Tue - November 2, 2004
Language
If it stops innovating, check if it's dead
Quite a few voices solemnly state that in this times of discovery and
innovation the Romanian language has to be chloroformed and put to sleep. Hard
to guess if it’s communist isolationism, dinosaur thinking, bubbly
nationalism or all of them combined. But more of that in a following post,
because this time is about English language. And English, it seems,
doesn’t stand still.
Enter Paul McFedries, the man who documents the latest words to enter the English lexicon, from “McJob” to “metrosexual”. Fast Company shoots questions is a '60 Seconds With Paul McFedries' interview.
You can find Mr. McFedries’ work at The Word Spy, a website “devoted to lexpionage, the sleuthing of new words and phrases. These aren’t ’stunt words’ or ’sniglets,’ but new terms that have appeared multiple times in newspapers, magazines, books, Web sites, and other recorded sources.”
Visit, and you'll be shocked, shocked by the news: geek is out! Yes, geek is over. So yesterday. The narcissist übergeek is in, and it has a name: “technosexual.” Don't blush, a technosexual (tek.noh.SEK.shoo.ul) is "a male with a strong aesthetic sense and a love of technology."
Katharine Miller of AlterNet in ’Enter the technosexual:’
Doesn't this sound strangely familiar?
Enter Paul McFedries, the man who documents the latest words to enter the English lexicon, from “McJob” to “metrosexual”. Fast Company shoots questions is a '60 Seconds With Paul McFedries' interview.
FC: What’s the outlook for language in 2004?
McFedries: It’s always hard to predict, and that’s part of the fun. Though I think one of the driving forces is what the baby boom does. We’re getting to the point now where the oldest boomers are 56 this year. So we’ve had recent words such as boomeritis, which is injuries caused by an aging body doing things it could do in its youth that it can’t do anymore. You’ll probably see more words [about “downshifting”] because more people are realizing that working 80 hours a week to get whatever you think you might need in life is not really the recipe for happiness.
McFedries: It’s always hard to predict, and that’s part of the fun. Though I think one of the driving forces is what the baby boom does. We’re getting to the point now where the oldest boomers are 56 this year. So we’ve had recent words such as boomeritis, which is injuries caused by an aging body doing things it could do in its youth that it can’t do anymore. You’ll probably see more words [about “downshifting”] because more people are realizing that working 80 hours a week to get whatever you think you might need in life is not really the recipe for happiness.
You can find Mr. McFedries’ work at The Word Spy, a website “devoted to lexpionage, the sleuthing of new words and phrases. These aren’t ’stunt words’ or ’sniglets,’ but new terms that have appeared multiple times in newspapers, magazines, books, Web sites, and other recorded sources.”
Visit, and you'll be shocked, shocked by the news: geek is out! Yes, geek is over. So yesterday. The narcissist übergeek is in, and it has a name: “technosexual.” Don't blush, a technosexual (tek.noh.SEK.shoo.ul) is "a male with a strong aesthetic sense and a love of technology."
Katharine Miller of AlterNet in ’Enter the technosexual:’
« “With metrosexuality, it’s about style, fashion, culture, and grooming for the straight male. A metrosexual man may be seen at an NBA game one night and an art gallery opening the next,” says Ricky Montalvo, the man who wants to take technosexuals mainstream. “We take it one step further by adding technology. A technosexual man may not need to go to the NBA game because he can get highlights and scores via SMS or by browsing the web on his PDA while at the art gallery.”
The official definition for technosexual is “a dandyish narcissist in love with not only himself, but also his urban lifestyle and gadgets; a straight man who is in touch with his feminine side but has fondness for electronics such as cell phones, PDAs, computers, software, and the web.” »
The official definition for technosexual is “a dandyish narcissist in love with not only himself, but also his urban lifestyle and gadgets; a straight man who is in touch with his feminine side but has fondness for electronics such as cell phones, PDAs, computers, software, and the web.” »
Doesn't this sound strangely familiar?
Posted Tue - November 2, 2004 at 01:17 AM
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Published On: Aug 25, 2006 01:48 AM
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Published On: Aug 25, 2006 01:48 AM
