Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Anus rings and other fun words

I'm a logophile. I can't help it. I love words. It should come as no surprise, then, that I squealed with glee upon hearing Merriam-Webster has announced the nearly 100 neologisms that will make it into the 2007 edition of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Here's a sample (and their meanings) taken from the website; you can read the original article here.

My favorite? Agnolotti, simply because it's a diminutive of anus ring.


ummmm, butt pasta


AGNOLOTTI: pasta in the form of semicircular cases containing a filling (as of meat, cheese, or vegetables)

BOLLYWOOD: the motion-picture industry in India

CHAEBOL: a family-controlled industrial conglomerate in South Korea

CRUNK: a style of Southern rap music featuring repetitive chants and rapid dance rhythms

DVR: digital video recorder

FLEX-CUFF: a plastic strip that can be fastened as a restraint around a person's wrists or ankles

GINORMOUS: extremely large

GRAY LITERATURE: written material (as a report) that is not published commercially or is not generally accessible

HARDSCAPE: structures (as fountains, benches, or gazebos) that are incorporated into a landscape

IED: improvised explosive device

MICROGREEN: a shoot of a standard salad plant (as celery or arugula)

NOCEBO: harmless substance that when taken by a patient is associated with harmful effects due to negative expectations or the psychological condition of the patient


nocebo?


PERFECT STORM: a critical or disastrous situation created by a powerful concurrence of factors

RPG: a computer language that generates programs from the user's specifications especially to produce business reports

SMACKDOWN: (1) the act of knocking down or bringing down an opponent; (2) a contest in entertainment wrestling; (3) a decisive defeat; (4) a confrontation between rivals or competitors

SNOWBOARDCROSS: a snowboard race that includes jumps and turns

SPEED DATING: an event at which each participant converses individually with all the prospective partners for a few minutes in order to select those with whom dates are desired

SUDOKU: a puzzle in which several numbers are to be filled into a 9x9 grid of squares so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9

TELENOVELA: a soap opera produced in and televised in or from many Latin-American countries

VIEWSHED: the natural environment that is visible from one or more viewing points

2 comments:

tanabata said...

This is fun! It's always interesting to see which new words make it into the dictionary. I'm surprised at a couple though- I thought they would've already been in there.

ErinPaperbackstash said...

Uh, ewwwww