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AMERICAN POP LANGUAGE

AMERICAN POP LANGUAGE. by Don L. F. Nilsen and Alleen Pace Nilsen. AMERICAN DIALECT SOCIETY WORDS. The American Dialect Society gives awards in the following categories: Most Useful Most Creative Most Unnecessary Most Euphemistic Most Outrageous Best Tom-Cruise-Related Word (2006)

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AMERICAN POP LANGUAGE

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  1. AMERICAN POP LANGUAGE by Don L. F. Nilsen and Alleen Pace Nilsen 28

  2. AMERICAN DIALECT SOCIETY WORDS • The American Dialect Society gives awards in the following categories: • Most Useful • Most Creative • Most Unnecessary • Most Euphemistic • Most Outrageous • Best Tom-Cruise-Related Word (2006) • Best Pluto-Related Word (2007) • Most Likely to Succeed • Least Likely to Succeed • Word of the Year 28

  3. As we discuss the runners up and the winners in each of these categories ask yourself these questions: • 1). Have I heard the word before? • 2). What does the word mean? • 3). Is the word negative or positive in connotation? • 4). What does the word show about our changing culture? 28

  4. Most Useful • RUNNERS UP: lifehack (making day-to-day behaviors more efficient), truthiness (seeing facts in terms of what you want to believe), patent troll (patent designed for lawsuits against patent infringement) • AND THE WINNER IS: podcast (i-Pod + broadcast) 28

  5. Most Creative • RUNNERS UP: pinosaur (very old pine tree), muffin top (bulge of fat hanging over low-rider jeans), flee-ancée (runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks) • AND THE WINNER IS: whale tail (thong or g-string underwear above the waistband of pants, shorts, or a skirt) 28

  6. Most Unnecessary • RUNNERS UP: man date (heterosexual men doing something together), pope-squatting (registering a domain name that is the same as that of a new pope before the pope chooses his new name) • AND THE WINNER IS: Brenifer (Britney Spears and Kevin Federline) 28

  7. Most Outrageous • RUNNERS UP: Whizzinator (realistic prosthetic penis for passing drug tests), Bumper Nutz (fake testicles hung from rear end of vehicle), Ex-Lax Option (1. nuclear option, 2. total withdrawl of troops) • AND THE WINNER IS: crotchfruit (a child or children [used by proponents of child-free public spaces]) 28

  8. Most Euphemistic • RUNNERS UP: holistic practitioner (prostitute), VBIED (Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device), holiday tree (Christmas tree), extraordinary rendition (sending prisoners oversees) • AND THE WINNER IS: internal nutrition (force-feeding a prisoner against his or her will) 28

  9. Best Tom-Cruise-Related Word (2005) • RUNNERS UP: TomKat (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes), Cruisazy (crazy like Tom Cruise) • AND THE WINNER IS: jump the couch (strange or frenetic behavior, inspired by Tom Cruise’s couch jumping on the Oprah Winfrey talk show) 28

  10. Most Likely to Succeed • RUNNERS UP: podcast (iPod + broadcast), Cyber Monday (Monday after Thanksgiving), folksonomy (taxonomy of folks) • AND THE WINNER IS: sudoku (a number puzzle with each row or column containing only one instance of each number 1-9) 28

  11. Least Likely to Succeed • RUNNERS UP: metrospiritual (cosmopolitan view of spirituality), Cruiselex (all Tom-Cruise-related words), Brangelina (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) • AND THE WINNER IS: pope-squatting 28

  12. 2005 WORD OF THE YEAR • RUNNERS UP: Cruiselex, Heck of a job (phrase by President Bush), brown-out (poor handling of an emergency), and disaster industrial complex (businesses who make a profit by providing emergency services, especially those that result in no-bid contracts) • AND THE WINNER IS: truthiness (from Stephen Colbert’s “Colbert Report”) 28

  13. SLAM DUNKS AND NO BRAINERS • In 2005, Leslie Savan published a book entitled Slam Dunks and No Brainers. • The subtitle of the book is Language in Your Life, the Media, Business, Politics, and Like, Whatever. 28

