While the television show The Soup brings you “the strange, obscure and totally unbelievable moments in pop culture, celebrity news and reality TV,” Word Soup brings you those strange, obscure, unbelievable (and sometimes NSFW) words from talk shows, sitcoms, dramas, and just about anything else on TV.

break bad

Fogle: “If I ever break bad, I will keep that in mind.”

“Harlan Roulette,” Justified, January 31, 2012

Break bad is an American Southern colloquialism that means “to turn toward a life of crime or immoral activity,” as well as, according to The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English by Tom Dalzell & Eric Partridge, “to act in a threatening, menacing manner.” Breaking Bad is a popular television show about a chemistry teacher who becomes a violent drug dealer.

cam-pleasure

Bobby Newport: “I don’t know why they call it a campaign, because up until now it’s been a cam-pleasure.”

“Campaign Ad,” Parks and Recreation, January 19, 2012

Cam-pleasure is a blend of cam from campaign and pleasure. Campaign comes from the Latin campania, “level country,” and originally meant “the operations of an army during one season, or in a definite enterprise.” Pleasure plays on -paign of campaign, a pun for pain, or the opposite of pleasure.

Thanks to Fritinancy for pointing this out.

dick-fu

Jon Stewart: “Romney has no idea who he’s dealing with. He can’t be a dick to Gingrich. He’s a master of dick-fu.”

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, January 24, 2012

Dick-fu is a blend of dick and kung fu. One well-versed in dick-fu is awesome at being a dick, or “a person, especially a man, regarded as mean or contemptible.”

Fae

Bo: “Now for the million dollar question: What kind of Fae am I?”

“It’s a Fae, Fae, Fae, Fae World,” Lost Girl, September 12, 2010

Faes are mythical creatures that co-exist with humans. Some types of Fae include succubi, werewolves, Furies, and dullahans. The word Fae comes from faerie, an archaic spelling of fairy, which comes from the Latin fata, “the Fates,” which are “supernatural beings who controlled the destiny of men and of the gods.”

Fuchsbau

Eddie [to Nick]: “By the way, he’s Fuchsbau. So count your fingers after you shake hands.”

“Organ Grinder,” Grimm, February 3, 2012

A Fuchsbau is a fox-like creature that can assume human form. Fuchsbau translates from the German as “fox’s den.”

gadje

Timo: “I’m beginning to think what they say about you is true. That you’re only half-Romani. Your father wasn’t gypsy. Some people say that makes you gadje.”

“A Cinderella Story,” The Finder, January 26, 2012

A gadje or gadjo is “used as a disparaging term for one who is not Gypsy,” or Romani, “a nomadic people, with origins in India,” as well as the name of their language. Gadje is Romani in origin and may come from “the proto-Romani word for ‘peasant’ and has the same root as the Romani word ‘gav’ (a village).” The Romani ancestors were “nomadic musicians and craftspeople” and “did not live in villages.”

Galentine’s Day

Leslie: “February 14th, Valentine’s Day, is about romance. But February 13th, Galentine’s Day, is about celebrating lady friends.”

“Operation Ann,” Parks and Recreation, February 2, 2012

Galentine’s Day is a blend of gal (an alteration of girl) and Valentine’s Day (which is named for Valentinus, “the name of two early Italian saints”), and is a faux gender-centric holiday. See also Dudesgiving.

gallenblase

Eddie: “Maybe a little gallenblase. It’s fresh, isn’t it?”

“Organ Grinder,” Grimm, February 3, 2012

Gallenblase is German for gall bladder, and in this context refers to human gall bladder which non-human creatures use as an aphrodisiac.

Geier

Nick [reading]: “Geiers have an innate ability to move through trees, staying above their victims who walk beneath them, unaware. Geiers are the most vile of all. They harvest human organs while their victims are still alive, seeming to take pleasure in the savage pain they cause.”

“Organ Grinder,” Grimm, February 3, 2012

Geier translates from the German as “vulture.” While Geiers roost in trees much like vultures, they prey on the living while vultures primarily feed on carrion, “the dead and putrefying body or flesh of animals.”

get one’s ticket punched

Billy Gardell: “Twenty-two years on the road, and twenty-five with that three you gotta start and suck for three years. And then I got my ticket punched last year.”

