Monday, January 4, 2010

Buzzwords

"It's a strange world of language in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water." - Franklin P. Jones

The New York Times ran a fun article called “The Buzzwords of 2009.” According to the article,

“Catchphrases and buzzwords can tell us much about a year past — what resonated, what stuck, what the year revealed about the sensibility of the nation, whether you’re a wise Latina woman, a mini-Madoff, a teabagger or Balloon Boy.”

The article finished with Grant Barrett’s buzzwords for 2009. Octomom and birther made the list. However, there were others I haven’t heard but liked such as:

aporkalypse
Undue worry in response to swine flu. Includes unnecessary acts like removing nonessential kisses from Mexican telenovelas and the mass slaughter of pigs in Egypt.

Chimerica
The intertwined economies of China and the United States, which together dominate the world economy. Popularized by Niall Ferguson in his book “The Ascent of Money.”

crash blossom
A headline that can be misconstrued, like “Shark Attacks Puzzle Experts.” Will Shortz is not in jeopardy; the sharks are just confounding scientists.

Dracula sneeze
Covering the mouth with the crook of the elbow when sneezing, like Dracula hiding his face with a cape.

green shoots
Signs of an economic recovery or of a company’s financial turnaround.

heinie
A pronunciation of H1N1, the swine flu virus.

mancession
A recession that affects men more than women. Also hecession.

vook
A digital book that includes some video in its text.

ununbium
The temporary name of a newly found element, Uub for short. It comes from the Latin for the element’s number, 112.

Click here to see the complete list or to read the entire article.

Do you have any favorite words from 2009? Can you predict what some of the 2010 buzz words might be?

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: Franklin Jones, buzzwords, Grant Barrett, New York Times,

20 comments:

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I knew Vook, but the others were new.

JournoMich said...

You made me Dracula - and that's one of my favorites! My son is going to love it. I also like heinie!
Thanks for sharing.

Michele
SouthernCityMysteries

Morgan Mandel said...

They couldn't have been very buzzie if I hadn't heard of them. The only ones I recognize are Octomom and Vook.

Morgan Mandel
http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com
http://makeminemystery.blogspot.com

Tamika: said...

They were all new to me Jane!

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

Carol Kilgore said...

Love these:
crash blossom
Dracula sneeze

Jen said...

I'd not heard any of these! Love Dracula sneeze and heinie and aporkalypse made me laugh out loud!

Happy Monday,
Jen

Jan Morrison said...

love the buzzzzzz...
crash blossoms - totally.
I also adore aporkalypse! How about pigostrophy?

DarcĂ­a Helle said...

Those are some crazy words. I don't see many of them making it into my everyday language!

I love the quote at the top of your post, Jane. There's so much truth to those words!

Anonymous said...

My protagonist and some of the other characters like to say, "No Worries." Chase even has a boat named NO WORRIES.

Stephen Tremp

Helen Ginger said...

I'd heard of vook and I constantly use heinie, although that's not the way I'd been spelling it. I prefer heinie since swine flu seems wrong for the poor pigs in the world.

Helen
Straight From Hel

joe doaks-Author said...

As someone who commands almost none of the standard words, I gotta consider these for Advanced Placement people only. Nonetheless, I claim aporkalypse as mine forever. What a cool word. AND, how cute is your bee picture??? Love that. Thanks, Jane.

Best Regards, Galen.

Imagineering Fiction Blog

Enid Wilson said...

Very interesting Jane. I thought Chimerica is a variation of American cinema...

Really Angelic

Patricia Stoltey said...

Buzz words are usually media-created, and that alone makes them extra annoying. Remember a few years ago when the word "gravitas" was used over and over and over? Silly media people are like parrots.

Although I do kinda like that Dracula sneeze...

T. Powell Coltrin said...

No words from 2009 but this brought to mind of something my son did when he was around 3(1981). He made up a word - Gooba. It meant "just because", as in why did you do that...Gooba. It got to where my entire family would say it. It was very funny. My sister even took it to high school and was a little embarassed when she blurted it out.

The Old Silly said...

Cool post - love these. My wife has taught me and insists that I use the "Dracula Sneeze" - lol. She works in health care and it's all the rage now, for safety health concerns. Keeps the germs off the hands.

Marvin D Wilson

Elspeth Futcher said...

I love these words. I think Dracula sneeze is my favourite. However, if I hear 'Octomom' one more time, I may lose it.

Elspeth

Unknown said...

I liked the same ones as Michelle, Dracula and Heinie. If Octomom made the list than Balloon Boy would be a close second to her.

Anonymous said...

Ooh, it may now be "old hat," but I'm going to work "aporkalypse" into conversation sometime!

C. Margery Kempe said...

LOL -- I hadn't heard Dracula Sneeze! Wonderful!

Jane's Ride - Novelist Jane Kennedy Sutton's journey through the ups and downs of the writing, publishing and marketing world