Wordwatch

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Productive affixes
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zareba (10/00)

"I was just wondering how J.B. gets his food past his zareba. [here, figuratively, his mustache---BES] I suppose it works on a hinge or something."
(P.G. Wodehouse. 1960. The most of P.G. Wodehouse. Simon and Schuster. 583.)

-let

Suffix, attaches to count nouns, meaning 'a small N'
Examples: concertlet, froglet, princelet, projectlet, tribelet.

out-

Prefix, transitivizes intransitive verbs, meaning 'to outdo someone at V-ing'
Examples: out-Agassiz.

re-

Prefix, attaches to verbs, meaning 'to V again'
Examples: re-reschedule, re-sign-up.

adjunct, v.

Adjoin.
Derived by backformation from adjunction.
"After adjunction, the lexical V projection has been reduplicated, to accept the adjuncted syntactic element."
(From a student's Assignment 5, Linguistics 550, Fall 1998.)

amphiuma

A two-toed amphiuma slithers under his chair.
Sounds like some sort of sloth, doesn't it? Whatever it is, it is native to Micanopy, FL, a town that, according to Bailey White's description, is only a few miles from the wetlands of the euphemistically named, but ominous-sounding Payne's Prairie.
(Bailey White 1993. Mama makes up her mind, and other dangers of Southern living. Vintage Books. 226.)

apoptosis

See Apoptosis.

ask, n.

Request.
Derived by zero affixation from ask, v.
"After you make the ask, let the contributor be the next person to say something."
(Combined Federal Campaign Keyworker's Guidebook, "Make the ask". Brought to my attention by Christine Santorini Biser. Also on the coverpage of USA Today, 26 October 1998.)

ball

One-hundred dollars.
African American Vernacular English.
"Do you have a ball fifty (= $150)?"
(Brought to my attention by Gary Biser, Sr.)

bazillion

A huge number (cf. myriad), though small compared to a gadzillion.
Formed by analogy to million, billion, etc.
"A gadzillion jobs. Give or take a bazillion."
(Advertisement for the Philadelphia Inquirer of 13 September 1998, on the northeast corner of Walnut and 19th Streets, Philadelphia, PA.)

bioserf

"Grain and vegetable farmers here and abroad worry that they will become like their poultry-raising brethren, indentured servants to processors who own the chickens and sign remarkably one-sided contracts with the growers. A new term, 'bioserf,' has been coined to describe one possible future for the world's remaining independent farmers."
(David Morris. 2000. Inevitable food fight. Coop America Quarterly, Spring 2000. 11.)

blown

Disappointed.
African American Vernacular English.
"Did you see what Sting did to Hogan?
Yeah, I saw it, and I was blown."
(Brought to my attention by Kurk Williams and Christine Santorini Biser.)

bunyanize

To idealize a person, particularly a teacher or hero.
Derived from Paul Bunyan, the American folk hero.
"We tend to bunyanize the people we admire. … How, then, are you going to allow teachers to finish their work if you keep bunyanizing them?"
(Steve Hagen. 1997. Buddhism plain and simple. Boston: Tuttle. 82.)

'cane

Hurricane.
Derived from hurricane by shortening, possibly a nonce-formation.
"Killer 'cane storms toward U.S."
(The Trentonian, 25 September 1998. Title page.)

chill, adj.

Devoid of tension, relaxed. Also conducive to relaxation.
Presumably derived from chill out.
"We have a fantastic instructor who comes to the school and teaches a whole group of faculty members. She is very chill and very encouraging."
(brueppel@nccs.pvt.k12.ct.us to beatrice@babel.ling.upenn.edu, 21 October 1998.)

concertlet

"The Bethesda Metro stop has free concertlets on Friday afternoons."
(ChristineBi@intra.niddk.nih.gov to beatrice@babel.ling.upenn.edu, 27 August 1999.)

cottagora

A blend of 55% angora rabbit hair, 45% cotton. Alleged to be ten times warmer than silk, to feel like and cashmere, yet to be mashine-washable.
(Lands' End catalog, November 1999, p. 29.)

