Language is alive and forever changing. Approximately 25,000 new words are introduced into English on an annual basis.
Which of these do you think will survive into the next century?
- Affluenza – A blend of ‘affluence’ and ‘influenza’. A social disease resulting from extreme materialism and excessive consumerism. Earning more money and consuming more can lead to overwork, debt, stress and anxiety.
- Baggravation – Blend of the words ‘bag’ and ‘aggravation’. A feeling of annoyance and frustration at the airport when your baggage has not arrived but other passengers’ bags have.
- Blamestorming – A method of collectively finding one to blame for a mistake no one is willing to confess to. Often in the form of a meeting, assembly for the sole purpose of deciding who is to blame for a ‘screw up’.
- Copyleft – The opposite of copyright; whereas copyright imposes restrictions on the distribution of a work or publication, copyleft eliminates restrictions and allows freedom of use for all.
- Edutainment – A form of entertainment that aims to educate and entertain.
- E-Quaintance – A person only ‘known’ through online networking.
- Frankenfood – Derogatory – a food that contains genetically modified ingredients.
- Freemale – A woman who is happy to stay single and independent, ordinarily to avoid the traditionally perceived constrains of a relationship.
- Flightmare – Blend of ‘flight’ and ‘nightmare’. Unpleasant air travel experience (lost luggage, missed connections, etc.)
- Geezer – Sometimes used by young people to mean, not just a man, but someone who is admired for breaking the rules or having his or her own unorthodox style of behaviour.
- Guesstimate – Blend of ‘guess’ and ‘estimate’; a rough estimate without any claim of accuracy.
- Infomania – Constantly checking and responding to email and text messages.
- Infotainment – Blend of ‘information’ and ‘entertainment’. Online services connected to information and leisure activities.
- Jumbrella – Blend of ‘jumbo’ and ‘umbrella’. Very large umbrella set above tables outdoors at a coffee shop, pub or restaurant.
- Mocktail – Non-alcoholic drink that looks like a cocktail.
- Netiquette – Blend of ‘network’ and ‘etiquette’. A set of rules governing commonly accepted appropriate behaviour or courtesy while on the internet. The absence of physical presence resulted in a distinct idea of ‘appropriate behaviour’ among ‘netizens’.
- Netizen – A blend of ‘internet’ and ‘citizen’; a person who spends an excessive amount of time on the internet.
- Nonversation – A conversation that seems meaningless or ridiculous.
- Outernet – Traditional media (newpapers, magazines, radio, television) as opposed to the internet.
- Screenager – A young person or teenager who spends a lot of time in front of the computer screen.
- Staycation – A vacation in which you stay at home and relax, perhaps visiting places close to where you live.
- Sunbrella – A sun umbrella; a great word that we should all begin using immediately
- Threequel – The third film, book, event, etc. in a series; a second sequel.
- Weblish – A form of English that is used on the web (use of abbreviations, acronyms, small letters, absence of punctuation and hyphens etc.) Also known as: webspeak, netspeak, internetese.
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