EXERCISE 1. Mind the following information.
1) Winterval: a period of festivities which take place in the middle of winter, including Christmas and other religious or secular festivals – "… time for Australia to fall in line with places such as the UK, where councils have renamed Christmas " Winterval " and replaced references to Christmas on signage with the words "Festive" and "Winter"." (Queensland Sunday Mail, 4th December 2005). This festive season, you’ll no doubt be sending Winterval cards, decorating your Winterval tree and tucking into Winterval pudding and Winterval cake. If all this sounds a bit odd, consider that the word Christmas is rather biased towards one particular faith. In an effort to embrace all religions, not just Christianity, during the festive season, the term Winterval has been suggested as a politically-correct alternative which potentially encompasses Jewish Hanukkah, Afro-Caribbean Kwanzaa, Hindu Diwali and pagan festivals such as Yule or the Winter Solstice. However, we all know that, in reality, the word Christmas represents a period from early December to New Year’s Eve, during which people party, eat special food, give presents and, just maybe, set foot in a Christian place of worship. With less than ten per cent of the British population going to church, an established multi-cultural society, and secular rather than religious traditions dominating the festive period, some would argue that there is a convincing case for British English to drop Christmas and adopt Winterval. Winterval is a blend of the words Winter and festival, which first hit the headlines in 2002 when it was used by Birmingham City Council in the UK. In an effort to create a more multi-cultural atmosphere in keeping with the city’s mix of ethnic groups, the council introduced the term to describe a three-month period of multi-faith and secular events running from October to January. Not surprisingly, the term was the subject of some controversy, prompting a reaction from the then Bishop of Birmingham, the Rt Rev Mark Santer(similarity to the name of the man in the red hat purely coincidental!).In response, the council stated that they wanted people to celebrate Christmas, claiming that " Christmas is the very heart of Winterval ". Given that fierce arguments still persist between those who want to "include all" and those who want to preserve the Christian roots of the festive season, formal recognition of the word Winterval in published dictionaries still seems some way off.
2) Houseblinging: decorating the exterior of a house with a large amount of Christmas lights – "Greetings houseblingers and their admirers! The new houseblinging season is now upon us and we know that many of you have already been preparing furiously for this winter’s display…" (houseblinger.com, 29th November 2005), "Some streets with a lot of houseblings can attract many visitors, causing traffic jams and annoyance to neighbours". (The Observer, 29th November 2005) As we drive down a quiet residential street in early December, we’re suddenly confronted with a dazzling display. What was yesterday a modest, respectable semi-detached house, has in a matter of hours turned into an explosion of electrical activity, a giant, flashing Christmas shrine, adorned with Santa, snowman and multitudes of reindeers. Whether you love these light extravaganzas or hate them, there’s now a term to describe this seasonal pastime: houseblinging. Houseblinging is becoming increasingly popular on both sides of the Atlantic, so much so that a dedicated website houseblinger.com was launched in December 2004. The site is of course aimed at people who engage in houseblinging and admirers of their work. The site gives guidance to houseblingers, promoting energy-saving measures and use of the displays for fundraising, and enables them to share tips and experiences. Spotters are given the opportunity to submit photos of recently identified houseblings which form a geographically organised gallery. The expression houseblinging made its first appearance in December 2004. Its original use is attributable to Peter Bridge of Aston, Hertfordshire, who, in a letter to The Daily Telegraph on the 9th December 2004, suggested the word housebling to describe houses extravagantly decorated with Christmas lights. The bling element of the word relates to the term bling-bling, an expression referring to large pieces of expensive jewellery, thought to have originated from the Jamaican slang for the imaginary "sound".
EXERCISE 2. Translate into Ukrainian.