deliveree

One who has been delivered.
Derived from deliver by suffixing -ee, which marks the undergoer of an event.
"In the meantime, both deliveree and deliverer … are not wandering far afield."
(People magazine, 21 September 1998. 133–134.)

dis, vt

African American Vernacular English, by clipping from disrespect.

doula

See attestation for meaning.
From Greek doula 'female servant, slave'.
"… the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles offers two- and three-bedroom deluxe maternity suites with individually catered dining, a laptop computer, and a 24-hour doula [italics in original—BES] (a sort of instructional nanny for nursing mothers)."
(People magazine, 21 September 1998. 136.)

eachie

A tamper-evident, moisture-proof, and presumably biodegradable paper wrap for a teabag.
"We've affectionately named this little overwrap an 'eachie.'"
(On the inside flap of Traditional Medicinals teabag packs.)

emergent

Having the character of an emergency, pressing.
Backformation from emergency.
(Brought to my attention by Christine Santorini Biser.)

epispasm

"So the Jews who were especially eager to be Greek began to 'disguise their circumcision,' as First Maccabees puts it discreetly—that is, they underwent epispasm, a painful (and often unsuccessful) exercise in ancient plastic surgery."
(Thomas Cahill. 1999. Desire of the everlasting hills. The world before and after Jesus. Doubleday. 33.)

Europhoria

Euphoria in connection with the European Union.
Blend of Europe and euphoria.
"If you are interested in the course on Germany and the European Union we may succeed in getting you enrolled in an April 2-3 intensive seminar on Europhoria: Germany in Europe and Europe in Germany, hosted by the Goethe Institute."
(srichter@sas.upenn.edu to germ-all@ccat.sas.upenn.edu, 29 September 1998.)

eustress

There are two kinds of stress—distress, which is the negative kind of stress; and eustress, which is the positive kind of stress. While distress increases stress hormones such as beta-endorphin, corticotrophin, cortisol, growth hormone, prolactin, and the catecholamines, eustress decreases these hormones and instead increases the activity of Natural Killer (NK) cells that help fight diseases.
(Laughter: Is it healthy?)

ferroequinologist

Student of trains.
From L. ferrum 'iron' and L. equinus 'of, pertaining to, or resembling a horse' (< equus 'horse').
"Another crazy ferroequinologist out chasin' trains."
(Bumper sticker advertising the Delmarva Rail Passenger Association.)

frappucino

Proprietary name for a specialty coffee drink marketed by Starbucks.
Blend of frozen and capuccino.

gadzillion

A huge number (cf. myriad), significantly larger than a bazillion.
Formed by analogy to million, billion, etc.
"A gadzillion jobs. Give or take a bazillion."
(Advertisement for the Philadelphia Inquirer of 13 September 1998, on the northeast corner of Walnut and 19th Streets, Philadelphia, PA.)

ganache

(Starbucks counter display, Walnut and Sansom, Philadelphia, PA. Also the name of a confectionery store in Evanston, IL.)

Gap-ization

The consumption of increasingly indistinguishable brand-name goods produced under unjust or ecologically unsustainable conditions
"Most baseball caps are produced in overseas sweatshops or non-union U.S. shops, but Headcase is commutted to social responsibility. … 'People don't have be slaves to the Gap-ization of America,' says Kahn."
(Coop America's National Green Pages. 1999, 8th edition. 13.)

gazingus pin

Find out what gazingus pin means by reading Your money or your life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin or by visiting the New Road Map Foundation.

gestate, vi.

Gestate is listed in the OED, but only as a transitive verb.
"In 1941, as I gestated in my mother's womb, Joe DiMaggio got at least one hit in each of 56 successive games."
(Steven Jay Gould. 1991. Bully for brontosaurus. New York: Norton. 464.)

gloppy square

A brownie-like confection with profuse topping of chocolate, fudge, and nuts.
Gloppy is derived from glop (see OED, sense 4) by suffixing adjective-forming -y.
(Starbucks counter display, Walnut and Sansom, Philadelphia, PA.)

hemangeal

Of or pertaining to the spleen.
"… it turns out that she has a tumor in her spleen. The vet did not do any biopsies, etc., but suspects that it is a hemangeal tumor, which are common and aggressive in dogs."
(ChristineBi@intra.niddk.nih.gov to beatrice@babel.ling.upenn.edu, 27 August 1999.)

i.m., vt.

