1 HUMOR IN AMERICAN POP LANGUAGE by Don L. F. Nilsen and Alleen Pace Nilsen
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HUMOR IN AMERICAN POP LANGUAGE
by Don L. F. Nilsen and
Alleen Pace Nilsen
The variety shown in these books reflects the wide range of interest in
words and how we use them.
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Merriam-Webster Words of the Year
Recession: What we deny that we’re in
Airball: Someone who disrupts things but doesn’t do anything positive
Jingle-Mail: House keys in envelopes to be mailed to banks as the owners walk away from their mortgages
Nanomanagers: Micromanagers, but more so
Staycation: A vacation at home
THE WINNER WAS BAILOUT: A word first associated with sinking ships
Each year, the American Dialect Society http://americandialect.org/ selects the words that have
had the most impact during the previous year. Categories include:
• Most Useful• Most Creative• Most Unnecessary• Most Euphemistic• Most Outrageous• Most Likely to
Succeed• Least Likely to
Succeed
• The most fought-over is the “Word of the Year.”
• In some years, members create special categories as when in 2006 they gave a “Best Tom-Cruise-Related Word” and in 2007 a “Best Pluto-Related Word.”
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Famous Comebacks!
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As we discuss the runners up and the winners in each of these categories ask yourself these questions:
•Have I heard the word before?
•What does the word mean?
•Is the word negative or positive in connotation?
•What does the word show about our changing culture?
American Dialect Society’s2014 Words of the Year
Selected in January of 2015
Robocar: A self-driving car
Manspreading: a man’s sitting with legs wide on public transit
Sugar-dating: Relationship between an older and wealthier person (sugar daddy/mommy) and a younger partner (sugar baby)
Salty: exceptionally bitter, angry, or upset
Budtender: Person who serves marijuana to consumers in legal dispensaries
Casual: New or inexperienced person, especially a gamer
MOST NOTABLE HASHTAG: #icantbreathe, #notallmen, #whyistayed
WORD OF THE YEAR:
#blacklivesmatter: protest over blacks killed at the hands of police
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American Dialect Society’s2013 Words of the Year
Selected in January of 2014
Slash: and/or (e.g. come and visit slash stay”)
Twerk: dance involving vigorous booty-shaking & thrusting, usually with
the feet planted
Selfie: what Ellen Degeneres took at the Academy Awards; it had so many tweets and retweets that it crashed Twitter
ACC: “Aggressive Carbon-Copy” cc-ing to the boss or legal council , meant to undermine the e-mail recipient
Glasshole: a person made oblivious by wearing Google Glass
Least untruthful: involving the smallest necessary lie (used by CIA Director James Clapper)
WORD OF THE YEAR:
Because: introducing a noun or adjective (e.g. “because reasons,” “because awesome”)
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Famous Comebacks!
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American Dialect Society’s2012 Words of the Year
Selected in January of 2013
Dunlop Effect: “Belly done lop over Belt”
Etch a Sketch: relating to Romney
Legitimate Rape: Doesn’t result in Pregnancy
Marriage Equality: Recognition of Same-Sex Marriage
MOOC: Massive Open Online Course
Phablet: phone + tablet
YOLO: You Only Live Once
WORD OF THE YEAR:
#HASHTAG: Used on Twitter to mark a (trending) topic
NOTE: This looks like hashbrown potatoes
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Most Useful
• PODCAST: (i-Pod + broadcast)• GREEN: a prefix which designates environmental
concern, as in “greenwashing”• -ER words:
– BIRTHER: Someone who questions Obama’s American birth
– DEATHER: Someone who believes America has death panels
– TENTHER: Someone who believes that what the government does is in violation of the 10th Amendment
– TRUTHER: Someone who doubts the official account of the 9/11 accounts
Most Creative
Bragabond: Someone who travels and brags a lot
• Whale tail: Thong or G-string underwear above the waistband of pants, shorts, or a skirt
• Googlegänger: A person you find on Google with your same name.
• Dracula sneeze: Covering your mouth with the crook of your elbow when sneezing
Muffin top: Bulge of fat hanging over low-rider jeans
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Muffin Top and Camel Toe
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Famous Comebacks!
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Most Unnecessary• Pope-squatting: Registering a domain name
that you hope will be the same as the name that a new pope will choose for himself.
• Brenifer: Something to do with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston
• Happy Kwanhanamas! A greeting alluding to Kwanza + Hanukka + Christmas
• Octomom: Nadya Suleman, the woman who gave birth to octuplets
Octomom: Nadya Suleman
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Most Outrageous• Whizzinator: Realistic prosthetic penis for passing
drug tests
• Crotchfruit: A child or children as referred to by proponents of “child-free” public spaces
• Death Panel: The people who critics of government-provided health care say would decide if patients would live or die
• Sexting: Texting sexual messages or pictures
• Underpants Bomber: The Nigerian passenger who put a liquid bomb in his underwear
Our vote for 2013 Most Outrageous Words:
• Captain Sum Ting Wong
• Wi Tu Lo
• Ho Lee F*k
• Bang Ding Ow
Only in the news for 2 days
Who created the names?
