American Dialect Society Taps "Sub-Prime" As 2007 Word of the Year

As posted on the American Dialect Society website

In its 18th annual words of the year vote, the American Dialect Society voted “subprime” as the word of the year. Subprime is an adjective used to describe a risky or less than ideal loan, mortgage, or investment. Subprime was also winner of a brand-new 2007 category for real estate words, a category which reflects the preoccupation of the press and public for the past year with a deepening mortgage crisis.

Read the full press release here. (PDF 176K)

Presiding at the Jan. 4 voting session were ADS Executive Secretary Allan Metcalf of McMurray College and Professor Wayne Glowka, Dean of Arts and Humanities of Reinhardt College, chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society. Wayne edits the column “Among the New Words” in the society’s quarterly journal American Speech.

“When you have investment companies losing billions of dollars over something like bundled subprime loans, then you have to consider whether it’s important,” Professor Glowka said. “You probably also want to think about paying off that third mortgage.”

Word of the Year is interpreted in its broader sense as “vocabulary item”—not just words but phrases. The words or phrases do not have to be brand-new, but they have to be newly prominent or notable in the past year, in the manner of Time magazine’s Person of the Year.
The vote is the longest-running such vote anywhere, the only one not tied to commercial interests, and the word-of-the-year event up to which all others lead. It is fully informed by the members’ expertise in the study of words, but it is far from a solemn occasion. Members in the 118-year-old organization include linguists, lexicographers, etymologists, grammarians, historians, researchers, writers, authors, editors, professors, university students, and independent scholars. In conducting the vote, they act in fun and do not pretend to be officially inducting words into the English language. Instead they are highlighting that language change is normal, ongoing, and entertaining.

Tourbillon ...

I'd like to thank Mr. Terry Allison Jr. at the Quixotic Watch Company for our most recent submission. Terry Allison Jr. is the president and CEO of Quixotic Watch Company. Mr. Allison has worked in the watch business for more than ten years with more than seven years of manufacturing and design experience. Mr. Allison has designed watches for many celebrities and has created beautiful one-of-a-kind creations for his clients. Celebrities like Steven Seagal, Ben Afleck, Celine Dion, Dennis Hopper, and Rob Lowe among others wear watches designed by Terry Allison Jr.

Based in Las Vegas, the Quixotic Watch Company makes precision-crafted, high-end watches that are available in a variety of case materials including copper, steel, 18k gold, and platinum.

Very cool website. Check it out.

"Quixotic Watch Company is currently considering sponsorship of athletes including golfers, race car drivers, and other top level athletes." (from the Quixotic Watch Company website)

Maybe they'd consider sponsoring my blog?

(Below is the original text of Terry's "tourbillon" post)

Tourbillon:

A device in some mechanical watches that eliminates timekeeping errors caused by slight variations due to shifts in gravity when a watch changes position during use. The round carriage or "cage" of the tourbillon holds the mechanisms that rotate the wheels, and thus the hands of the watch, in a continuous rate of once per minute.

The action of a tourbillon resembles that of a windmill.

Thus - the word "tourbillon" seems a perfect fit to by submitted by Quixotic Watch Company to the Quixotica blog.

Yes it does Terry. Yes it does.

Submit a Word Link

Name:

E-mail:

Word or Defintion:

The First Word of 2008 Is ...

I-don't-know-ner
[ahy-dohnt-noh-nər], rhymes with "boner"
n., a penile erection of unknown origin and without provocation, usually occurring at an inappropriate time or in an awkward social setting (at church, at the blackboard in school, at grandma's house, etc.); see also MySpace Oddity

Check out these "I-don't-know-ner" Curb Your Enthusiasm clips:

• Hugging Auntie Rae (a classic)
• The Pants Tent
• The N Word

And here's more from the mind of Larry David (from Curb, Season 4, "The Five Wood")

We Can Learn A Lot About Slang ...

From our friends across the ocean.

Like this bloke, Jordan James.

TiVoidance ...

TiVoidance
[tee-void-ns]
n.,1. the act of shunning all potential information outlets (radio, television, I-Phone, BlackBerry, other human beings) so as to keep the outcome of a "TiVo-ed" sporting event a mystery and be able to resume its viewing at any time.

Also applies to reality shows, sitcoms and any other "must see" programming

Big ups for this word go to Jeremy (aka "Robert") McLaughlin, who should have a lot of time to invent new words now that he is a world-class professional poker player. Congrats on the NPL Vegas Open win, Jeremy! Two for two at final tables and nine money finishes in 2007!! Ranked #405 in the world!!!!

The inspiration:

1. I fell asleep last night before the end of the New England game, but I had it Tivoed so I could watch the rest this morning. When I woke, before I watched the rest of the game, I went out for some Dunkin Donuts and The Post, but I didn't want to see the outcome in The Post before I watched the end of the game, so I looked at the paper just enough to see it was Sunday's paper, being very careful not to comprehend any of the pictures or headlines that would give away the ending.

2. The next situation had to do with the Redskins game tonight. Again, I had it Tivoing around the beginning of the 2nd quarter when I went out to get a pizza. When I came back I had to rewind to where I left, but also had to try not to see the score or what was happening.

Let's Mobilize all 14 Subscribers and Help Quixotica Win a Blue Ribbon ...

No, not that kind, though I do like me some beer.

