Use of "trendy" combined meaning words

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Perhaps at the age of 68, I do despair of seeing the penchant for such types of words entering into the language as a method of stating something that can so easily be said by the correct use of the English language. I give two examples below:-

Bustitution....My wife on hearing this ventures the opinion that to her, it signifies an omnibus service crewed by "well-endowed" clippies.
Stagflation...All this conjures up to me is the image of a rather corpulent "Monarch of the Glen".

Does anyone have other examples of such types of wording that they feel are unworthy of common usage?

 

[Seacook]

Perhaps at the age of 68, I do despair of seeing the penchant for such types of words entering into the language as a method of stating something that can so easily be said by the correct use of the English language. I give two examples below:-

Bustitution....My wife on hearing this ventures the opinion that to her, it signifies an omnibus service crewed by "well-endowed" clippies.
Stagflation...All this conjures up to me is the image of a rather corpulent "Monarch of the Glen".

Does anyone have other examples of such types of wording that they feel are unworthy of common usage?

The OED has a citation for stagflation from 1965, a lot earlier than I would have thought.


My own examples include metrosexual "a special relationship with a tram" and quant "a very small data analyst.

 

[Geezertronic]

With bad meaning good and sick meaning good too, I am surprised the youth of today know where they are half the time

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

With bad meaning good and sick meaning good too, I am surprised the youth of today know where they are half the time

I have heard a schoolboy telling one of his friends in Macclesfield town centre last week that he was "well ill"....:roll:

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Quark - the mating call of an upper-class duck.

Stakeholder - an assistant vampire slayer.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Ringfencing.....Bilbo Baggins fighting a duel in Lower Earth

 

[daniel78]

I have heard a schoolboy telling one of his friends in Macclesfield town centre last week that he was "well ill"....:roll:

Ali G interviewing Tony Benn a few years ago: "Why do they call it the welfare state? Is it because it's well fair?"

The current trend for "I was like" rather than "I said" or "I reacted by". This led to the inevitable conclusion recently when I heard someone summarise their recent activity on Facebook as "I was like like".

 

[hairyhandedfool]

With bad meaning good and sick meaning good too, I am surprised the youth of today know where they are half the time

Not forgetting 'mint' which I think is similar to 'awesome', or, for the older generation, 'rather good'.

Gets worse with 'txtspk' ('text speak', apparently) where things like gr8 and l8r are commonly used and I guess you can see how they have shortened, but then you get 'totes amazeballs' which is apparently short for 'totally amazing' which itself seems to be a 90's trendification (is that a new word?).

 

[transmanche]

This is beginning to sound like a round of Uxbridge English Dictionary on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue!

 

[LexyBoy]

Bustitution is a perfectly cromulent word. I can't see what some people have against embiggening the vocabulary with zeitgeisty neologisms.
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This is beginning to sound like a round of Uxbridge English Dictionary on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue!

From the OP:
penchant - an ode to stationery

 

[IanD]

I hate hashtag - this is basically a hash # symbol that is used as a tag in twitter. However as there seems to be no other method of tagging in twitter then either hash or tag would suffice. Rather strange in an application that tries to limit the characters used in everyday conversation.

Or can we expect to see colontags, attags, ampersandtags, slashtags (possibly shortened to slags), curlyopenbrackettags (clags) etc... in the future.

 

[edwin_m]

Stakeholder - an assistant vampire slayer.

Or someone with a finger in the pie.

 

[gordonthemoron]

malware - I thought it was something to do with shopping, until I realised the german equivalent is schadeware

 

[LE Greys]

I hate hashtag - this is basically a hash # symbol that is used as a tag in twitter. However as there seems to be no other method of tagging in twitter then either hash or tag would suffice. Rather strange in an application that tries to limit the characters used in everyday conversation.

Or can we expect to see colontags, attags, ampersandtags, slashtags (possibly shortened to slags), curlyopenbrackettags (clags) etc... in the future.

Assuming we're playing Uxbridge English Dictionary...

Hashtag - price label on a bag of cannabis
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<Snip> and quant "a very small data analyst.

