Brand new words - NOTES FROM THE LANGUAGE UNDERGROUND - The Star

Jun 11, 2008 By GRANT BARRETT

THIS is a glossary of words that have recently been used in English and do not yet appear in traditional dictionaries.

1-800 car n. A car outfitted with superficial and expensive modifications that make it look like a fast car but which do not improve its performance. Instead of doing the work from scratch, which is more respected among car fans, the car owner has simply bought all the add-ons from a mail order company. 1-800 is a prefix for toll-free phone numbers typically used by the mail order company.

circus gold n. Elephant dung. For a lucky gardener, it is indeed gold. Use humorously.

citjo n. A blend of the words “citizen” and “journalist”, and indicating a non-journalist who contributes amateur video or other reportage to the established news media.

faux-po n. A security guard, also known in slang as turkey bacon, which in return references pig, the derogatory slang name for police. It comes from the French word faux meaning “fake”, and “po-po”, which is English slang for “police”.

floppy n. A comic book, so-named to distinguish it from a thicker graphic novel which is stiff.

happy sack n. An air-sickness bag, the kind typically used on airplanes. Use humorously.

infant-mortality failure n. In engineering circles, this is the breakdown of a piece of machinery that is new or has recently been rebuilt.

instant ancestor n. An old photograph of strangers used as decoration, the sort of thing you might buy at a flea market, a place where old household items are sold.

oopsie baby n. A baby resulting from an unplanned conception. Oops is an interjection used when one makes a small mistake.

quizzam n. A test that is more difficult than a quiz but easier than an exam. The word is made from a blend of “quiz” and “exam.”

rain garden n. A piece of low, damp ground planted with vegetation suited to handle the rainwater that collects there. It’s usually preferable to plant one of these than it is to simply leave a mud hole.

read-alike n. A (fiction) book whose contents are similar to another book’s. Looking for a read-alike helps library patrons find new authors who are similar to authors they already know.

singlism n. Bias against people who are not married or part of a couple.

snarge n. The carcass or remains of a bird that hits an airplane or passes through its jet engine. It is said to be a blend of the words “snot” and “garbage.”

trashout n. When a tenant who is forced out of a home due to foreclosure or eviction leaves it in a squalid – filthy, disgusting – state, it’s called a trashout. The new owner of the house, or the bank that holds the mortgage, has to send in a cleaning crew to clear out all the debris.

trunk monkey n. A rear gunner in an armed vehicle, caravan, or convoy. This word is used among American military personnel and contractors in Iraq. It’s possible that the term derives from an advertisement from Suburban Auto Group, and others in the same series which first aired in Portland, Oregon, in January 2003. One of the ads features a monkey jumping out of a trunk.

vein brother n. A man with whom you get high on injected drugs, especially if you share a needle.

violin hickey n. A mark left on the neck from playing the violin. These can be bruises, calluses, or sores. While a hickey is known by grade-schoolers across the country as the purple mark left by sucking on someone’s neck, it has historically been used to refer to any mark on the skin.

wannarexia: The desire to have an eating disorder so as to be thin and popular is called wannarexia, according to Dr Richard Kreipe of the Western New York Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders in Rochester.

wasta n. The Arabic word for influence, personal connections; “pull” or “juice”. While not yet fully adopted as an English word, wasta is increasingly familiar to American soldiers serving in the Middle East. A previous surge in use of the term among Anglophones happened during the first Gulf War.

Grant Barrett is co-host of the radio show A Way with Words, waywordradio.org, and a lexicographer and writer living and working in New York City. His e-mail address is gbarrett@worldnewyork.org.