Andy Richter: “Usually ‘ticket punched’ means you got murdered.”

Conan O’Brien: “Or success in the industry.”

The Conan O’Brien Show, January 20, 2012

To punch someone’s ticket means “to kill someone,” and is presumably based on the idea of a train conductor punching one’s ticket so that it cannot be used again. Thus, to get one’s ticket punched means to be killed. To punch someone’s ticket also means “to have sex with someone.”

go all Daniel Larusso

Santana: “You may look like the villain out of a cheesy high school movie, but you should know I am prepared to go all Daniel Larusso on your ass.”

“Michael,” Glee, January 31, 2012

Daniel Larusso refers to titular character in the film, The Karate Kid, in which a bullied teen learns martial arts and defeats the school villain. This is yet another instance of anthimeria, “the use of a word from one word class or part of speech as if it were from another,” especially “the use of a noun as if it were a verb.” See Krav Maga: “[Dr. Magnus] and her friend went all Krav Maga on my men.”

Lausenschlange

Nick [reading]: “After two days of waiting in Vienna, I confronted the Lausenschlange in a dark alley. . . .I sliced open his belly exposing the horrid contents of the missing children.”

“Of Mouse and Man,” Grimm, January 20, 2012

The Lausenschlange is a predatory snake-like creature that can take on human form. The word seems to come from the German laus, “louse, and schlange, “snake.” Snake is also slang for “a treacherous person.” The Lausenschlange in this episode is an attorney.

Mausherz

Eddie: “Let me tell you, what you don’t want to do is a leave a Lausenschlange alone with a Maushertz. That’s a recipe for dessert.”

“Of Mouse and Man,” Grimm, January 20, 2012

The Mausherz is a timid mouse-like creature that can take on human form, and when threatened, scurries to its “safe place.” Mausherz translates from the German as “mouse heart.” To be mousy means to be “quiet; timid; shy.” To be lion-hearted means to be “brave and magnanimous.”

nooner

Liz: “Now I’m heading home for a nooner, which is what I call having pancakes for lunch.”

“Idiots Are People Two,” 30 Rock, January 19, 2012

A nooner, according to Jonathan Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang, originally referred to “a midday alcoholic drink,” and in the 1970s came to mean “sexual intercourse, often adulterous, enjoyed at lunchtime.” Both meanings imply something illicit and forbidden, which to Liz means having a breakfast food for lunch.

progressive

Patient [to House]: “Sheldon’s a progressive. . .Progressives are reenactors who strive for complete authenticity. They never drop character while in uniform.”

“Runaways,” House, January 31, 2012

A progressive is a hard-core Civil War reenactor, who tries “to live, as much as possible, as someone of the 1860s might have.” The word progressive may come from the idea that these reenactors are always trying to progress “in their knowledge and other aspects of the mid-19th century.” The opposite of a progressive is a farb, which may come from the German word Farbe, “color,” with the idea that “inauthentic reenactors were over-colorful compared with the dull blues, greys or browns of the real Civil War uniforms.”

rochambeau

Beckett [to Castle]: “No rochambeau?”

Castle: “I think that would put you at an unfair advantage. I’m pretty good at it.”

“An Embarrassment of Bitches,” Castle, January 24, 2012

Rochambeau, also spelled roshambo, refers to the game Rock Paper Scissors. The name seems to come from a French count.

see the elephant

Civil War reenacter: “We swore that we would see the elephant together.”

“Runaways,” House, January 31, 2012

To see the elephant means to “be acquainted with life, gain knowledge by experience” and is an American colloquialism from 1835. The origin is obscure. One possibility comes from the idea that for “most Americans, the only chance to see exotic animals [like an elephant] was by” traveling circuses or menageries.

shucking

Fury: “I didn’t even know he was shucking around.”

Bo: “Shucking?”

Fury: “Having sex with a human.”

