Double-Tongued Dictionary Recent Citations

Citation Queue These are recently added citations for catchwords that have not yet been researched or incorporated into a full dictionary entry. There is also a date-sorted archive which includes all citations, whether used in a full entry or not, as well as the full entries themselves.

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flitillary n. The erratic, zigzagging flight of courting and songbird-evading fritillaries prompt some people to refer to them as “flitillaries.” Actually, the genus name probably derives from fritillus, a cylindrical cup used by the Romans to throw dice. This dice cup was decorated with white spots, as are many fritillary butterflies. (Aug. 18, 2009) [full citation…]

zap n. Following the 1969 Stonewall riots, as the nascent gay rights movement became increasingly combative, a gay Philadelphia teenager initiated his own guerrilla war aimed at television, including the CBS Evening News. Mark Segal, 19, became angry when he and a male friend were thrown out of a television dance program in 1972 after the program’s host saw them dancing together. A few days later, Segal barged into the studio of Philadelphia’s WPVI during its evening newscast. Startled studio personnel wrestled him to the floor and called the police. Segal became a walking terror with his “zaps,” as they were called. In 1973, his targets included The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Mike Douglas Show. He and a friend staged their last and most notorious zap when they posed as college students and obtained passes for the CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite. (Aug. 18, 2009) [full citation…]

needlex n. Liverpool did not have the world’s first needlex. (Aug. 18, 2009) [full citation…]

riffed adj. TUSD rehires 88% of riffed teachers [...] Last spring TUSD gave pink slips to 562 teachers. This summer it rehired 498 of them. (Aug. 18, 2009) [full citation…]

barbecue summer n. After the spring bounce, summer has been a washout for investors. Those of us who were hoping for a barbecue summer on the bourses have been left staring glumly at cloudy skies. (Aug. 9, 2009) [full citation…]

fangasm n. It’s my second year at Con. I love it. I learned a new word: “fangasm.” (Aug. 9, 2009) [full citation…]

infectobesity n. Catching “being fat” by means of this virus has been called Infectobesity by Professor Nikhil Dhurandhar, a professor at Louisiana State University. What virus is this exactly? It’s called Adenovirus-36, otherwise known as Ad-36. This particular strain of 50 Adenoviruses which are responsible for respiratory infections, eye infections and colds was first linked to weight gain when Dhurandhar noticed that chickens infected with Ad-36 became plump instead of wasting away with disease. (Aug. 9, 2009) [full citation…]

scrotology n. He takes a dim view of the film’s “scatology and scrotology”-based humor, saying that it’s not that Apatow’s characters “have to talk dirty; it’s their only lexicon.” (Aug. 9, 2009) [full citation…]

casino capitalism n. This book’s middle chapters succinctly show how “casino capitalism” (a coinage by Susan Strange, one of the left-wing critics of the market that Green deftly cites) led from late 2007 to a “hurricane unprecedented in its savagery.” The storm flattened guilty dealers and blameless workers and home-owners alike. (Aug. 9, 2009) [full citation…]

momarazzi n. In the end, the seven girls stood near the dais for a round of applause. Seven proud mothers rose as one, strode forward and stood in a line, snapping photos. Coining a phrase, Mayor Paul Leon marveled: “That’s a real lineup of momarazzi.” (Aug. 9, 2009) [full citation…]

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