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Word Lovers: New LOLs from the Washington Post

Thank you, KitKat, for your always great contributions:

Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternative meanings for common words.

The winners are:

1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.

3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.

6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.

7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle (n), olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.

14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

16. Circumvent (n.), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

The Washington Post’s Style Invitational also asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

Here are this year’s winners:

1. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

2. Foreploy (v): Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of having sex.

3. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

4. Giraffiti (n): Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

5. Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.

6. Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

7. Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness.

8. Osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

9. Karmageddon (n): its like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s like, a serious bummer.

10 Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

11. Glibido (v): All talk and no action.

12. Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

13. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.

14. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

15. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you’re eating.

And the pick of the literature:

16. Ignoranus (n): A person who’s both stupid and an a$$hole.

March 22, 2009 - Posted by | Communication, Cultural, Humor, Language, Words

16 Comments »

  1. LOL! Lymph and Karmageddon are my favorite!!

    noura's avatar Comment by noura | March 22, 2009 | Reply

  2. Thanks for that… made my otherwise miserable day!

    zaydoun's avatar Comment by zaydoun | March 22, 2009 | Reply

  3. LOL ! great stuff !

    Mathai's avatar Comment by Mathai | March 22, 2009 | Reply

  4. Neologism (n): “Knowledge” by a Kuwaiti sign printing shop.

    Mohammad Abdullah's avatar Comment by Bu Yousef | March 22, 2009 | Reply

  5. they make sense…if only oxford would recognize them…

    mentabolism's avatar Comment by mentabolism | March 22, 2009 | Reply

  6. hahahahahahahah!!! Hilarious! LOL Bozone and Pokemon are my faves! HAHAHA

    Chirp's avatar Comment by Chirp | March 22, 2009 | Reply

  7. Noura, Karmageddon is my favorite, too. I always try to be kind, but every now and then I take great satisfaction thinking some mean person’s karma will catch up with them in a spectacular way. Yeh . . . Karmageddon . . .

    Zaydoun – Glad you got one good smile for today. Here’s another πŸ™‚

    Mathai – I love these, too!

    Bu Yousef (I am laughing so hard I can hardly type) I am not kidding, today I saw a male hair salon called The Rits LLLOOOLLLL

    Mentabolism – it is amazing what DOES become real words, isn’t it, like to Google? to xerox? wonk?

    Chirp – Here’s one of my old favorites: Esso – Asso (the guy who is too important to wait for the traffic light and cuts through the service station)

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | March 22, 2009 | Reply

  8. Woehahahaaaa!!!!!!!!!!
    My favs are: Ignoranus, Arachnoleptic fit, and Bozone is going to be added to my colloquial vercabulary!

    Aafke.Art's avatar Comment by Aafke | March 22, 2009 | Reply

  9. My favourite ever was on a radio show in London two years ago where contestants have to come up with them on the spot:

    Kingdon (n): A royal contraceptive πŸ™‚

    Mohammad Abdullah's avatar Comment by Bu Yousef | March 22, 2009 | Reply

  10. Kingdom…

    Mohammad Abdullah's avatar Comment by Bu Yousef | March 22, 2009 | Reply

  11. Bozone :p
    Good post.

    F.'s avatar Comment by F. | March 23, 2009 | Reply

  12. LOL these are funny. I think I should think of my own word…hmmm…

    Humongous: a fungus that develops when certain humans hang around you too much.

    Advocate: what happens when you take lots of Advils, get delirious, and start calling everyone Kate.

    Gumption: an unnatural growth that develops on one’s gums.

    How’d I do? πŸ˜€

    1001Nights's avatar Comment by 1001Nights | March 23, 2009 | Reply

  13. Lol, got it, Bu Yousef.

    Thanks, F.

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | March 23, 2009 | Reply

  14. LOL, 1001. πŸ™‚

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | March 24, 2009 | Reply

  15. I thought all the word lovers here would like to know about this mutt-ossary, a new vocab for “mutts.” Enjoy! http://muttslikeme.wordpress.com

    Add what you will…

    Deborah Jiang Stein's avatar Comment by muttslikeme | April 3, 2009 | Reply

  16. Mutt – You will love this post; Yousef writes on being a “chicken nugget” in Kuwait.
    Chicken Nuggets

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | April 3, 2009 | Reply


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