Some interesting words you may not have come across, but may now feel a compunction to take for a trial run. Help yourself.
acoustic terrorism, n
acoustic terrorism, n
The disturbance of the peace caused by excessively loud noise.
- acoustic terrorist, n
First known use: 2000
Source: Word Spy
Related post: Let Me
- acoustic terrorist, n
First known use: 2000
Source: Word Spy
Related post: Let Me
agora, n
Historical (often capitalized)
1. Athen's marketplace, or any similar ancient Greek place of assembly.
2. The meeting itself.
Origin: Greek agorein, to gather
Source: freedictionary
Related post: Humpty
1. Athen's marketplace, or any similar ancient Greek place of assembly.
2. The meeting itself.
Origin: Greek agorein, to gather
Source: freedictionary
Related post: Humpty
angryphone, n
Derogatory (Canadian)
A person who feels marginalized as a member of Quebec's English-speaking minority.
Origin: A jocular play on "anglophone".
Citation: 2007 "... a fan's suggestion to use some Quebec terrorists as the next foes for 24's hero Jack Bauer. Who? Angryphones? Sellers of poutine? City blue-collar workers? Surely Jack can find somebody more menacing ..."
architourist, n
(also: archi-tourist)
A tourist who visits other countries and cities mainly to study the architecture.
—architourism, archi-tourism, n
—architour, archi-tour, n, v
First known use: 1999
Source: Word Spy
A tourist who visits other countries and cities mainly to study the architecture.
—architourism, archi-tourism, n
—architour, archi-tour, n, v
First known use: 1999
Source: Word Spy
blamestorm, v
A fusion of the words "blame" and "brainstorming" describing a meeting where the participants decide who to blame for a particular failure or problem. It has more to do with office politics and /or public relations than problem-solving.
Source: investopedia.com
Related post: Madness
boojum, n
Source: wwftd
Related post: War
calliopean, n
Piercingly loud.
First known use: 1855
Source: wordsmith.org
Related post: Let Me
cellaholic, n
A person addicted to his or her cellphone, who is seen to use it frequently. Especially when inappropriate.
Source: slangsite
Piercingly loud.
First known use: 1855
Source: wordsmith.org
Related post: Let Me
cellaholic, n
A person addicted to his or her cellphone, who is seen to use it frequently. Especially when inappropriate.
Source: slangsite
cellphone vigilante, n
Person who takes measures against cellphone users seen to be in violation of law, rules, or just being annoying. Potential forms:
a. Use of a cellphone jammer, a device that renders mobile devices impotent.
Source: nytimes
Person who takes measures against cellphone users seen to be in violation of law, rules, or just being annoying. Potential forms:
a. Use of a cellphone jammer, a device that renders mobile devices impotent.
Source: nytimes
cinematherapy, n
Therapy or self-help using movies, particularly videos as therapeutic tools.
First known use: 1995
Source: Word Spy
Therapy or self-help using movies, particularly videos as therapeutic tools.
First known use: 1995
Source: Word Spy
commodified leisure, n
Leisure time activities for which goods or services must be purchased.
First known use: 1996
Source: Word Spy
completist, n
Leisure time activities for which goods or services must be purchased.
First known use: 1996
Source: Word Spy
completist, n
A collector who attempts to collect an example of every item in a particular field.
Source: dictionary.com
Usage: The Completists: A new 5-part series on BBC Radio 4.
fauxpology, n
A shift in blame or twisted logic to argue one's way out of responsibility for one's actions in the form of an apology.
Source: urbandictionary
gallery rage, n
Extreme anger displayed by an art gallery patron when a visit is marred by huge crowds or rude gallery staff.
First known use: 1999
Source: Word Spy
Related post: Mashup
A shift in blame or twisted logic to argue one's way out of responsibility for one's actions in the form of an apology.
Source: urbandictionary
gallery rage, n
Extreme anger displayed by an art gallery patron when a visit is marred by huge crowds or rude gallery staff.
First known use: 1999
Source: Word Spy
Related post: Mashup
gaslight, v
To manipulate a person psychologically into questioning their own sanity.
Origin: The title of a 1944 film by George Cukor (remake of a 1940 version) in which this occurs.
First known use: 1969
Source: oed.com
To manipulate a person psychologically into questioning their own sanity.
Origin: The title of a 1944 film by George Cukor (remake of a 1940 version) in which this occurs.
First known use: 1969
Source: oed.com
Related Post: Rhetoric & Civic Duty
Goldilocks, attrib
Connoting moderate characteristics; (specifically) Goldilocks zone; Goldilocks market. From the fable Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Astronomy
The zone around a star where a planet could be located and experience temperatures like those on Earth, allowing for the possible existence of liquid water and of life.
Source: Wiktionary
Money & Finance
A safe or nonvolatile financial or commodity market.
Source: doubletongued.org
HTML, initialism
HyperText Markup Language; a set of tags and rules used in developing hypertext documents presented on the World Wide Web, allowing incorporation of text, graphics, sound, video, and hyperlinks.
HyperText Markup Language; a set of tags and rules used in developing hypertext documents presented on the World Wide Web, allowing incorporation of text, graphics, sound, video, and hyperlinks.
