how hip are you?

Paul McFedries tracks the ever-changing landscape of language on his web site The Word Spy. I spent wasted an hour or so there yesterday (that’s what I do when I’m overwhelmed with stuff to do - like Christmas prep!)

Here are a few newly coined words, randomly picked out of hundreds. Can you spot the correct definition for these word-mortiphications?

[That last is mine: word-mortiphication (mor ti fi CA shun) noun. A word that has morphed, though mortified in the process, into new usage.]


chatterati (chat.uh.RAT.ty) n.
1. Animals known for their chattering calls.
2. The elite members of the chattering classes.

glurge (GLURJ) n.
1. A sentimental or uplifting story, particularly one delivered via e-mail, that uses inaccurate or fabricated facts; a story that is mawkish or maudlin; the genre consisting of such stories.
2. The street garbage that inevitably finds its way to the bottom of one's shoe.

grandboomer (GRAND.boo.mur) n.
1. The CEO of any organization.
2. A grandparent who is a part of the baby boom generation.

himbo (HIM.boh) n.
1. The guy who likes to draw attention to himself by showing up in a bow-tie.
2. A man who is good-looking, but unintelligent or superficial.

innovicide n.
1. To kill a new or unusual idea.
2. The practice of demolishing old motels and inns and replacing them with new ones.

nooksurfer n.
1. A person who frequents only a limited number of Internet sites.
2. A surfer who looks for undiscovered and exotic places to surf.

plunderphonics n.
1. The practice of mutilating language by spelling words phonetically
2. A musical technique that creates a new piece of music by mixing passages from a number of existing songs.

rawist (RAW.ist) n.
1. A person who eats only unprocessed, unheated, and uncooked food, especially organic fruits, nuts, vegetables, and grains.
2. A person with an undeveloped sense of decorum.

schmooseoisie n.
1. The class of people who make their living by talking.
2. People who crash cocktail parties.