Arts & Literature Slang, Jargon, and New Words from Double-Tongued Dictionary

Citations in the Category Arts & Literature

Art, painting, sculpture, literature, books, writing, criticism, etc. You can also see entries assigned to this category.

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multihyphenate n. The brilliance of Asia’s foremost multitasking multihyphenates (actor-writer, director-producer, etc.)…is easily reduced to reductive caricature in the process of “translation.” [English Arts & Literature] [full cite] (Jan. 26, 2006)

mumblecore n. I think that there are a bunch of us coming up now who have many of the same influences, and the same anti-influences, i.e. some of the crummier aspects of the indie scene that we’d all like to bury. My new film, “Mutual Appreciation,” premiered at South by Southwest, and there was some talk there of a “movement” just because there were a bunch of performance-based films by young quasi-idealists. My sound mixer, Eric Masunaga, named the movement “mumblecore,” which is pretty catchy. I quite liked those other films that I saw, but I think it’s probably a little reductive and silly to actually group any of them together. [English Arts & Literature Entertainment Movies] [full cite] (Aug. 15, 2007)

nigglature n. Nigglature is fiction usually written by a Black author. (PAUSE for the CAUSE-THONG ON FIRE??? SERIOUSLY?!?!?!) Very often nigglature is self-published.…Nigglature usually involves some poor little girl from the projects, (cause you know, that is where ALL the Black folks are), she usually has a severe lack-of-Daddy complex. [Black English English Arts & Literature Slang] [full cite] (Nov. 12, 2007)

nodder n. European porcelain factories created models of how they believed these exotic peoples appeared. These were often exaggerated, with almost grotesque features and many were equipped with movable heads or hands, have come to be called “nodders” or “nodding head figures.” [English Arts & Literature] [full cite] (Feb. 11, 2006)

paramount lighting n. I usually place my beauty dish as close to the model as I can. Why? Because the closer the light is to your subject, the softer the light. My dish is placed high above the face, angled down on it at about a 45 degree angle. It also can be placed directly centered above the model’s face. This is normally referred to as “paramount” lighting. It got its name from Paramount Studios. This lighting was used constantly as a female “glamour” light. Remember the old Hollywood portraits made famous by photographers like George Hurrell? He used this lighting to accent the cheekbones and give a broad look to a narrow face. It is also sometimes referred to as “butterfly lighting” because of the small butterfly shadow under the nose. [English Arts & Literature Media Jargon] [full cite] (Oct. 3, 2008)

perspectivism n. “Isms” have long since become “wasms,” no longer capable of explaining the rapidly changing ideas and intentions of 20th-century art. Stephen Little’s Isms: Understanding Art… is, therefore, deeply unfashionable. It also stretches a point since he begins with the Renaissance, and sustains several injuries by straining to find “isms” everwhere. Ghastly neologisms result, perspectivisim and allegoricism among them. [English Arts & Literature] [full cite] (Nov. 28, 2004)

pillowing n. Whitley also creates contemporary pieces of furniture. Among them, the Throne Chair, 1977, is hand worked from rare woods, including American Curly Maple, Ebony, Dogwood, Birdseye Maple and Black Walnut. Whitley employed a new technique called “pillowing” with this chair which joins the surface edges and allows for the expansion and contraction of the wood pieces. The chair stands on three solid legs, has a smooth finish and evenly combines the dark and light elements of the various types of wood. [English Arts & Literature] [full cite] (Mar. 18, 2008)

plewd n. Mort Walker of “Beetle Bailey” fame invented a cartoon vocabulary called Symbolia that we cartoonists make use of from time to time.…Plewds—the sweat droplets that appear around a character’s head when sweating, working hard, or stressed by a dissertation project. [English Arts & Literature New or Nonce] [full cite] (Feb. 2, 2006)

polyvitro n. At the center of the bridge are two towers of glacial blue polyvitro (a word [Dale] Chihuly has coined) crystals, rising 40 feet. [English Architecture Arts & Literature] [full cite] (Jul. 14, 2004)

post-grafitti n. The term “Street Art” usually refers to more visual art than more traditionally text-based graffiti, though the two often overlap. This is sometimes called post-graffiti. In an effort to divorce it from its more illicit counterpart it has begun to appear legitimately in large exhibitions and public spaces worldwide. [English Arts & Literature] [full cite] (Oct. 13, 2008)

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