“Faetal Attraction,” Lost Girl, October 3, 2010

Shucking, like frak, is a constructed expletive, or a made-up curse word. The word shucking echoes the word fucking, but may also play on the idea of shucking an oyster or clam, implying that, to a Fae, a human is the equivalent of an invertebrate. To shuck also means “to cast off,” and as a noun, “something worthless.”

See our special all science fiction TV Word Soup for even more constructed expletives and slang.

soon-to-have

Governor Mitch Daniels: “We do not accept that ours will ever be a nation of haves and have-nots. We must always be a nation of haves and soon-to-haves.”

John Hodgman: “We have-nows are creating an exclusive world of luxury and privilege for the soon-to-haves to have. . .soon.”

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, February 2, 2012

The haves refer to “the wealthy or privileged,” while the have nots refer to “the poor or underprivileged.” According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the earliest citation seems to be from 1742 in a translation of Don Quixote: “There are but two families in the world, as my grandmother used to say; ‘the Have’s and the Have-not’s,’ and she stuck to the former.”

The soon-to-have idea implies that it’s only a matter of time for the very poor to become wealthy or privileged, of which Jon Stewart says, “This soon-to-haves idea that 100% of the people will get to be in the 1% is mathematically impossible.”

stalkerazzi

Castle: “He was outside Kay’s place with the rest of the paparazzi.”

Esposito: “The guy’s a full-on stalkerazzi. Harrassment, tresspassing, even B&E.”

“An Embarrassment of Bitches,” Castle, January 24, 2012

Stalkerazzi is a blend of stalker and paparazzi, which is plural for paparazzo, “a freelance photographer who sells photographs of celebrities to the media, especially one who pursues celebrities and attempts to obtain candid photographs.” Stalk comes from the Old English -stealcian, “to move stealthily,” while paparazzo is named for Signor Paparazzo, a freelance photographer in in La Dolce Vita, a film by Federico Fellini.

subordi-friend

Criss: “I don’t understand your relationship with Liz.”

Jack: “She’s my subordi-friend.”

“Idiots Are People Three,” 30 Rock, January 26, 2012

Subordi-friend is a blend of subordinate and friend. Other faux-friend words include frenemy, backfriend, fremesis, and bronemy.

wheelhouse

Jenna: “Getting paid to help a boy become a man – it’s kinda my wheelhouse.”

“Today You Are a Man,” 30 Rock, February 2, 2012

Wheelhouse in this context is baseball slang for “a hitter’s power zone.” According to the Word Detective, this sense of the word has been in use since 1950s, and most likely comes from “the locomotive turntable ‘wheelhouse’ (often called a ’roundhouse’),” which likens “the awesome swing of the rail yard turntable to the batter’s powerful swing,” as well as “that sweeping side-arm pitches have been known as ’roundhouse’ pitches since about 1910.” See also Fritnancy’s post.

That’s it for this week! Remember, if you see any Word Soup-worthy words, let us know on Twitter with the hashtag #wordsoup. Your word and Twitter handle might appear right here!

Here are our favorites from last week:

Thanks to everyone for playing! You’ll have another chance this week to perfect your word of the day perfect tweets. To get the word of the day, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or subscribe via email.

Now it’s your turn. For the month of February, nominate your favorite list to be a List of the Day. This can be your own list or someone else’s. You can also nominate as many lists as you want. If we pick your list, you’ll get a Wordnik T-shirt.

Here’s what we need from you:

• The link to your list
• Your Wordnik username
• Your T-shirt size (Men’s S, M, L, XL, 2 XL) (Women’s S, M, L)

You can put the info in the comments of this post or email it to wordnik@feedback.com with the subject line, “List of the Day nominee.”

Have yet to make a list? First you’ll want to signup for a user account (don’t worry, it’s free), after which just click on your user name in the top right hand corner. From the drop down menu, click New List. Then start adding away!

Here’s even more info on lists, a whole bunch of lists at once, and the Community page which has the newest lists.

We look forward to seeing your nominations!

While some of you will be rooting for one team or the other this Sunday, what we’re excited about are the ads, and those funny, interesting, and ridiculous words associated with those ads. To celebrate, we’ve rounded up some words from Super Bowl ads of the past.