1) earworm (sticky tune): a song or tune that a person hears repeatedly in their head – "They bore into your head. They won’t let go. There’s no known cure. Earworms can attack almost anyone at any time. … Earworms are those songs, jingles and tunes that get stuck into your head …" (Daniel DeNoon, Lycos Health, 27th February 2003);
2) me time (me-time): a period when someone relaxes by doing something that they enjoy – "There’s alone me time where I could go get a massage or a pedicure, or go for a drive. Then there’s fun and frolic me time when I get together with special people and laugh, eat, drink, talk. Both do wonders for me". (personal e-mail, February 2003);
3) to google (to Google): to use the Internet search engine Google™ to find information about someone or something (Googling noun, Googler noun) – "… soon-to-be parents are Googling potential baby names to ensure their future little angel won’t share his with a serial killer. An entrepreneur seeking venture capital Googled himself to see if his reputation would pass the due diligence process…". (Dennis McCafferty, USA weekend.com, 28th April 2002);
4) middle youth: the period of a person’s life, especially between their thirties and mid-forties, when they are no longer young but do not want to be considered as old or middle-aged – "There has even been another category added, "middle youth" … for those of us well past our green years but not quite ready for middle age. According to the market research, this social group of thirty-somethings may well go out clubbing on a Saturday night but after a few hours" sleep "they go to a garden centre". They are living the life of the Middle Youth". (Ruth Cherrington, "Youth in Britain Today", British Studies Web Pages, British Council 2003);
5) studentification: the social and environmental changes caused by very large numbers of students living in particular areas of a town or city – "Students have officially been identified as the new scourge of Britain’s towns and cities in a study blaming "studentification" for a string of social evils … They include destroying respectable neighbourhoods by driving out families, triggering rat infestations, causing vandalism and forcing the closure of corner shops in favour of tatty burger bars and cheap off-licences". (The Observer, July 2002);
6) bluejacking: the practice of sending anonymous text messages to another person’s mobile phone by using the Bluetooth™ networking system (bluejacker, to bluejack) – "She said the "priceless" expression on the face of her first victim as he tried to work out what was going on has turned her into a regular bluejacker. … To be bluejacked you must make sure your phone can be discovered by other Bluetooth devices". (BBC News, 4th November 2003);
7) set-jetter: a person who visits a particular place because it was featured in a book or film that they enjoyed – "Tourist locations are seeing up to a 30 per cent surge in bookings from "set-jetters", who like to visit places depicted in films, it was revealed yesterday …" (The Scotsman, 9th August 2005);
8) egosurfing: the activity of searching the World Wide Web for occurrences of your own name (to egosurf, egosurfer) – "Egosurfing, the practice of harnessing the Internet’s vast data-collection powers to dig up information about oneself, has proved a popular application on the World Wide Web". (Wired News, 4th April 2001);
9) cyberslacking (cyberloafing): using a company’s Internet connection during working hours for activities which are not work-related, such as shopping, playing games and sending personal e-mails (cyberslacker, to cyberslack, cyberslacking) – "Cyberslackers are costing Britain’s small businesses almost Ј1.5bn per year … A survey has found that many workers at small businesses are wasting time with e-mail messages and websites that have nothing to do with their jobs". (BBC, 1st November 2002);
10) phishing: the criminal activity of persuading people to give personal information such as passwords and credit card details by directing them to a fake website which has been made to look exactly the same as the website of a legitimate bank or other organisation (phisher, to phish) – "Phishers send emails which purport to be official notices from banks or retailers saying that an account needs to be updated or informing about a new product on sale…" (The Guardian, 30th April 2004);
11) chocotherapy: a health treatment in which a cocoa-based cream is rubbed all over the body in order to cleanse the skin – "
This is not a scene from a fetish movie. This is a treatment room in Kensington, west London, and we are watching chocotherapy ". (The Telegraph, 4th March 2006).
EXERCISE 3. Try to guess the meaning of the following lingua-cultural realias.
Sheeple = sheep + people.
Irritainment = irritation + entertainment (about TV programms).
Chugger= charity + mugger.
Bustitution = bus + substuitution.
Movieoke = movie + karaoke.
Plagiarhythm = to plagiarise + rhythm.
Shopgrifting = grift + shoplifting.
EXERCISE 4. Match the words and their definitions.
1. deshopper; 2. wardrobe malfunction; 3. fanfic (fan fiction); 4. supersize; 5. healthspan; 6. infomania; 7. WOW; 8. babymoon; 9. security mom; 10. bouncebackbility
a) a special holiday taken by parents-to-be before their first baby is born;
d) the period of a person’s life during which they are generally healthy and free from serious or chronic illness;
c) the accidental exposure of an intimate part of the body because of a problem with an article of clothing;
d) a condition of reduced concentration caused by continually responding to electronic communications such as e-mail, text-messaging etc;
e) to increase significantly in size, to make something increase significantly in size;
f) new stories featuring characters and settings from a particular series of books or TV programmes, written by fans of the series and not by the original author;
g) a person who buys something with the specific intention of using it and later returning it to the shop for a full refund;
j) things are not going so well for you at the moment;
k) the wife or girlfriend of a professional tennis player competing at the Wimbledon tennis championships;
l) in the USA, a woman with children who is particularly concerned about terrorism and security issues.
EXERCISE 5. Guees the meaning of the following sentences.