  14. OPENERS: • Hey! • What’s happenin’? • What’s up? • What’s up, Dude? • T’sup, Dawg? • ‘Sup, Bro? 28

  15. CONTINUERS • So? • Make my day. • It could happen. • No way. • Way. • Whatever. 28

  16. SOMETHING IS REPETITIOUS • Blah blah blah. • Same old, same old. • Yadda yadda yadda. 28

  17. SOMETHING IS FRUSTRATING • I hate when that happens. • I’m having a bad hair day. • What was I thinking? 28

  18. OLD SLANG STILL IN USE • Been there. Done that. • He’s history. • the bottom line • Chill out! • Go for it. • Something is hot. • to dis someone • to push someone’s buttons • under the radar • 24/7 • Do the math! • Gimme a break! 28

  19. CRITICAL REACTIONS • Excuse me! • Hello! • Duh! • Eat my shorts! • That’s so five minutes ago • You just don’t get it. • That sucks. • Yeah, Right. • WTF 28

  20. MORE CRITICAL REACTIONS • I don’t think so. • Get over it. • Not ready for Prime Time. • Signed L on forehead for (Loser) • I’m your worst nightmare. • Don’t go there! 28

  21. STILL MORE CRITICAL REACTIONS • As if… • Like… • Puh…leez • Talk to the hand, girlfriend • That blows. • And a common critical reaction to the media: • “If it Bleeds, it Leads!” 28

  22. GROUP IDENTIFIERS • bling wearers • icies (fancy jewelry) • glitterati • red states, blue states, purple states • yuppieness • special clothing, cars and hair styles 28

  23. TEXT MESSAGING SMILIES & ACRONYMS • pos (parent over shoulder) • tmi (too much information) • tldr (too long, didn’t read) • utsl (use the source, Luke) •  (funny)  (sad) • lol (laughing out loud) • lmao (laughing my ass off) • roflmao (rolling on the floor laughing my ass off) 28

  24. STRONG AFFIRMATIONS • Hua! Hua! Hua! (marines; an acronym for “Heard, Understood, Acknowledged”) • Ka-ching! • Yessss! 28

  25. SOME RECENT BUZZWORDS: • Blahger: A blogger whose message consists of “blah-blah-blah.” • Cellular Macarena: When a cellular phone rings and everyone starts reaching into his coat, pants, purse to answer it • Dixie-Chicked: To be reviled or boycotted for voicing an unpopular political sentiment 28

  26. ! • Job Spill: When work cuts into your personal time • Payroll Orphan: Someone who has lost his or her job • Up-Titling: Giving people an impressive title instead of a raise • YOYO: “You’re On Your Own” from text messaging • Mesa Tribune 10/8/2006, D9 28

  27. !!CLOSERS • It’s a no brainer. • Puhleeze. • … Not. • Throwing a hissyfit. • It’s a slam dunk. • I’m outta here! 28

  28. !!!POP CULTURE WEB SITES *AMERICAN DIALECT SOCIETY: http://americandialect.org/ Encyclopedia of 20th Century American Humor. http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/OXHUMOR.aspx *THOMAS FRIEDMAN: The World is Flat: http://www.amazon.com/World-Flat-History-Twenty-first-Century/dp/0374292884 28

  29. References # 1: Friedman, Thomas. The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. New York, NY: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2006 Gale, Steven H., ed. Encyclopedia of American Humorists. New York, NY: Garland, 1988. Inge, M. Thomas. American Humor. New York, NY: Oxford Univ Press, 1978. Inge, M. Thomas. Anything Can Happen in a Comic Strip: Centennial Reflections on an American Art Form. Jackson, MS: University of Mississippi Press, 1995. Inge, M. Thomas. Comics as Culture. Jackson, MS: Univ Press of Mississippi, 1990. 28

  30. References # 2: Inge, M. Thomas. Perspectivds on American Culture: Essays on Humor, Literature, and the Popular Arts. Cornwall, CT: Locust Hill Press, 1994. Metcalf, Allan, Wayne Glowka, Grant Barrett and David Barnhart. “Truthiness Voted 2005 Word of the Year by American Dialect Society. Press Release by the American Dialect Society, January 6, 2006. Peckham, Aaron. Urban Dictionary: Fularious Street Slang Defined. Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel, 2005. Savan, Leslie. Slam Dunks and No Brainers: Language in Your Life, the Media, Business, Politics, and Like…Whatever. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. 28

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