WORDS OF THE YEAR 2008 Part II: VOCABULARY DEFINITIONS

BEANERY ONLINE LITERARY MAGAZINE

WORDS OF THE YEAR 2008 Part II: VOCABULARY DEFINITIONS

      The “word of the year” is determined by any of various assessments which determine the most important word in the public sphere in the past year. Before continuing reading this post, click on WORDS OF THE YEAR 2008 Part I: VOCABULARY TEST (or check the WRITING ARTICLES folder at www.beanerywriters.wordpress.com and scroll down to the post WORDS OF THE YEAR 2008 Part I: VOCABULARY TEST) and take the vocabulary test.
     Answers to the test that the Beanery Writers Group concocted are listed there. Below are the ACTUAL definitions of the words on the test. No peeking until you take the test.

     carborexic: A person who is “energy anorexic,” meaning that they avoid power-consuming devices such as air conditioners in order to conserve energy and reduce their responsibility for overall fossil fuel consumption. Also an adjective.
     cyberchondriac (noun): a hypochondriac who imagines that he or she has a particular disease based on medical information gleaned from the Internet
     edupunk: a style of hands-on self-education that benefits the student without concern for curriculums or the interests of schools, corporations or governments. In other words, an autodidactic approach that spurns commercialism, mass-market approaches and top-down goal setting. Coined by Jim Groom, an “instructional technologist” at the University of Mary
      frugalista: person who leads a frugal lifestyle, but stays fashionable and healthy by swapping clothes, buying second-hand, growing own produce, etc.
     futarchy: A theoretical government controlled in part by speculative markets. Coined by Robin D. Hanson of George Mason University.
     hypermiling, to hypermile: the Oxford Word of the Year. to attempt to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one’s car and one’s driving techniques. Rather than aiming for good mileage or even great mileage, hypermilers seek to push their gas tanks to the limit and achieve hypermileage, exceeding EPA ratings for miles per gallon.
     Joe: An everyman. Seen in this election in Amtrak Joe, Joe the Plumber, Joe the Biden, Joe Sixpack, and other terms.
     locavore: the practice of eating food sourced within 100 or so miles. Green ideas are definitely becoming part of everyday lingo.
     moofer: a mobile out of office worker – ie. someone who works away from a fixed workplace, via Blackberry/laptop/wi-fi etc. (also verbal noun, moofing)
     overshare (verb): to divulge excessive personal information, as in a blog or broadcast interview, prompting reactions ranging from alarmed discomfort to approval.
     photobombing: intentionally inserting oneself as an unwelcome subject in the background of someone else’s photograph.
     plutoid: A new term designated by the International Astronomical Union to refer to Pluto and space objects like it.
     pregorexia: Obsession with staying thin by a pregnant woman. Coined from preg(nant) and (an)orexia.
     rewilding: the process of returning an area to its original wild state/flora/fauna etc.
     stag-deflation: A growing economy in which prices fall.
     staycation: A vacation from work or school that does not involve traveling; vacation taken at or near one’s home, taking day trips, etc..
     throwie: A sticky or magnetic battery-powered LED used in bunches as a form of graffiti.
     topless meeting: a meeting in which the participants are barred from using their laptops, Blackberries, cellphones, etc.
     tweet: a short message sent via the Twitter service, using a cellphone or other mobile device.
     youthanasia (noun): “ … the controversial practice of performing a battery of age-defying medical procedures to end lifeless skin and wrinkles; advocated by some as a last-resort measure to put the chronically youth-obsessed out of their misery … Think of it as mercy lifting.” —Armand Limnander, New York Times
     For those of you who took the test, let the Beanery Writers know how well you did by typing your results in the comment box below. We also welcome “creative writing” that uses as many of the twenty words listed above as possible.
     Sites used to create this test and provide the answers include the following:
     http://www.americandialect.org/
      http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2008/12/02/Change_judged_top_word_of_2008/UPI-41161228235667/
       http://green.yahoo.com/blog/greenpicks/225/word-of-the-year-2008-hypermiling.html
       http://newworldword.com/overshare/
       http://blog.oup.com/2008/11/hypermiling/

ADDITIONAL READING:

www.beanerywriters.wordpress.com/

www.carolyncholland.wordpress.com

OF CURRENT INTEREST:

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS & WRITER’S EVENTS: January 9, 2009

FERAL BIRDS: THE LATEST COMMUNITY HAZARD

THE LIGONIER 250TH ANNIVERSARY BOOKLET

JANUARY DAYS OF CELEBRATION: Part 1

JANUARY DAYS OF CELEBRATION: Part 2

MOST ACTIVE POSTS:

ALL SUMMER IN A DAY: The Use of Descriptive Language

BEANERY ONLINE LITERARY MAGAZINE

PROTECTING PRIVACY OF PERSONAL DATA ON YOUR COMPUTER

HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK ONLINE 

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS & WRITER’S EVENTS: January 9, 2009

TOP POSTS:

OF FIREFLIES AND LIGHTNING BUGS

BEAR CONFRONTATIONS: SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

DEVELOPING CHARACTERS IN NOVEL WRITING

INTEGRITY: A JOURNALISTIC CODE OF ETHICS REVIEW