1984

Announcer: “On January 24, Apple computer will introduce Macintosh, and you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like 1984.”

“1984,” Apple Macintosh, 1984

1984 refers to George Orwell’s dystopian novel of the same name, which takes place in “a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, and incessant public mind control.” Citizens “are subordinated to the totalitarian cult of personality of Big Brother, the deified Party leader who rules with a philosophy that decries individuality and reason as thoughtcrimes.” In contrast, the Macintosh symbolizes freedom, independent-thinking, and individualism, ironic today considering the proliferation of Apple products and the cult of personality around Steve Jobs.

In 2007, a controversial internet ad mashed up the original Apple commercial with a speech from Hilary Clinton, casting Clinton as Big Brother.

cat herder

Cowboy: “Being a cat herder is probably about the toughest thing I think I’ve ever done.”

“Cat Herders,” Electronic Data Systems, 2000

Herding cats “refers to an attempt to control or organize a class of entities which are uncontrollable or chaotic,” and “implies a task that is extremely difficult or impossible to do, primarily due to chaotic factors.” The term may have originated in the technology industry in the mid 1980s. “Managing senior programmers is like herding cats.”

connectile dysfunction

Announcer: “You know the feeling. You can’t take care of business the way others do. It’s called connectile dysfunction, a condition caused by inadequate broadband coverage.”

“Connectile Dysfunction,” Sprint, 2007

Connectile dysfunction plays on the medical term, erectile dysfunction, “the inability of a man to obtain or sustain an erection.”

creamed

Joe Namath: “I’m so excited. I’m gonna get creamed!”

“Joe Namath and Farrah Fawcett,” Noxzema, 1973

The word creamed here has a double-meaning: “badly beaten; lost by a considerable margin” and having cream applied to one’s person.

drinkability

Woman: “I do get a hint of drinkability right away.”
Man: “Does my pen have writability?”

“Meeting,” Budweiser, 2009

Drinkability is “the extent to which something is drinkable,” and prior to this Budweiser campaign may have referred mainly to wine. The ad campaign may poke fun at wine tasting and formal terms such as drinkability and ageability, or aging potential.

fandemonium

Announcer: “Monster.com and the NFL are searching for a fan amongst fans to become a part of NFL history. The director of fandemonium will announce the pick at the NFL draft.”

“Director of Fandemonium,” Monster.com, 2009

Fandemonium is a blend of fan and pandemonium, and refers to the “wild uproar or noise” created by fans. Fan may be a shortening of fanatic, “a person affected by zeal or enthusiasm, particularly on religious subjects,” which ultimately comes from the Latin fanum, “temple.” But the word fan may also be influenced by the fancy, “all of a class who exhibit and cultivate any peculiar taste or fancy,” especially for prize fighting, and is attested by 1735.

Pandemonium comes from Pandæmonium, the capital of Hell in Paradise Lost, the epic poem by John Milton. The word contains the Greek pan, “all,” and the Latin daemonium, “demon.”

Force, the

“The Force,” Volkswagen, 2011

The Force is “a binding, metaphysical, and ubiquitous power in the fictional universe of the Star Wars galaxy created by George Lucas.” An ability of the Force is telekinesis, “movement of or motion in an object, animate or inanimate, produced without contact with the body producing the motion.” The word force comes from the Latin fortis, “strong.”

G

Man: “G to me means greatness.”

“Talking Heads,” Gatorade, 2009

Ozzy Osbourne: “Welcome to 4G!. . All aboard the 5G train!. . .How many bloody G’s are there?”

“Ozzy Osbourne and Justin Beiber,” Best Buy, 2011

In the Gatorade commercial, G has a variety of meanings that have to do with endurance and perseverance, while in the Best Buy commercial, G has no meaning. 3G and 4G referred to third or fourth generation wireless technology, but are essentially meaningless marketing terms.

magic chip

“The Magic Chip,” Doritos, 2009

magic fridge

Dude: “Guys, hurry up! The magic fridge is back!”

“The Magic Fridge,” Bud Light, 2006

These two commercials use the term magic to make ordinary things like corn chips and beer seem other-worldly and powerful, while simultaneously poking fun at this idea.

milk-a-holic

Baby Girl: “And that milk-a-holic Lindsay wasn’t over?”

