Frenemy, Flash Mob, and Other New English Words

Posted by Alex in Book & Lit on July 12, 2009 at 1:37 pm


Friend/Enemy Ambigram, by Naguib and Fadilah of Nagfa

English, she’s a’changin’. The latest edition of the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary are 100 words that you may already be using:

There are words such as locavore (one who eats foods grown locally), frenemy (someone who acts like a friend but is really an enemy), waterboarding (an interrogation technique use to induce the sensation of drowning), vlogs (a blog that contains video material) and webisode (a TV show that can be viewed at a website).

There’s also flash mob (a group of people summoned electronically to a designated spot at a specified time to perform an indicated action before dispersing) and green-collar (involving actions for protecting the natural environment).

Some words that just now made the cut have been around for generations. The term "sock puppet" — a false online identity used for deceptive purposes — was tracked to 1959 but has taken on new popular use with people using fake IDs on social networking sites.

Link

 
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Hammer Pants Flash Mob

Posted by Alex in Advertising, Music on June 5, 2009 at 8:12 pm

One minute you’re shopping for skinny jeans in a trendy hipster store and the next, you’re in the midst of a flashmob wearing Hammer Pants, dancing to U Can’t Touch This.

Sure, it’s a viral for A&E’s Hammertime, a documentary about the rise and fall of MC Hammer, but it’s worth watching if only for the old bald dude in suit & Hammer pants gettin’ down @1:25.

Link [embedded YouTube clip]

 
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