck”: Beckwards.
New verb, defined by “To cleanse one’s mind of erroneous political opinions originally inspired by listening to Sean Hannity”: Hannitize.
New noun, defined by “The severance of the brain’s ability to form intelligent political opinions, caused by repeated listening to Rush Limbaugh”: Limbaughtomy.
Kregg Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Lib, good ones, except Hannity is already using “Hannitize” complete with little cymbal sounds to baptize new believers.
libpatriot Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Wow, Kregg, you just saved me an embarrassing moment at the copyright office! Guess that means I’ll just have to content myself with finding definitions to words like “insHannity” and “Coultergeist”.
Kregg Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Or words like:
Pelosian – something that is older than dirt and unstable
Darwink – a facial tic unavoidable when telling whoppers like man developed accidentally from rocks.
Obamiac – one who thinks BO is going to pay their mortgage, make their ol’ man look sexier, and bring about world peace as ‘change they can believe in…”
libpatriot Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 2:13 am
Pretty good, Kregg! Looks like you’ll be able to easily get a side job with Merriam-Webster if you should ever get bored in your upcoming retirement.
Rocky the Liberal Rottweiler Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 2:38 am
Palin’ under the pressure.
Celticwitch Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 7:27 am
Hey lib, Coultergeist, I believe Keith Olbermann uses that word on his Worst Person In the World segment. Maybe another word from Countdown, Mr. Bouncy bounce. AKA Rush Limbaugh… Nice…
I think they placed on the dictionary Reaganomics, Bushism?
libpatriot Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 7:55 am
Thanks for the heads-up on “Coultergeist”, Celticwitch, as I don’t have cable and so don’t watch Olbermann; didn’t realize someone else had gotten to coining it first. Seems a lot of times when we think we’ve come up with original ideas, somesone else has beaten us to it!
Reaganomics, Bushism: two more reasons I’ll have to get that dictionary to see what definitions it has. (Do you suppose that first word is described as “class warfare for the wealthy”, or just as “voodoo economics”?)
Celticwitch Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 8:26 am
You are welcome, but you have a Computer, you can watch Olbermann on MSNBC. If I miss his show I go on the Computer to watch, as a Matter of fact, do it now, and you can tell me what you think…
Class warfare for the wealthy? Do the weathy think they are better than the class warfare for the poor? Just a thought.
As for voodoo economics, do the use poppets? Just another thought.
average james Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Darwink—–accidently from rocks. HA HA HA HA
Kreg, you’re killin me.
libpatriot Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 3:15 am
Celticwitch, my computer system is an old one that doesn’t have sound, so I can only use links or vist websites for things that are to be read, not watched with sound. But thanks for the info all the same.
flap Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Why is it when I gave a neutral word reflecting the interactive nature of Alan’s show, it IMMEDIATELY devolved into partisan words?
Daddio Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 8:53 am
That is what liberals do Flap.
See ya. Gotta go.
libpatriot Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 2:57 am
“That is what liberals do Flap.”
Spoken like someone who has regular Limbaughtomies.
:-)
average james Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
I think Colmesian is a good one Flap.
libpatriot Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 2:55 am
Don’t take it too hard, Flap. And I agree with James: Colmesian is a good one.
July 9th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Well I’ve seen anecdotal evidence that “prepone” is used in south Asian and widely used in India, where it is said to be generally regarded as a legitimate word.
libpatriot Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 2:58 am
Anecdotal evidence should be good enough for Republicans. Reagan was a wiz at using anecdotes to “prove” his points.
July 9th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
[...] Alan shares his own examples of new words that belong in the dictionary, and asks listeners to share some of their [...]
July 9th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Here’s a couple more…….
Dimmeral
Libbercrites
I’ll try and use them in a sentence with our new word from earlier today.
There are both dimmerals and libbercrites, as well as fibberals, in today’s Democratic party.
libpatriot Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 7:13 am
But then how can you tell them all apart?
trees are people too Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
That is an excellent question.
Generally all libbercrites are also fibberals, and some are also dimmerals, and so the terms are best understood through combining them, as in….
I’ve seen a lot of fibberal libbercrites in my day, but you…….
Or,
Boy, you sure are a dimmeral libbercrite!
and,
Why you dimmeral, fibberal, libbercrite you………
And so the context of the discussion in which these new words are being used is highly important to our understanding of their correct application, as these descriptive terms are broad ranging in their capabilities to help expand our vocabulary, and additionally they give us a new found flexibility, which can hopefully enable us to articulate the various nuances and subtleties that we have been trying to impart both objectively, and for creatively illustrative purposes. These new words should have a broad ranging appeal…….
libpatriot Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Wow, Trees, guess you sure told me! Thanks!
(next time, go a little easy on the blogahol)
trees are people too Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Hi Libpatriot, no mean spiritedness intended on my part.
I was just being “cheeky” and having fun.
I still haven’t mastered the smiley faced thing that can be attached to the end of the sentence yet.
libpatriot Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 12:44 am
It’s cool, Trees Are People Too, I’ve enjoyed your sense of humor on this posted topic. I think you and others here on this “New Words” topic have helped make it a LOT of fun! (And of course, I’ve been cheeky, too.) Appreciate your wit!
This smiley faced thing is for both of us, and everyone else who contributed here:
:-)
Peace to ya, Trees
Libpatriot
libpatriot Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 7:17 am
This is a question I’ve wanted to ask for awhile:
Trees, if you fall down in the woods when nobody else is around, do you really make a sound?
Kregg Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Yes, but you don’t want to hear it… ;-)
libpatriot Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Bet you’re right, Kregg, heh-heh!
:-)
July 9th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
vlogs…yes…another elusive v-word for my scrabble game.