I've used a quant on several occasions. It's a large punt pole for propelling boats (which has a nasty tendancy to get stuck and pull you into the water).

 

[D841 Roebuck]

I thought a neologist was a class 50 basher who commenced his/her hobby after about 1992...

 

[MCR247]

Gets worse with 'txtspk' ('text speak', apparently) where things like gr8 and l8r are commonly used and I guess you can see how they have shortened, but then you get 'totes amazeballs' which is apparently short for 'totally amazing' which itself seems to be a 90's trendification (is that a new word?).

Its a pretty common that teenagers actually still use text speak, as the only person that I know who would send a text saying "how r u? Wht r u doin?" is my grandma everyone else uses full words really
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I have heard a schoolboy telling one of his friends in Macclesfield town centre last week that he was "well ill"....:roll:

And just to confuse things even further, he was just as likely to be saying that as a good thing

 

[martinsh]

Cashback - I always have visions of a Cashback Whale in the Pacific Ocean !

 

[Manchester77]

Barely anyone 'talkz lyk dis' unless they're taking the p!ss. I know the teenagers I know through my teenager don't you can see this on their twitter etc

Some I've been taught are:-
Fanfic - a fictional story written by fans about a fantasy event between them and a member of a band or pretty much anything (never google the though they're pretty disturbing!!)

 

[LE Greys]

Its a pretty common that teenagers actually still use text speak, as the only person that I know who would send a text saying "how r u? Wht r u doin?" is my grandma everyone else uses full words really

Predictive text probably explains that. Telegraphists were using 'text speak' abbreviations long before the invention of the telephone, although a lack of brackets would have made 'smileys' impossible.

 

[PHILIPE]

OUTREACH -When they come to you.

 

[flymo]

Quark - the mating call of an upper-class duck.

Funniest comment ever

Thank you for lifting my day.

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Funniest comment ever

Thank you for lifting my day.

Thank Jilly Cooper - I remembered it from one of her books!

 

[Eng274]

Jedward, brangelina, the general unequal bodging of names/words mildly annoys me. And in the case of the former, the people themselves irritate me too. One might say they could foff.

I used to use text speak back in the mono screen Nokia age, but with better phones came predictive text. And with better phones came contracts, with no text restrictions like pay as you go, so I didn't see the need to say things like 'r u comin out 2nite' to keep it below 160 characters.

 

[LE Greys]

One newspaper headline:
ConDemNation

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Ferroequinologist - a trainspotter who denies he spots trains.

Equinonecroflagellation - flogging a dead horse.

Labradoodle - oops, left the garden gate open...

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Equinonecroflagellation - flogging a dead horse.

Well done with that particular one...must remember to add this to my existing stock of verbosity that sometimes finds its way into some of my postings..

 

[IanD]

Well done with that particular one...must remember to add this to my existing stock of verbosity that sometimes finds its way into some of my postings..

Some?

 

[theblackwatch]

I think what you have to remember is that language and the words that are used evolve over time. I am not condoning the use of 'txt spk' in normal language though!

 

[Harbon 1]

I hate hashtag - this is basically a hash # symbol that is used as a tag in twitter. However as there seems to be no other method of tagging in twitter then either hash or tag would suffice. Rather strange in an application that tries to limit the characters used in everyday conversation.

I hate how a hash doesn't exist any more. Loads of people at my school call it a hastag.
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Its a pretty common that teenagers actually still use text speak, as the only person that I know who would send a text saying "how r u? Wht r u doin?" is my grandma everyone else uses full words really

I have exactly the same problem, although most texts from my nan are like an enigma code

 

[deltic1989]

one thing that does annoy me is when people use text speak when they are speaking such as saying "lol" rather than just laughing.

In all fairness though language does tend to change over time. Some of our ancestors may well despair of what we call " Standard English".
I'm sure it's only 400 or so years ago that "Thou maketh me burst forthe withe Myrthe", was the norm rather than lol.
I do use text speak when I text but only to save time and space, this did once result in a rather funny instence when I texted my Father who will be 63 this year, and received the reply ..." Again please and in English this time".