furkid

furkid n. (neologism)

1: A pet treated as though it were one's child.

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From Paul McFedries and his wonderful website Word Spy.

WTF-osity

WTF-osity n. (neologism)

1: The essence of what-the-fuck-provoking goodness.*

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* From Mark Peters and his hilarious blog Wordlustitude.

blogroll

blogroll n. (neologism)

1. A list of blogs, usually placed in the sidebar of a blog, that reads as a list of recommendations by the blogger of other blogs.
2. Software that manages blog links such as blogrolling.com.
3. To add a blog to a blogroll.

Pyrrhic victory

Pyrrhic victory n. (fun words)

1: A victory that is offset by staggering losses.
2: A victory that is won by incurring great loss.
3: A victory that is made hollow by the price paid for it.

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Taken from Roman military history, a Pyrrhic victory (pronounced pirric) refers to a military campaign of King Pyrrhus who defeated the Romans in 279 B.C. but suffered severe and irreplaceable losses. This phrase is often used in non-military applications to illustrate situations where a victory or favorable outcome comes at too high a price to justify the expenditure of resources and effort.

google

google or Google (neologism)

1: An internet search engine that ranks web pages according to the number of links they have from other pages. It also uses sophisticated text-matching techniques to determine the importance and relevance of a site to a search. n.
2: To search for information on the Internet, esp. using the Google search engine. v.
3: To search for information about a specific person through the Google search engine. v.

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Google (the search engine - using a capital "G") claims that it derives its name from a creative spelling of googol - a number that is equal to 1 followed by 100 zeros. Interestingly, "google" is also used in "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams, in which one of Deep Thought's designers asks, "And are you not," said Fook, leaning anxiously forward, "a greater analyst than the Googleplex Star Thinker in the Seventh Galaxy of Light and Ingenuity which can calculate the trajectory of every single dust particle throughout a five-week Dangrabad Beta sand blizzard?"

related words: Google blips, Google bomb, Google Dance, Google juice, Googlewhacking

oral & verbal

oral & verbal (words people misuse)

oral
1: An examination conducted by word of mouth. (n.)
2: Of or involving the mouth or mouth region or the surface on which the mouth is located. (a.)
3: Using speech rather than writing. (a.)
4: Of or relating to or affecting or for use in the mouth. (a.)

verbal a.
1: Relating to or having facility in the use of words.
2: Expressed in spoken words.
3: Of or relating to or formed from a verb.
4: Of or relating to or formed from words in general.
5: Communicated in the form of words.

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Usage Note: Okay this is a bit of a pet peeve for a lawyer like me. I try to be precise in the words that I use. As can be seen from the definitions, in usual usage verbal means "spoken or written in words" and oral, the less inclusive term, simply means "spoken in words." This sense matches the etymologies of these words where verbal derives from "word" and oral derives from "mouth."

In legal or business writing it is best to avoid the word "verbal" where it can mean something that is either written OR spoken (because verbal simply pertains to the use of words). While context can help sort out the meaning it is best to avoid ambiguity in this type of communication. Consider that the phrase "they used verbal communication" can be used to refer to either communication that is spoken (i.e. word of mouth, telephone, radio, etc.) or written. Contrast this example with "oral communication" or "written communication" each of which means something much more specific.

ka

ka n. (SCRABBLE word)

1: A spiritual entity, an aspect of the individual, believed to live within the body during life and to survive it after death. (Egyptian)

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This is a great way to play the "K" (worth 5 points) in two directions as it is the only two-letter "K" word. This word can also be extended on a subsequent play for extra points. You can remember the legal one-letter extensions by using the mnemonic device BETSY'S FEET where every letter of that phrase can be appended to "ka" to form the words: kab, kae, kaf, kas, kat, and kay.

yell phone

yell phone n. (neologism)

1: A cell phone, especially one into which a person is talking in a loud voice.

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I thought of this word yesterday when I was in a store and some senior citizen was talking into her phone so loudly that I could hear her no matter where I was in the store. I don't think that she was engaged in stage-phoning, rather I think it was simply a cell yell based upon the conversation and circumstances.

From Paul McFedries and his wonderful website Word Spy.

jape

jape n., v. (fun word)

1: To jest; joke; gibe.
2: To mock or make fun of.
3: A joke; jest; quip.
4: A trick or practical joke.
5: A humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter.