1. "He has also gone cage diving off the coast of South Africa to see the Great Whites in action and declares it an "amazing" not life-threatening experience" (Liverpool Daily Post,1st September 2005).
2. "They say there’s really only one fruitcake in the world and it just gets passed from person to person. Call it recycling or regifting, but passing on gifts we don’t want or need is becoming a more acceptable part of our culture, experts say... Many Americans are devoted regifters. Nearly a third of shoppers have regifted at least one or more times, according to the 2003 American Express Retail Index on holiday shopping. On average, those who regift have done so at least three times. About 60 percent of women regift and 40 percent of men". (The Beacon Journal,21st December 2003).
3. "It’s called smirting, and it’s almost certainly coming to a smoking zone near you soon … If you think you’ve already smirted because you stand in the office car park three times a day sharing smoke breaks with Eric from accounts, think again. … Smirting brings you into contact with a far greater variety of people than shuffling about on a dancefloor ever could …". (The Sunday Times,26th February 2006).
4. "I am the fat-fingered fool who, overconfident of her online skills, recently tried to order one litre of goat’s milk but ended up with five …". (The Telegraph,20th December 2005).
5. "They ask how many 9/11s and 7/7s it will take for the West to realise that fighting terrorism is not targeting only Al Qaeda". (Khaleej Times, 26th July 2005).
6. "The British Dental Association has no objections: "If the dental spa "experience" is more likely to make patients feel relaxed and comfortable in the dental environment … we welcome news of these developments". (The Guardian,7th January 2003).
7. "He may engage in what researcher Sadie Plant, author of the Motorola report, refers to as " stage-phoning ", in which the caller is effectively performing for innocent bystanders … In extreme cases, performance may, in fact, be the entire point
of the call.’ (The Chicago Tribune, 17th July 2002).
8. "West Australians are being urged to store an emergency contact number in their mobile phones to assist authorities in the event of a disaster or accident … The "In Case of Emergency" (ICE) number would allow police and rescue workers to quickly alert family members if someone had been involved in a serious accident". (Melbourne Herald Sun,29th July 2005).
9. "a number of companies are turning to a new method to meet call center challenges: getting workers to handle calls from their homes. So-called homeshoring can boost productivity while cutting costs". (CNET News.com,21st December 2004)
10. "Since we introduced the pocket numbers game into the United Kingdom in November, it has googolplexed into a national craze and international pandemic". (Times Online, 14th May 2005).
EXERCISE 6. Explain the meaning of the following words.
Grief tourist; locationship; many; Cyber Monday; mobisode; radiophobia; Denglish; garbology; hypnosurgary; afterparty.
EXERCISE 7. Follow the information.
Truthiness (noun): the quality of stating facts that you believe or want to be true, rather than stating facts that are known to be true; truthy (adjective) – "A better word could not have been coined to describe the current debate over global warming … The … most bizarre example of truthiness is that we have a number of cheap, nonpolluting and renewable sources of energy we can exploit". (The News-Press, Florida,18th January 2006); "The Bush Administration has shown that bold-faced lying works like a charm. As long as they speak with " truthy " conviction, they persuade people, despite the overwhelming evidence that they are leading us down the garden path". (The Progressive, 31st January 2006).
Background: The word truthiness was first brought into the public eye in October 2005 by US comedian Stephen Colbert, who featured the term in his satirical news commentary programme The Colbert Report. Though Colbert exploited the non-intellectual, "made-up" character of truthiness for humorous effect, the word was not his own invention and in fact dates back as far as the 1800s. The Oxford English Dictionary contains an entry for the adjective truthy, which is defined as "characterised by the truth" and includes the derivation truthiness. Truthy and truthiness were originally used as straightforward variants of truthful and truthfulness. Though Colbertcan’t be credited with inventing the word, he is certainly responsible for re-introducing truthiness and truthy into 21st century English, giving them a new, ironic meaning. On 6th January 2006, in its 16th annual vote on new or significant English words, the American Dialect Society declared the word truthiness as overall winner, giving it the esteemed title Word of the Year for 2005. So just why, amongst a range of more obviously topical or popular candidates such as podcast, Sudoku or rendition, did a dark horse like truthiness claim the crown? The answer seems to be that truthiness, which refers to the quality of preferring concepts or facts that you wish to be true, rather than concepts or facts that you know to be true, somehow embodies the zeitgeist of recent years, conveniently placing itself somewhere between the actual truth and the conviction of belief or opinion.