“Jealous Girlfriend,” E-Trade, 2010

A milk-a-holic (a blend of milk and alcoholic) is someone who is addicted to milk. As Erin McKean stated in a Boston Globe piece, the “-holic suffix is used for any addiction” (chocoholic, shopaholic, workaholic). Actress Lindsay Lohan sued E-Trade over this ad, claiming that the baby Lindsay referred to her and her reported problems with substance abuse.

office linebacker

“Terry Tate: Office Linebacker,” Reebok, 2003

Office linebacker plays on the idea of superfluous jobs created in the name of pseudo-efficiency and faux-continuous improvement.

super human

Announcer: “Your inner hero is calling. Answer at the one place we can all feel super human again.”

“Calling All Heroes,” Universal Orlando Resort, 2009

To feel human means to feel like oneself and not part of a machine. The ad plays on this phrase by adding super, implying that the product will make one feel even more human, and therefore even better, as well as like a superhero.

tranny

Announcer: “Truckers know towing 10,000 pounds up a steep grade ain’t good for your tranny.”

“Killer Heat,” Toyota, 2009

Tranny here is short for transmission. Tranny is also short for transvestite, “a person who dresses and acts in a style or manner traditionally associated with the opposite sex.”

vroom vroom

Conan O’Brien: “Vroom vroom party starter.”

“Swedish,” Bud Light, 2009

Vroom is “the loud, roaring noise of an engine operating at high speed.” The word is imitative in origin and attests to 1967. The earliest citation we could find was February 1967, in a Boston Globe article: “When I tried a sudden ‘vroom’ up to 50, the extra speed came slowly.” The ad’s use of vroom vroom may be a play on Mazda’s zoom zoom ad campaign.

wardrobe malfunction

“I am sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the halftime performance of the Super Bowl,” Timberlake said in a statement. “It was not intentional and is regrettable.”

“NFL, FCC upset by halftime show; CBS apologizes,” USA Today, February 1, 2004

While wardrobe malfunction does not originate from an ad (though the phrase did inspire at least one commercial), we thought no post about Super Bowl words would be complete without it. The phrase was coined by Justin Timberlake’s management to describe the incident that occurred during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, in which Janet Jackson’s breast was accidentally bared. The phrase implies that no one was at fault except Jackson’s wardrobe; malfunction implies mechanical rather than human error.

The incident has also been referred to as boobgate and nipplegate. Gate refers to Watergate, “a series of scandals occurring during the Nixon administration in which members of the executive branch organized illegal political espionage against their perceived opponents and were charged with violation of the public trust, bribery, contempt of Congress, and attempted obstruction of justice.” Adding gate to a word signals a scandal or controversy.

wassup

Various dudes: “WASSUP!”

“Wassup,” Budweiser, 2006

The wassup commercials first ran in 1999 and were “based on a short film, entitled ‘True’, written and directed by Charles Stone III, that featured Stone and several of his childhood friends” sitting around “talking on the phone and saying ‘Whassup!’ to one another in a comical way.” Other versions of the commercial include “What are you doing?” for yuppies and “How you doin’?” for “Jersey guys.”

The word wassup is a corruption of the phrase what’s up. Other variations include whazzup, what up, and ‘sup. What’s up is commonly thought to have originated from the Bugs Bunny catchphrase, “What’s up, Doc?” first used in 1940. However, an earlier citation can be found O. Henry’s Sherlock Holmes parody, The Adventures of Shamrock Jolnes, in the name of a Dr. Watson send-up, Dr. Whatsup. “Sit down, Whatsup, and excuse me for a few moments.”

For all the Super Bowl ads that ever were, check out this site, and keep your eyes and ears peeled this Sunday for even more Word Soup-worthy Super Bowl ad words.

Here are our favorites from last week:

Thanks to everyone for playing! You’ll have another chance this week to perfect your word of the day perfect tweets. To get the word of the day, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or subscribe via email.

The always awesome Grammar Monkeys have nominated me, Wordnik, for a Versatile Blogger Award. The rules say I need to list seven interesting things about myself and nominate 15 other blogs. And away we go!

