New meanings for old words

by Virginia Lloyd | Oct 8, 2009 | Blog, Improve your writing | 0 comments

Here are the winners in The Washington Post’s annual neologism contest. I am having trouble choosing a favourite from this witty bunch:

Coffee (n.) the person upon whom one coughs.
Flabbergasted (adj.) appalled over how much weight you have gained.
Abdicate (v.) to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
Esplanade (v.) to attempt an explanation while drunk.
Willy-nilly (adj.) impotent.
Negligent (adj.) describes a condition in which you absent-mindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
Lymph (v.) to walk with a lisp.
Gargoyle (n.) olive-flavored mouthwash.
Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
Balderdash (n.) a rapidly receding hairline.
Testicle (n.) a humorous question on an exam.
Rectitude (n.) the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
Pokemon (n) a Rastafarian proctologist.
Oyster (n.) a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
Frisbeetarianism (n.) (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
Circumvent (n.) an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

In another contest, the newspaper asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. The winners are:

Bozone (n.) The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating.
Cashtration (n.) The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
Giraffiti (n) Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
Sarchasm* (n) The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.
Inoculatte (v) To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
Hipatitis (n) Terminal coolness.
Osteopornosis (n) A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
Karmageddon (n) It’s 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.
Decafalon (n.) The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
Glibido (v) All talk and no action.
Dopeler effect (n) The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
Arachnoleptic fit (n.) The frantic dance performed just after you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.
Beelzebug (n.) Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
Caterpallor (n.) The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you’re eating.

*To broaden this beyond sarcastic wit, I suggest ironiclastic/ironiclasm would work well.

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