To contact by "Instant Messenger."
Derived by zero conversion from the acronym for AOL's "Instant Messenger" utility.
"By the way, a friend of mine from home im-ed me a few minutes ago."
(ykrigman@sas.upenn.edu to beatrice@babel.ling.upenn.edu, 20 January 1999.)

jigga

Nice.
African American Vernacular English.
(Brought to my attention by Kurk Williams and Christine Santorini Biser.)

kewl

A cool pronunciation of cool.
"Made from hemp canvas and recycled rubber soles, they're a kewl ecological fashion statement that will keep your feet happy."
(Tomorrow's World catalog, vol. 4, 1998. 23.)

linguefy

To represent information in terms of propositions.
"before we start linguefying their competences as a set of propositions"
Also linguefication.
"it might be that no linguefication is possible"
(Daniel Dennett, "Things about things", 2 October 1998)

mom-o-rama

Means something like "moms galore on display."
Derived from mom by suffixing -(o)rama.
(People magazine, 21 September 1998. Cover.)

mozzie

Mosquito (Australian English). Also a kind of African bird (Steven Bird, personal communication, September 18, 1998).
Hypocoristic, from mosquito and -ie, by clipping and intervocalic voicing.
(Brought to my attention by Christine Santorini Biser.)

newbie

Neophyte.
By analogy to freebie.
"… and of course I made a newbie error and cc'd your bounce to the whole list."
(jalex@gradient.cis.upenn.edu to beatrice@babel.ling.upenn.edu, 16 September 1998.)

ourself

Ourselves.
By analysis of -self as an indeclinable reflexive marker.
"I think we ought to enjoy ourself, to go where no man or woman has gone before."
(Overheard on the bus, 21 October 1998.)

out-Agassiz

To outdo Louis Agassiz with respect to properties characteristic of him.
"Shaler, with the true zeal of the acolyte, even out-Agassized Agassiz in referring to the central character of bilateral symmetry as 'the fundamental thought of the type' and then designating animal taxonomy as 'a study of personified thought.'"
(Steven Jay Gould. 1991. Bully for brontosaurus. New York: Norton. 315.)

pashmina

A special type of cashmere, apparently made from Indian Changra goats.
(Lands' End catalog, November 1999, p. 214f.)

pediculicide

My father himself had a serious infestation of crabs—some virulent southwestern Asian strain impervious to the pediculicides of the New World.
(Bailey White 1993. Mama makes up her mind, and other dangers of Southern living. Vintage Books. 8.)

projectlet

"From time to time, I will also give you brief projectlets to carry out as the basis for classroom discussion."
(http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/005/requirements.html, 15 September 1998.)

quodlibetal

"Classical school in UC institutes quodlibetal"
(University City Review, 5 Apr 2000, p.1)

re-reschedule

"if you would like to join the class, but the new time still conflicts with your schedule, please send me email … and i will try to re-reschedule the class."
(beatrice@babel.ling.upenn.edu to germ-all@ccat.sas.upenn.edu, 14 September 1998.)

re-sign-up

"However, if you hear anything (such as 'the tests come straight from the lectures, which are extremely engaging!' :) ) I will definitely re-sign-up (hey, new word!) for the class."
(ZLodmer@aol.com to beatrice@babel.ling.upenn.edu, 25 August 1999.)

rest room

Incroyable! Not in the OED, neither as one word or two.

retrodict

"What is more, one can 'retrodict' and say where it [an object—BES] has been in the past."
(Jeremy Campbell. 1982. Grammatical man. Information, entropy, language, and life. Simon and Shuster. 50.)

robust, adj.