I hate V’s C’s and K’s…they always screw up my board.
libpatriot Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 1:13 am
Guido, I understand the difficulty with V’s, but why the problem with the C’s and K’s?
GuidoVanHorn Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 1:50 am
I think in a regular scrabble game I wouldn’t have the same issues, but my family doesn’t play regular scrabble. We play power scrabble which favors quick play full of 2,3,4 letter words and maximizing the use of all letters (ideally if you can do it, you would create a box of words, thereby using all your letters twice…I’ve never seen it happen)
3 letter words that end in C and/or begin in K are tough to use. I did learn two new three letter K words the other day though.
U’s are also problematic…how many good 3 letter words utilize a U in the middle? Especially with the common letters. BUT MUD JUT CUD VUE….
libpatriot Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 3:02 am
RUM TUB SUE CUR FUN BUN BUM SUM FUR SUN RUN…More than ya’d think.
libpatriot Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 3:06 am
RUE BUS SUB PUT PUS SUP BUT RUB
libpatriot Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 3:08 am
Sorry, you already had “BUT”….got a little carried away there.
GuidoVanHorn Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 4:38 am
look at your diversity though…it’s not that it’s impossible to use a U in the middle of a three letter word (my preferred location, but that you have fewer option than say a A or E or O…I’s also suck for this purpose.
of our 23 words we only used 10 letters to start words.
we only used 9 letters to end words ..including 3 E words, I like to avoid 3 letter words with 2 vowels…I’ll do it if I have to, but it makes the board harder to duplicate all letters.
and we only used 13 letters total. leaving 8 consonents as unusable, and just for giggles we also can’t use 4 vowels (now I do know a few words that use some of those letters…but those are my secret weapons.)
and the trick is that you have to be able to remember all these words very quickly. An average game lasts about 3-5 minutes.
another key are the 2 letter words..which brings up my scrabble rules rant. DA was an accepted word than was officially dropped from the official scrabble dictionary because it’s a “foreign” word. However amongst two letter words DE is accepted…definition of DE according to scrabble dictionary…of or from…a classic spanish definition, the hypocrisy tinks me off on principle. Either both are legal or neither are legal. Plus I think DA can be accepted as a term for Father, PA is accepted under this premise.
ok I’m done.
July 10th, 2009 at 1:51 am
Do they have whackjob in the dictionary if not, here is the definition.
Whackjob: Congressperson who argues about specific subjects and get them completely wrong, see Michele Bachmann; on the Census; Anti-Americans in the Congress;
on globalwarming.
Well what do you think, I believe someone could have more to add to this.
libpatriot Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 3:09 am
James Inhofe of Oklahoma for his stubborn global warming denial.
trees are people too Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 3:30 am
Libpatriot,
Do you think that the earth is significantly warmer now than at any time in the past?
Do you think this warming trend is within cyclical averages?
Or do you think we are experiencing an irreversible thermal runaway situation, and do you think it is oscillating in a cyclical trend?
Is it possible that this is normal planetary dynamics and that man has little or no influence in terms of impact?
Is it possible that the cause of global warming is actually due to a higher than normal output from the sun?
In other words the cause of warming is outside of the planet.
I’m just curious what you think.
trees are people too Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 3:42 am
I gotts to get ta bed, I’ll check back tomorrow.
Have A great night Libpatriot, I’ll c-ya L8er, your friend trees
trees are people too Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 3:56 am
Before I go and wanted to leave this for your consideration,
It’s interesting stuff, I’ll c-ya…….
Kregg Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 9:54 am
LIib said: James Inhofe of Oklahoma for his stubborn global warming denial.
K: Inhofean Reasoning: The mental process by which one logically refutes that which has not been proven.
Lib Patriot Reply:
July 12th, 2009 at 3:47 am
Trees and Kregg, right now I’m looking at an upcoming 50-hour work week, so cannot respond on the global warming issue right now with the thoroughness I think the issue deserves. So I’ll give a raincheck on a proper response for now. But I AM going to pursue this topic with you again after next week has passed at the first opportunity. And I fully expect you both will take me up on it.
Kregg Reply:
July 12th, 2009 at 3:48 am
Ok, but I’ll be gone next week with an iffy wireless signal. Besides the earth will have probably cooled yet again by then and everyone will be peddling global cooling… ;-)
Lib Patriot Reply:
July 12th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Perfect, Kregg! You’ll have an iffy wireless signal to transmit your iffy counter-arguments…..:-)
BTW, it was 105 degrees in Tucson today, and expected to get hotter as the week goes on….and I’ll probably be hoping you’re right.
Kregg Reply:
July 13th, 2009 at 12:14 am
Lib said: Perfect, Kregg! You’ll have an iffy wireless signal to transmit your iffy counter-arguments…..:-)
K: I don’t make counter arguments. I tell the truth and everyone else argues with it. Its a difficult job but someone needs to do it… ;-) BTW, if you’d quit frying your brain down there you’d realize the rest of the nation is experiencing a cooling trend.
trees are people too Reply:
July 13th, 2009 at 12:25 am
Ok, Libpatriot.
I’m hoping for some employment, I could sure use it.
I wish Obama would fulfill his promises, unemployment rate is continuing to climb…..
Anyway you have a good week, and I wish you success in all of your endeavors, sincerely, your friend trees
July 10th, 2009 at 9:35 am
What is the difference between:
“Pullin’ a Palin” AND “Pullin’ a Paling”
libpatriot Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 3:04 am
I’ll bite, Pierre:
“Pullin’ a Paling” may bring down your log cabin, but “Pullin’ a Palin” may bring down your career!
pierre Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
No, and Yes.
Try again.
Lib Patriot Reply:
July 12th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
I’ll pass, Pierre.
July 10th, 2009 at 3:07 pm