1 humor in american pop language by don l. f. nilsen and alleen pace nilsen
TRANSCRIPT
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HUMOR IN AMERICAN POP LANGUAGE
by Don L. F. Nilsen and
Alleen Pace Nilsen
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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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