Truthiness is a very useful concept in today’s society because the truth is often inconvenient or simply boring. Truthiness has therefore been quickly associated with political spin and fabrication in general. Soon after the announcement by the American Dialect Society, a controversy surrounding a best-selling book entitled A Million Little Pieces, by author and convicted criminal James Frey, acted as a catalyst in truthiness ’smore widespread recognition and potential survival.It was claimed that the book, dealing with Frey’sdrug addiction and criminal activities, was filled with fabrications and lies. In a widely publicised interview on the The Oprah Winfrey Show, Frey was confronted about how far his memoirs constituted truthiness rather than actual truth.
EXERCISE 8. Translate the sentences due to the meanings of the words mentioned.
1. Asbo (also ASBO – anti-social behaviour order): a civil order aiming to protect the community from a named individual who has allegedly caused major disturbance to others through vandalism, drunkenness, etc. "I am at a loss to understand the concern over the implementation of Asbos … Why is it wrong for someone who persistently and wilfully behaves to the distress of others to be sent to prison …?" (The Guardian, 30th December 2004).
2. BlackBerry (also blackberry) thumb: an injury to the thumb caused by repeatedly pressing the keypad on a BlackBerry™ handheld device
"… doctors in the UK and USA have warned that repeated use of the thumbs may cause long-term damage, giving rise to "BlackBerry Thumb". As Sean Hughes, professor of orthopaedic surgery at Imperial College London, told BBC news: "People who use them a lot could suffer from osteoarthritis…" (The Herald,14th February 2005).
3. Nanopublishing: low-cost online publishing which uses techniques based on blogging (writing weblogs) to target a specific audience (nanopublisher, nanopublished). "Nanopublishing will not replace magazine publishing or mass media. It is a new opportunity. It won’t make money for political punditry or for the diaries of college students. But it will work for gadgets and sex and special interests such as disease – imagine a great weblog for diabetics – because it is so cheap to publish". (The Guardian,30th January 2003).
4. Spim: unwanted messages and advertisements sent via instant messaging systems (spimming, spimmer) "…researchers warn that spim is growing at about three times the rate of spam, as spammers adapt their toolkit to exploit a rapidly rising number of new instant messaging (IM) users". (New Scientist,26th March 2004).
5. Gay bomb (love bomb): a chemical weapon which makes enemy soldiers sexually attracted to one another. "The Gay Bomb, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed yesterday, was a real proposal - an idea floated by Air Force researchers to render enemy troops ineffective by rendering them homosexual". (Boston Herald, 15th January 2005).
6. Pre-heritance (preheritance): financial support given by living parents to their children or grandchildren as an alternative to leaving an inheritance to them after they die "Pre-heritance" makes canny parents generous … A combination of high house prices and 40% inheritance tax is prompting the over-55s rather than leaving them an inheritance which could be subject to inheritance tax". (Citywire, 12th September 2004).
7. Timbledon: name used to refer to the Wimbledon tennis championships when the British player Tim Henman is competing. "If it’s the time of the year for Wimbledon then common sense dictates that it is "Timbledon" time again … If anyone is located anyplace near the SW19 address of the All England Lawn & Croquet Club, a.k.a. Wimbledon …, then their world will revolve around the trials and tribulations of Tim Henman …" (Teniss Reporters.net, 9th June 2005).
8. M ystery worshipper: someone who anonymously visits a church service in order to gather information about how good the service was and how welcoming people were. "GOD is watching us, so they say, but this weekend roles will reverse as a small band of mystery worshippers will sneak into churches all over London … to find out how good they actually are …".
9. Dog-whistle politics: expressing political ideas in such a way that only a specific group of voters properly understand what is being said, especially in order to conceal a controversial message. "Thatcher’s was true dog-whistle politics, a subtle signal rather than the main message". (The Observer, 24th April 2005).
10. Awareness band (awareness bracelet): a bracelet made of rubber or fabric which has a slogan written on it, sold to raise awareness of particular charitable causes. "Eighth grade students in a California school district’s health class were recently awarded top honors for raising awareness about the importance of hand hygiene with their new W.A.S.H. (Water and Soap Help) program. … They also are distributing silicone awareness bands that have been branded with proper hand washing messages". (US Newswire, 25th April 2005).
11. WAG (Wag): the wife or girlfriend of a famous professional footballer
"After a shaky but victorious start to the World Cup, the players and manager were limiting their emotions to quiet satisfaction. But the WAGs (wives and girlfriends) didn’t feel the need for such reserve. Perhaps they had convinced themselves the omens were right for their menfolk to become worldbeaters". (Daily Mail,12th June 2006).
