New or Nonce Slang, Jargon, and New Words from Double-Tongued Dictionary

Citations in the Category New or Nonce

Neologisms (words believed to be new), including one-off coinages of low life expectancy. You can also see entries assigned to this category.

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Bedouin n. If only we Bedouins—to use a term catching on in San Francisco to describe roaming workers armed with laptops and cellphones—could unionize. Suggested motto: Coffee-shop squatters of the world, unite! [English Employment New or Nonce Slang] [full cite] (Aug. 30, 2007)

beer track n. That’s because Maryland, said Thomas Schaller, associate professor of political science at University of Maryland Baltimore County, has become a “wine track” state, similar to California, New Jersey and Connecticut, where incomes are high, people are well-educated and the electorate is less concerned about race. (He distinguishes Maryland from “beer track” states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.) [English Politics Jargon New or Nonce] [full cite] (Feb. 10, 2008)

beerability index n. Determine which candidate you’d rather have a beer with. This practice, called the “beerability index” by professional political consultants, is an excellent way to determine who’d be best for the job. To do this, picture yourself sitting with the candidate in a bar (preferably a dark bar, with sawdust on the floor), and then picture what the candidate is drinking. Is it chardonnay? If so, he just lost your vote. [English Politics New or Nonce] [full cite] (Nov. 3, 2006)

beltplasty n. Dr. Boris Goldman performed what’s called a beltplasty. “What we do is we actually remove redundant skin and fat from the lower abdomen usually in people who’ve lost a lot of weight.” [English Medical New or Nonce] [full cite] (Mar. 15, 2006)

beme n. One proponent is Martine Rothblatt, who is a genuine visionary.…Her talk entitled “Of Genes, Bemes and Conscious Things” outlined a future in which human consciousnesses are uploaded into computers. Her neologism “beme” is modeled after Richard Dawkin’s meme. Memes are units of cultural transmission and Rothblatt’s bemes are “fundamental, transmissible, mutable units of beingness.” Heideggerian bytes if you will. Bemes consist of smiles, the taste of lasagna, the memory of a first bike ride and so forth. [English Jargon New or Nonce] [full cite] (Jun. 2, 2006)

beme n. A beme is a turbo-charged meme made possible entirely by the existence of the network affect. A beme can be impactful because it is lurid—a photo of a panty-less Britney Spears, or humorous—a whimisical video of the band OKGO on treadmills, or gut-wrenching—the sad tirade by comedian Michael Richards. A beme can cement an idea with the public in a way that cannot be legislated or regulated. No legal effort by Cisco to enforce a trademark, for example, will make the public unlearn that Apple produces the iPhone. [English Media Online New or Nonce] [full cite] (Feb. 19, 2007)

betty n. She offers an example of how her new phraseology can empower a room. “I was at a party last night where I took Betty as a gift for somebody. They opened it up and were like, ‘Oh my god, is that blah-blah dye?’ I said, ‘It’s color for the hair down there.’ ‘What’s it called?’ ‘Betty.’ ‘So it’s for your ... ?’ ‘It’s for your betty.’ From that point on, everybody just started talking about their betty. It happens all the time. They’ll say, ‘Wow, I just found a gray hair down there,’ or, ‘I haven’t seen my betty in 20 years, but I feel like I want to do something with my betty.’” “Do I have a betty?” I ask. “Of course, men have betties, too. Everyone’s got one!” [English Body Sex & Sexuality New or Nonce Slang] [full cite] (Oct. 30, 2006)

bezzle n. At any given time there exists an inventory of undiscovered embezzlement in—or more precisely not in—the country’s businesses and banks. This inventory—it should perhaps be called the bezzle—amounts at any moment to millions of dollars. [English Money & Finance New or Nonce] [full cite] (May. 15, 2006)

bhopalise v. To bhopalise means to invest in a country where dealings with governments are secret, labour is cheap, energy is cheap, where there are minimal environmental standards, no occupational health and safety standards, where there is no effective planning law, with non-existent industrial carrying capacity studies, where technologies employed are not desired in the investors’ countries, where there is a pliant administration concerned with its survival, where sustainable development is a buzzword, where international treaties are signed into oblivion, where citizens views are irrelevant, and where liability is a matter for local courts. [English New or Nonce] [full cite] (Jan. 26, 2006)

bigature n. There are going to be a mess of miniatures. We coined that phrase “bigatures” on Lord of the Rings and this is going to outdo them all. The miniature we’re doing for Miraz’s castle is 24 scale, village, and exterior location at 100th scale and both miniatures are bigger than this tent. They are colossal things. [English Movies New or Nonce] [full cite] (Sep. 5, 2007)

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