Was this mean spirited?
Was the timing too soon?
The airline was Korean. Were the names Korean or Chinese?
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Famous Comebacks!
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Most Euphemistic • Extraordinary Rendition: Sending prisoners
overseas for torture
• Internal Nutrition: Force-feeding prisoners against their will.
• To Hike the Appalachian trail: To go missing as did South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford when he went to meet a lover in Argentina.
• Sea Kittens: A word coined by PETA to refer, with fondness, to fish.
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Most Likely to Succeed
• Cyber Monday: The Monday after Thanksgiving when people begin internet Christmas shopping
• Sudoku: A number puzzle with each row or column containing only one instance of each number 1-9
• To have a wide stance: To be hypocritical or to express conflicting points of view, again based on Larry Craig’s arrest in a public restroom
• Green shoots: Signs of America’s economic recovery
Sudoku: Before and After
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Famous Comebacks!
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Least Likely to Succeed
• Cruiselex: Any word related to Tom Cruise
• Pope-squatting: (See earlier definition)
• Earmarxist: A congressman or senator who is famous for adding earmarks
• Polywood: Hollywood stars who are political
• Slow Media: Newspapers and other paper-based periodicals, c.f. Snail mail
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Special Category Words• When Governor Brewer accidentally used President
Obama’s name in what she meant as an endorsement for Mitt Romney, she told reporters that it was a mistake, just “Stick a fork in it!”
• In Real Estate talk, Ninja means “No Income, No Job or Assets,” i.e. a poorly documented loan made to a high-risk borrower.
• New words re. Blogging include blogosphere, blogerati, milblog, blogola, etc.
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Name of the Year • In 2009 Betraeus was chosen as it was used by
http://www.moveon.org to refer to General Petraeus, who at the time was our commander in Iraq.
• This is ironic because Rush Limbaugh first used the name Betraeus to describe liberals who would not support the War in Iraq.
• The joke lost its humor after Betraeus lost his job for having an affair.
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Former Words of the YearStill in the Language
• “Heck of a job” --President Bush’s compliment to Undersecretary Michael Brown, who was charged with handling the complications of Hurricane Katrina
• “Truthiness” --first used on Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report
• “Subprime” used to describe a risky or poorly documented loan or mortgage.
Examples from Leslie Savan’s 2006 SLAM DUNKS AND NO BRAINERS:Language in Your Life, the Media, Business, Politics, and Like, Whatever
For Frustrations
• I hate when that happens.
• I’m having a bad hair day.
• What was I thinking?
For Repetitions
• Blah blah blah.
• Same old, same old.
• Yadda yadda yadda.
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Old Slang Still in Use
• Been there. Done that.
• He’s history.
• The bottom line.
• Chill out!
• Go for it.
• That’s hot.
• To dis someone.
• To push someone’s buttons.
• Under the radar• 24/7• Do the math.• Gimme a break!
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Famous Comebacks!
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SOME RECENT BUZZWORDS:
• Blahger: A blogger whose message consists of “blah-blah-blah.”
• Cellular Macarena: When a cell phone rings and everyone starts reaching into his coat, pants, purse to answer it
• Dixie-Chicked: To be reviled or boycotted for voicing an unpopular political sentiment
Cellular Macarena & Being Dixie Chicked
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More Buzzwords
• Job Spill: When work cuts into your personal time
• Payroll Orphan: Someone who has lost their job
• Up-Titling: Giving people an impressive title instead of a pay raise
• YOYO: “You’re On Your Own” from text messaging
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Words used to identify groups with special clothing, cars, hair styles,
etc.
• bling wearers
• icies (fancy jewelry)
• glitterati
• red states, blue states, purple states
• yuppiness
Famous Comebacks!
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Notice the importance of intonation in these conversation openers.
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Is This How you Express Criticism or Doubt?
• Excuse me!• Hello!• Duh!• Eat my shorts!• That’s so five minutes
ago.• You just don’t get it.• That sucks• Yea, Right.• WTF
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MORE OPTIONS
• I don’t think so.
• Get over it.
• Sign L on forehead for Loser
• In your worst nightmare.
• Don’t go there!
• As if …
• Like…
• Puh…leez
• That blows!
• …Just sayin’
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How about these for closers?
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How about these if you want to be more positive?
• Yessss!
• Word!
• Ka-ching!
• Hua! Hua! Hua! A Marine acronym for “Heard, Understood, Acknowledged”
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We’ll conclude with a real conversation stopper:
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