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One of my earlier monikers was Jedi Japer which drew much confusion so I switched to something that was more recognizable as humor (what's funnier than a Jawa with a lightsaber afterall). I first saw this word in the title of a book by one of my favorite sci-fi authors, Philip K. Dick, in "The Man Who Japed."

marathon

marathon n.

1: A long and arduous undertaking.
2: A Greek battle in 490 B.C.
3: A footrace of 26.2 miles (26 miles, 385 yards).
4: Any contest, event, or the like, of great, or greater than normal, length or duration or requiring exceptional endurance.

misocapnist

misocapnist n. (fun words)

1: One who hates the smell of tobacco smoke.
2: One who hates tobacco or smoking.

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This word gets more useful every day. As a sufferer of migraine headaches I have found that tobacco smoke tends to be one of my triggers so I have become a bit of a misocapnist myself.

captcha

captcha n. (neologism)

1: A computer-generated test that humans can pass but computer programs cannot.

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CAPTCHA is an acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart", trademarked by Carnegie Mellon University. It is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to determine whether or not the user is human. A common type of CAPTCHA requires that the user type the letters of a distorted image, sometimes with the addition of an obscured sequence of letters or digits that appears on the screen. Captchas have been criticized for creating accessibility limitations that impact disabled persons.

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From Paul McFedries and his wonderful website Word Spy and the Wikipedia.

unique

unique adj. (words people misuse)

1: Being the only one of its kind.
2: Without an equal or equivalent; unparalleled.
3: Regional:
a. Characteristic of a particular category, condition, or locality: a problem unique to coastal areas (followed by "to").
b. Informal. Unusual; extraordinary: i.e. spoke with a unique accent.
4: Radically distinctive and without equal; "he is alone in the field of microbiology"; "Bach was unique in his handling of counterpoint"; "unparalleled athletic ability".
5: The single one of its kind; "a singular example"; "a unique copy of an ancient manuscript".
7: Highly unusual or rare but not the single instance; "had unique ability in raising funds"; "a frankness unique in literature"; "a unique dining experience".

Usage Note: For many grammarians, unique is the paradigmatic absolute term that distinguishes between those who understand that such a term cannot be modified by an adverb of degree or a comparative adverb and those who do not. These grammarians would say that a thing is either unique or not unique and that it is therefore incorrect to say that something is "very unique" or "more unique" than something else. Most of the Usage Panel supports this traditional view. Eighty percent disapprove of the sentence Her designs are quite unique in today's fashions. But as the language of advertising in particular attests, unique is widely used as a synonym for worthy of being considered in a class by itself, extraordinary and if so construed it may arguably be modified. In fact, unique appears as a modified adjective in the work of many reputable writers. A travel writer states that "Chicago is no less unique an American city than New York or San Francisco," for example, and the critic Fredric Jameson writes "The great modern writers have all been defined by the invention or production of rather unique styles." Although these examples of the qualification of unique are defensible, writers should be aware that such constructions are liable to incur the censure of some readers.

The same can be said of the words "perfect" or "complete" as being absolute conditions where the thing either is or is not the condition of perfect, complete or unique (and may be all three at the same time).

buttmunchitude

buttmunchitude n. (slang/neologism)

1: A serious case of dumbass, butthole-type behavior.*
2: Qualities and behaviors that define a person as an inconsiderate jerk.

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* From Mark Peters and his hilarious blog Wordlustitude.

retronym

retronym n. (words about words)

1: A retronym is a neologism created to distinguish a term that was once used alone but now must be distinguished from a phrase based on the term that indicates a new development.

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As modern technology refines the products we use, the words referring to those products must make finer distinctions. What was once simply a book today is a "hardback book" to distinguish it from a "paperback book" or an "e-book." Thus, "hardback book" is a retronym. Others include: "snail mail" or "postal mail" (formerly "mail") vs. "e-mail"; "acoustic guitar" (formerly "guitar") vs. "electric guitar"; and "analog watch" (formerly "watch") vs. "digital watch."

The term can also be applied to anachronistic uses of phrases such as "First World War" in historical writing (the term at the time was "The Great War"). Also applicable is a later distinction of an original such as "Star Trek: The Original Series" (originally shown as "Star Trek") or "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" (the original title was simply "Star Wars").

Retronyms are not new, just the term is. Expressions like "sighted person" vs. "blind person" or a "hearing person" vs. a "deaf person" have been around for ages.