Source: allwords.com
HTML, n
Computing
Hypertext Markup Language, a standardized system for tagging text files to achieve font, colour, graphic, and hyperlink effects on World Wide Web pages.
Source: Oxford US
intaxication, n
The state of tax-refund euphoria, which disappears upon the realization that a tax refund is the return of one's own money.
Source: urbandictionary
last name effect, n
1. The correlation between the speed of purchasing decisions and the first letter of a person's surname, where speed increases towards the end of the alphabet.
Source: Word Spy
2. Economics
The correlation between tenure success for economics professors and the first letter of a person's surname, where success decreases towards the end of the alphabet. Explained by the fact that authors of scholarly articles in the field are listed in alphabetical order, often shortened to the first author's name followed by et al.
Source: marginalrevolution.com
lexicographer, n
An author or editor of a dictionary.
Origin: Late Greek lexikographos, from lexikon + Greek -graphos writer, from graphein to write
First known use: 1658
Source: Merriam-Webster
Related post: Madness
logodaedalist, n
An inventor of new words and terms.
A work of fiction, often a classic novel, combining pre-existing text with new material of a certain popular genre, often horror.
Origin: A borrowing from computing (a combining of two data sources) and music.
Source: wikipedia
neologism, n
1. A new word, usage, or expression.
2. a meaningless word coined by a psychotic.
Origin: French néologisme, from ne- + log- + -ism
First known use: 1803
Source: Merriam-Webster
neurocinematics, n
Neurological study of one's reactions and mental state when exposed to different movie styles (eg, horror, action, sci-fi).
First known use: 2008
Source: Word Spy
First known use: 2008
Source: Word Spy
no man's land, n
1. Land under dispute by two opposing parties, especially the field of battle between the lines of two opposing entrenched armies.
2. An area of uncertainty or ambiguity.
3. An unclaimed or unowned piece of land.
Source: wiki.answers
Related post: War
nonce word, n
A word invented for a particular situation.
Source: Cambridge dictionary
Related post: Madness
over the top (going)
A phrase used during WWI
1. Over the top of the trenches. When Allied troops left the trenches to attack German lines.
Source: wiki.answers
2. Too much or more than needed.
A self-help book masquerading as a novel.
Source: Word Spy
splenitive, adj
Obs
Having a hasty or hot temper.
Source: wwftd
snark, n
Computing
1. A system failure.
2. More generally, any kind of unexplained or threatening event in a computer (especially if it might be a boojum).
Source: dictionary.com
3. A fictional animal, the quarry for a hunting party comprising some highly unlikely characters in Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark.
Source: wwftd
Related post: Snark
Stendhal's syndrome, n
Stendhal's syndrome, n
(also: Stendhal syndrome) Dizziness, panic, paranoia, or madness caused by viewing certain artistic or historical artifacts or by trying to see too many such artifacts in too short a time.
Origin: The 19th-century French novelist is said to have been the first to write about the dizzying disorientation some tourists experience when they encounter masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance.
First known use: 1986
Source: Word Spy
term, n
A word or phrase used to describe a thing or to express a concept, especially in a particular language or branch of study:
- the musical term "lietmotiv"
- a term of abuse
Origin: Middle English (denoting a limit in space or time, or [in the plural] limiting conditions): from Old French terme, from Latin terminus "end, boundary, limit"
Source: Oxford dictionary
(TOO.rawn)
A particularly clueless or annoying tourist (tourist + moron).
First known use: 1991
Source: Word Spy
weasel word, n
A particularly clueless or annoying tourist (tourist + moron).
First known use: 1991
Source: Word Spy
weasel word, n
A word used to evade or retreat from a direct or forthright statement or position.
Origin: From the weasel's reputed habit of sucking out an egg's contents, leaving a superficially intact shell.
Origin: From the weasel's reputed habit of sucking out an egg's contents, leaving a superficially intact shell.
First known use: 1900
Source: Merriam-Webster
Related post: Humpty Dumpty, Toad Hall
weasel words, n plural
1. Language convoluted to spin or mislead; sophistry; euphemism.
2. An expression of recent coinage or that is considered jargon, particularly in corporate management.
2. An expression of recent coinage or that is considered jargon, particularly in corporate management.
Source: allwords.com
Related post: Humpty Dumpty, Toad Hall
widoa, n
Nonce word
From "Words I DOn't Appreciate".
First known use: 2011
Source: Greem Day
widoa, n
Nonce word
From "Words I DOn't Appreciate".
First known use: 2011
Source: Greem Day
wikiot, n
A person who believes everything on Wikipedia® is true and accurate.
Source: urbandictionary
WYSIWYG, n
A person who believes everything on Wikipedia® is true and accurate.
Source: urbandictionary
WYSIWYG, n
1. A display generated by word-processing or desktop-publishing software that exactly reflects the appearance of the printed document.
Origin: what you see is what you get
First known use: 1982
Source: Merriam-Webster
2. A computer program which allows editing a document in an on-screen representation identical to what the printed version thereof would look like.
Coined by: John Seybold and popularized at Xerox PARC in the late 1970s.
Translations: German: WYSIWYG
Source: allwords.com
WYSIWYG, adjective
(also wysiwyg)
Computing
Computing
Denoting the representation of text on screen in a form exactly corresponding to its appearance on a printout.