Said of a system that has demonstrated an ability to recover gracefully from the whole range of exceptional inputs and situations in a given environment. One step below bulletproof. Carries the additional connotation of elegance in addition to just careful attention to detail. Compare smart, oppose brittle.
(Brought to my attention by Thomas Boyce and Christine Santorini Biser, 6 October 1999.)

semesterly

"Next Thursday is the semesterly course fair."
(srichter@sas.upenn.edu to germ-fac@ccat.sas.upenn.edu, germ-instruct@ccat.sas.upenn.edu, 21 Mar 2000)

shandal

An item of footwear that combines the properties of a shoe and a sandal.
"Seal Island Shandals. The foot protection of a shoe, the breathability of a sandal."
(L.L. Bean catalog, Summer 1999. 67.)

shero

Heroine.
By etymologically unmotivated analysis of hero as he-ro. Cf. herstory, derived by etymologically unmotivated analysis of history as his-story.
"Poet Maya Angelou once reminded the public 'to look for the heroes and sheroes in our lives'–the everyday, usually unsung people around us who provide inspiration and make a profound difference in the lives of others."
(Conscious Choice, vol. 11, no. 5. 42.)

Shroudie

One who believes that the Shroud of Turin was Jesus's death shroud.
"The great fear that anyone must have in going near this material is to be dismissed as another Shroudie."
(Thomas Cahill. 1999. Desire of the everlasting hills. The world before and after Jesus. Doubleday. 331.)

smellox

Blend of smell and Xerox. See attestation for meaning.
"I found Jenkin's article and rushed to the pre-Xerox wet processor (anachronistically named smellox by a friend of mine several year, later, in honor of the unpleasant chemical that left its signature even after drying)."
(Steven Jay Gould. 1991. Bully for brontosaurus. New York: Norton. 341.)

splade

An eating utensil in the shape of a spoon "with a built-in fork at the end and a sharpened left hand side" (Steven Bird, personal communication, 18 September 1998).
Blend of spoon and blade. Cf. spork.

spoodle

Blend of spinach and noodle.
Spoodle salad. Ingredients: spinach pasta, …
(Essene Cafe, 4th and South, Philadelphia, PA, 28 August 1999.)

sundog

It was almost with regret that I saw a sundog, like a strip of disembodied rainbow, in the sky that afternoon, for it almost surely meant the period of intense cold was coming to an end.
(Bradford and Vena Angier. 1976. Wilderness wife. Radnor, PA: Chilton Book Company. 61.)

swooshification

An act of swooshifying, whatever that is exactly.
Derived by the onomatopoeic swoosh by suffixation of adjective-forming -y, verb-forming -(i)fy and -(i)cate, and nominalizing -ion.
"'The 'swooshification of the world' should more appropriately be deemed the Sportsification of the world,'" Nike officials wrote in the company's annual report for 1997. 'We will mature in tandem with the inexorable penetration of sports into the global psyche.'"
(Timothy Egan, The swoon of the swoosh, The New York Times Magazine, 13 September 1998. 67. Brought to my attention by Beth Levin.)

ta-da!

Attracting attention.
From the onomatopoeic exclamation ta-da! , by zero affixation.
Note the attempt to represent the characteristic intonation by the exclamation point.
"'It wasn't one of those ta-da! things,'" says Cerveny, whose study shows that on the East Coast it's 22 percent more likely to rain on Saturdays than on Mondays."
(People magazine, 21 September 1998. 142.)

tamper-evident

A property of packaging such that it is evident whether the packaging has been tampered with.
(At the top of each eachie produced by the Traditional Medicinal herbal tea company.)

titrivate

The customer didn't care, so my father told me "Titrivate it!"—which was his expression for "make it work."
(Earl Proulx. 1996. Make it last. Yankee Books. 144.)

trichotillomanic

"More recently they have written, 'The urge of the kleptomaniac to steal, the bulimic to binge eat, the obsessive-compulsive to carry out senseless riturals, the pathologic gambler to gamble, and the trichotillomanic to pull out hair might all involve abnormalities in central nervous system function similar to those hypothesized to occur in major mood disorder."
(Colette Dowling. 1993. You mean I don't have to feel this way? Bantam. 12.)