Nominate your 2007 words of the year

The American Dialect Society’s word-of-the-year vote—the longest-running such vote anywhere—takes place in Chicago in January at its annual meeting. The academic society is now accepting word-of-the-year nominations at woty@americandialect.org. Word of the Year is interpreted in its broader sense as “vocabulary item"—not just words but phrases. Your nominations do not have to be brand-new, but they should be newly prominent or notable in the past year, and should have appeared frequently in the national discourse. The word-of-the-year vote is not a formal induction of words into the American language, but a whimsical affair.

Nominate accordingly (pick some of ours here) and bombard the American Dialect Society with e-mails. And make numerous references to my blog Quixotica.

Top Business Slang of 2007 ...

(As excerpted from http://bloggybiz.com)

Actually 12, because I am writing the damn list and I had to include one of my own (No. 12). And I really, really like No. 11, even though it's not business-related.

12. Bauer it: v.t., to do something with a ruthless, business-like, Machiavellian efficiency; inspired by Jack Bauer, the fictional protagonist of the FOX tv series 24, in which he has trained and worked in various capacities as a government agent, including US Army, Delta Force, LAPD SWAT and with the Los Angeles Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU). Within the 24 storyline, Bauer is a key member of the CTU, saving both civilians and government leaders. but often at great personal expense

11.Narcissurfing: Spending a lot of time on the Internet to see how often your name appears and what others are saying about you. Its another way of saying ‘Googling yourself,’ although a narcissurfer does it on a daily basis. (from Tom Chandler at the Copywriter Undergound)

10. Spaghetti marketing: To spend marketing dollars randomly without a clear plan, much like throwing spaghetti against the wall to see if it sticks. (from Tom Chandler at the Copywriter Undergound)

9. Hypertasking: While we’re frequently forced to multitask just to keep up at work, hypertasking is a choice for those who thrive on doing more than one thing at a time. A hypertasker combines many tasks into one in order to experience more. He may exercise, play tourist and conduct business at the same time by riding his bike through the Blue Ridge Mountains while running a business meeting via his wireless headset. (from Tom Chandler at the Copywriter Undergound)

8. Phenomeniche: A marketing phenomenon that appeals to a small niche. Example: Trading Spaces, the TV series. While not a sweeping global phenomenon, it is the undisputed titan of one modest patch of pop-culture.(from Tom Chandler at the Copywriter Undergound)

7. Leveraging our assets: This probably meant something once, but today EVERY COMPANY seems to leverage its assets. Doesn't it make sense that a company would put its resources, whether it's money, location or talent, to best use in order to make a profit (from buzzwhack.com)

6. Permalancer: A permanent freelancer. A person originally hired on a contract basis, but now essentially a full-timer (though without the perks and benefits of a full-time employee). (from WordSpy)

5. Dotsam: The Internet's wasteland of abandoned Web sites, Hotmail accounts, blogs, wikis, MySpace pages, etc., that their creators have ignored for months/years -- but are still accessible on the Web. (from buzzwhack.com)

4. PowerPoint Ranger: seen in Doonesbury; also, PowerPoint Ranger is a derogatory term for a desk-bound bureaucrat more adept at making slides than tossing grenades." ( from Blog About Town)

3. Below Zeros: This is a marketing term, not a temperature. They’re customers who cost more to serve than they return in value. Example: A customer who ties up a salesperson for 45 minutes while trying on 14 pairs of Gucci shoes, then buys a six-pack of tube socks for $1.98, complains about the price and walks out. Also known as BZs. (from Tom Chandler at the Copywriter Undergound)

2. blamestorming: a group process where participants analyze a failed project and look for scapegoats other than themselves (from Buzzwhack.com)

1. bacn: Impersonal e-mail such as alerts, newsletters and automated reminders that are nearly as annoying as "spam" but which one has chosen to receive. (Time Magazine's 2007 Lists)

Sports Junkies Lingo ...

The Sports Junkies are masters of the invented word or phrase. Just talk to any of their loyal listeners and you're bound to hear a smattering of Junkies lingo.

For those of you who live outside the Washington DC metro area, The Sports Junkies are four buddies from PG County, MD, who blew up on the WJFK airwaves starting in the summer of 1996. John Auville (Cakes), Eric Bickel (EB), Jason Bishop (Lurch) and John-Paul Flaim (JP) started a cable access tv show in Bowie in 1995 and now they've taken over the coveted morning drive slot on 106.7 FM WJFK in DC .

Here's a taste of some of the Junkies' distinctive patois.

Disclaimer: These are not my words. I did not create them. Please learn more about the Sports Junkies at http://junkiesradio.com/. They're money.

Anteater
[ant-ee-ter]
An uncircumcised penis. The animal's tapered head resembles a penis with an intact foreskin.

Avril Lavigne:
[av-ril la-veen]

To complicate, often unnecessarily. From Lavigne's hit song Complicated.

“Cakes was money after having two kids, but when the third came along, his life got totally Avril Lavigned.”

Bet Book:
A documented record, kept by Cakes, of the frequent wagers between the Junkies that take place during the show.

Bitter
To be disdainful of or dissatisfied with a situation.

"She was bitter I didn't stay at home and watch the kids."

Botch:
To make a mistake; this is also used to reference a verbal error or factual confusion, in which case the inaccuracy may be documented in a “Botch Book.”, a known annoyance to listeners.

Butt:
Very, extremely; usually used as a prefix, e.g., Butt-trifling
Terrible.