12. Afterparty (after-party, after party): a relaxed social gathering which occurs after a party, concert, or trip to a nightclub. "Going three for eight wasn’t the only thing that Mariah Carey and Kanye West had in common on Grammy night. Both also hosted the most anticipated afterparties. Revelers had to travel to a secret location in Beverly Hills and then board shuttles to get to Mariah’s party …" (MTV News,9th February 2006).
13. Alcolock: an electronic device fitted to the ignition of a car, designed to stop a driver from starting the car if they have drunk more alcohol than the legal limit for driving. "A high-tech lock which stops drink-drivers starting their cars is to be tried … The alcolock fits onto a steering wheel and requires the driver to give a breath sample before the ignition can be turned on". (Birmingham Post, 5th March 2004)
14. Paraskevidekatriaphobia (friggatriskaidekaphobia): the irrational fear of Friday the 13th (paraskevidekatriaphobic, paraskevidekatriaphobe). "Touch wood, cross your fingers, and pop that lucky rabbit’s foot in your pocket – and there will be an almost five-to-one chance that you will not then be troubled today with paraskevidekatriaphobia – fear of Friday the 13th". (Tim Radford, The Guardian, Friday 13th June 2003).
15. Marmalade dropper BE (muffin choker AE): a piece of information, especially a newspaper article or headline, that is very shocking or exciting. "An editor I once worked for had a pet term for a story that would shock and amaze breakfast readers. "I want at least one marmalade dropper from you this week," he’d bellow. It was an apt image, reader’s marmalade plopping from their toast into their laps as they sat transfixed by some nugget of sheer unbelievability you’d managed to work into a story". (Car and Driving, 2000).
16. Trolleyology: the study of how the contents of a person’s shopping trolley show something about that person’s behaviour or personality (trolleyologist)
"I saw a really good-looking man in the supermarket recently, but I was turned off when I peered into his basket and realised it was packed with lager and frozen hamburgers. He smacked of being a slob who spent his life in front of the TV watching football. ‘It is called "trolleyology" – making judgements about people from their shopping". (The Mirror, January 1997).
17. Jump the couch: to behave in a very strange, energetic way which suggests that you are out of control. "Wales captain Gareth Thomas "jumped the couch" on the BBC following his side’s loss to England and of a coach. The only conclusion to be drawn from Alfie’s hectic demeanour was that Mike Ruddock left because he had lost the support of his senior players" (Planet Rugby, 21st March 2006).
Additional information: On 23rd May 2005, actor Tom Cruise gave a completely unexpected display of frenetic behaviour on a US talk show, and in doing so unwittingly gave birth to a new idiom in the English language, to jump the couch. When asked about his relationship with actress Katie Holmet during an interview on the Oprah Winfrey show, Cruise celebrated his new-found love for the actress by bouncing excitedly across the sofa. This bizarre physical display caused a predictable surge of media interest, and just a few weeks afterwards, the expression jump the couchbegan popping up in print all over the English-speaking world. Here was a new idiom describing the situation of suddenly behaving in such a frenetic way that you show signs of emotional instability. Editors of the four volume Historical Dictionary of American Slang chose jump the couch as the slang expression of the year for 2005. The phrase was also identified in the annual shortlist of "Words of the Year" from the American Dialect Society, which laughingly referred to a category Cruiselex: the "Best Tom-Cruise-Related Word" (also including the word Cruisazy, meaning "crazy in the manner of Tom Cruise"). Predictably, to jump the couch is an expression most commonly used to describe the behaviour of people in the public eye, especially celebrities and politicians. Episodes of celebrity exhibitionism are now even being posthumously described as someone having "jumped the couch", such as the late actor Oliver Reedappearing drunk on a UK chat show in 1986, and former Labour party leader Neil Kinnock behaving hysterically at the notorious Sheffield Rally in the week before the 1992 UK general election. The expression jump the couch, though in one sense an accurate description of Cruise’s actions, is based on an earlier idiomatic expression, jump the shark. This expression has been used since the 1990s to denote the idea of a TV show passing its peak. Once a TV show has jumped the shark, fans notice a decline in quality, especially if the show has undergone so many changes that it does not retain its original appeal. The phrase jump the shark is based on a scene in the TV series Happy Days, when the popular character Fonziejumps over a shark while on water skis. After this episode, it was alleged that subsequent episodes were never as good, and the phrase jump the shark was associated with a desperate and rather futile attempt to rekindle the popularity of a show in the face of a decline in ratings. There's even a website devoted to this phenomenon!
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