'tude

Attitude.
Derived from attitude by shortening, probably borrowed from African American Vernacular English.
"And the infant has exhibited a certain robust 'tude since even before he made his debut."
(People magazine, 21 September 1998. 133.)

ubiquitination

The process of the enzyme ubiquitin binding to a protein and causing that protein to be destroyed by yet other enzymes.
Derived from ubiquitin, a virtually ubiquitous enzyme.
"This pathway involves ubiquitination of the protein prior to proteosome degradation."
(Derek LeRoith, brought to my attention by Christine Santorini Biser.)

unpeach

To not perceive peaches as any object at all.
"Form is condemned to an eternal danse macabre with meaning: I couldn't unpeach the peaches."
(Annie Dillard. 1990. Three by Annie Dillard. Harper Perennial. 35.)

unplug

Relax.
Underlying this neologism relies are two kinds of metaphor. First, a computer is likened to one of its user's body parts or organs (simile), and then the metaphorical body part is used to refer to the user (pars pro toto).
"When you want to unplug, here's your shirt."
(Sierra Trading Post catalog, Winter 1998. 24.)

viata

plaiting a rawhide viata on which he had been working
(Bradford and Vena Angier. 1976. Wilderness wife. Radnor, PA: Chilton Book Company. 61.)

Web-enable

To provide users with (1) a web site, (2) self-service information sites, and (3) the ability to request and receive information based on (2).
"For example, we helped Charles Schwab Web-enable their brokerage systems for online trading and customer service."
(US News & World Report, 9 September 1998. 2. Brought to my attention by Christine Santorini Biser.)

yak, n.

Cocaine.
African American Vernacular English.
"How much yak do you got?"
(Brought to my attention by Kurk Williams and Christine Santorini Biser.)

youngen

Dollar.
African American Vernacular English.
"Do you have ten dollars?
No, all I have is a hot youngen."
(Brought to my attention by Kurk Williams and Christine Santorini Biser.)

agreeance

"Expression of agreeance."
(akroch@midway.uchicago.edu to beatrice@babel.ling.upenn.edu, 9 October 1998)

bicky

catamite

"Of course, the royal marriage, though it produced an heir, didn't mean that the King of Kings had to give up his favorite catamite, who continued to keep his accustomed place in the royal bed."
(Thomas Cahill. 1999. Desire of the everlasting hills. The world before and after Jesus. Doubleday. 19.)

disappear, vt.

"Disappear the papers."
(Chin-Ning Chu. 1998. Do less, achieve more. Discover the hidden power of giving in. New York: Regan Books. 31.)

disconcertment

"But there is also a melancholy about this city–which accounts for its inspiration and attraction, and for its disconcertment as well."
(Philadelphia Weekly, 28 October 1998, vol. 27, no. 43. 3.)

froglet

"They hatch there three days later and remain for fifty-two days until the end of metamorphosis, when the young emerge through their father's mouth as perfectly formed little froglets."
(Stephen Jay Gould. 1991. Bully for brontosaurus. New York: Norton. 302)

mazuma

"Billionaire philanthropist Walter Annenberg is still rich – er, very [italics in original—BES] rich – but he now has only about one-14th as much mazuma as the world's richest man, Bill Gates."
(Philadelphia Weekly, 7 October 1998, "Behind the lines". 9)

obeyance

"The author recalls his quiet obeyance of his great-grandmother's command to stay in the 'safety of the shade.'"
(Cindy Fuchs. 1999. Black and blue-blooded. City Paper, January 22–28, #714. 28)

princelet

"Three early attempts (the Frankfurt parliament of 1848, the restored German Confederation of 1850, and the North German Confederation of 1866) failed before the external threat of France's declaration of war in 1870 finally led to the princelets' surrendering much of their power to a central imperial German government in 1871."
(Jared Diamond. 1997. Guns, germs, and steel. The fates of human societies. New York: Norton. 290.)

spork

Cf. splade.

ta

tribelet

"As tragic modern experience with Amazonian Indians and Pacific Islanders confirms, almost an entire tribelet may be wiped out by an epidemic brought by an outside visitor because no one in the tribelet had any antibodies against the microbe."
(Jared Diamond. 1997. Guns, germs, and steel. The fates of human societies. New York: Norton. 203.)