alternadad n. Gen Xers, Y’s and young baby boomer dads have fueled the cool dad gear trend by taking a much more active role in parenting than their fathers. These “alternadads,” a term coined by author and blogger Neal Pollack, want to have it all—a prolonged adolescence, kids and cool stuff. [EnglishRelationshipsSlang] [full cite] (Oct. 29, 2007)
avauntular n. With all the sex talk, the avuncular (or avauntular?) dynamic of Regis Philbin-Kelly Ripa and Meredith Vieira-Matt Lauer is also absent. [EnglishRelationships] [full cite] (Feb. 8, 2007)
biogenetic child adj. With egg donation, science has succeeded in, if not extending women’s fertility, at least making an end run around it, allowing older women who, for a variety of reasons (lack of money, lack of partner, lack of interest, lack of partner’s interest) didn’t have children in their biological prime—as well as younger women with dysfunctional ovaries—to carry and bear babies themselves. It has given rise to the mind-bending phrase “biogenetic child,” meaning a child who is both biologically and genetically related to each of its parents, by, for the first time in history, separating those components. [EnglishRelationshipsScience] [full cite] (Jul. 15, 2007)
bleeding deacon n. “If anything is going to destroy A.A.,” says Dr. John Norris, a nonalcoholic physician, friend of Bill Wilson’s and for many years chairman of A.A.‘s board of trustees, “it will be what I call the ‘tradition lawyers.’ They find it easier to live with black and white than they do with gray. These ‘bleeding deacons’—these fundamentalists—are afraid of and fight any change.” [EnglishRelationships] [full cite] (Apr. 24, 2004)
bleeding deacon n. Even in aftercare or AA, if this quality of rigidity continues, it can reach a point where patients are no longer viewed by their peers in recovery as a zealot for the program but as “bleeding deacons” who insist loudly that “my way is the only way to make the program.” [EnglishRelationships] [full cite] (Apr. 24, 2004)
bleeding deacon n. Our town is going nuts with gambling. I don’t have a conversation with my friends when we’re not talking about off-track betting, the Meadows, the Lotto or poker machines. I am not a Bible-thumper or bleeding deacon, but I’m really ticked off! [EnglishRelationships] [full cite] (Apr. 24, 2004)
bleeding deacon n. There is also no professional clergy, but true-believing Program oldtimers are often referred to, more or less affectionately, as “bleeding deacons.” [EnglishRelationships] [full cite] (Apr. 24, 2004)
bleeding deacon n. The term Bleeding Deacon is a corruption of an old New England term from the 18th or 19th century. The original term was Bleating Deacon, evoking a farmer’s image of an old goat in the pulpit. [EnglishRelationships] [full cite] (Apr. 24, 2004)
bleeding deacon n. When the term was first applied it was intended for those people who have a set of cries such as “it will never work” or “if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it.” The actual term used was “bleating beacon” [sic] (as in sheep). The GV even ran a series titled “The Bleating Deacon’s Corner.” I prefer the term “bleeding deacon.” Truth is that I used to be one but I ran out of blood. [EnglishRelationships] [full cite] (Apr. 24, 2004)
boomer interrupted n. The new euphemism for those called to parental assistance is “boomer interrupted.” Just when you began to look forward to your own retirement, your role reverses and you need to take care of those who took care of you. [EnglishRelationshipsNew or Nonce] [full cite] (Dec. 28, 2007)