Category: Uncategorized
Laughably naive report on the slang term “420”
This is making the rounds: did you know that “420” means “marijuana”?!!!!???? It’s an over-excited and facile television report filled with unsubstantiated claims about weed, and somehow, the great mystery of slang is at the bottom of it all. A code-word kept secret by millions of people! It’s like the best local news parody you’ll…
Sewer service, menoporsche
Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: menoporche n. a play on “menopause,” referring to the supposed tendency of men going through a mid-life crisis to buy impractical sports cars. sewer service n. (of a process server) discarding subpoenas or other legal papers instead of serving them to their recipient.
Michigan 11-pointer, kinnear
Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: Michigan 11-pointer n. an immature male deer with small antlers. kinnear v. to surreptitiously take a candid photograph, especially by holding the camera low and out of the line of sight. This new word was coined in August 2007 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee after the actor Greg Kinnear,…
Name of the Year Nominations Sought
The American Name Society requests nominations for the “Name of the Year for 2007.” The name selected will be the one that best illustrates, through its creation and/or use during the past 18 months, important trends in North American culture. All categories of names and naming, including given names, surnames, brand names, place names, street…
Meter, lip dub
Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: meter n. a million Zimbabwean dollars. lip dub n. an amateur video of people singing along to a popular song.
Wife-beater, dry meat
Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: wife-beater n. in the United Kingdom, a strong alcoholic drink, so-called because it may encourage fighting. Often specifically applied to the beer brand Stella Artois. This is obviously a different use of the term than the one that refers to the sleeveless men’s undershirt made of ribbed…
Nominate your 2007 words of the year
The American Dialect Society’s word-of-the-year vote—the longest-running such vote anywhere—takes place in Chicago in January at its annual meeting. The academic society is now accepting word-of-the-year nominations at woty@americandialect.org. Word of the Year is interpreted in its broader sense as “vocabulary item”—not just words but phrases. Your nominations do not have to be brand-new, but…
Hispanic surnames enter top ten for first time
The New York Times has a brief story about the most popular family names in the United States. For the first time, two of them are Hispanic: Garcia and Rodriguez. The census data the story is based on is here.
Thanksgiving express lane, tiger cruise
Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: Thanksgiving express lane n. a brand-new term for a part of airspace normally reserved for military flights that will be opened up to commercial traffic during the busiest flying days of the year. tiger cruise n. a trip aboard a military vessel in which sailors are accompanied…
Keyboard for phone text freaks
This keyboard plugs into your computer so you can use all your mad texting skillz there, too. This is nowhere on my Christmas list. More here.