Here are seven things you may not know about me:

1. My birth name was Alphabeticall (yeah, I like Wordnik better too).
2. Although I was born in 2008, I’ll only be turning one next month. (Guess why.)
3. My favorite word is madeupical.
4. I only eat foods that are portmanteaus (tangelo, turducken, cherpumple, etc.).
5. I live above a bank.
6. My roommates annoy me blow off steam by playing ping pong and shooting each other with Nerf guns.
7. I’m still gunning for a “take this word and shove it” feature.

And here are 15 blogs I love (in no particular order):

• Fritinancy. From Nancy Friedman. Names, brands, writing, and the language of commerce.
• The Virtual Linguist. Susan Harvey is a linguist in Great Britain.
• Word Spy. A great resource for new words.
• Dialect Blog. Everything you ever wanted to know about accents and dialects in English.
• K International. A terrific source on all things language, especially endangered and disappearing languages.
• The Language of Food. Food, words – what’s not to love?
• Sesquiotica. Fun with all kinds of words and language.
• Throw Grammar from the Train. I was sad to see Jan Freeman’s column at the Boston Globe go, but happy that she started this blog.
• Macmillan Dictionary Blog. A wide range of topics from a variety of language experts.
• Arnold Zwicky. Amusing, fun, and informative.
• Grammarphobia. Answers common questions about grammar.
• Book Bench. The New Yorker’s literary blog.
• Lists of Note. What can I say? I love lists.
• Flavorwire. The culture blog of Flavorpill.
• PWxyz. The blog of Publishers Weekly, often includes lists of weird writerly things, such as 5 Authors Famous for Something Else, 11 Author Day Jobs, and 5 Fictional Diseases in Literature You Don’t Want to Be Real.

And the rules! Feel free to disregard.

1. In a post on your blog, nominate 15 fellow bloggers for The Versatile Blogger Award.
2. In the same post, add the Versatile Blogger Award.
3. In the same post, thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link back to their blog.
4. In the same post, share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.
5. In the same post, include this set of rules.
6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs. [Or tweeting, like I did.]

Thanks again Grammar Monkeys!

Earlier this week was Burns Night, and while we celebrated Scottish poet Robert Burns with some Scottish food words, BBC gave us some Scottish food recipes (haggis, anyone?). This week was also the Lunar New Year, which The Atlantic rang in with some gorgeous pictures, while at Language Log, Victor Mair wrote about the year of the dragon.

Mr. Mair also discussed pinyin faux amis and Google translate and Chinese. Mark Liberman explored Finnish language flowers (crash blossoms in English), snowmanteaux, the word quite, and the phrase only and only if. Geoffrey Pullum pointed out an Australian company’s right to use another phrase, nuckin futs, and was puzzled in Tarrgona about elevators and baffled in Barcelona about an airport sign. Mr. Pullum also advised politicians not to borrow from Hollywood (at least not without proper citation) when making speeches.

Mr. Liberman bemoaned the loss of the apostrophe from Waterstones, while Mr. Pullum gave his two cents and wondered if the apostrophe ever represents a sound. Stan Carey considered apostrophe apostasy and rounded up apostrophic reactions from around the web. Mr. Carey also explored new abbreviations, as did Ben Yagoda at Lingua Franca (and don’t forget Erin McKean’s piece on clipped words from October).

Macmillan Dictionary blog offered a great primer on American political discourse, while Johnson pondered mixing languages, losing certain types of British accents, and the word issue. Ben Zimmer discussed American dialects from A to Z, while at Lingua Franca, Geoff Pullum wrote about the singular they and what’s normal and what’s formal; Lucy Ferris commented on comments; and Ben Yagoda read the newspaper with a grammar geek’s eye.

Kory Stamper discussed defining obscenities, and editorial correspondence and the dictionary. Arnold Zwicky considered the word fanny, “an area ripe for trans-Atlantic misunderstanding and offense,” and the geek voice. Sesquiotica examined spoffle (as coined by actor Hugh Laurie); scattermalia, “little details passed back and forth one at a time until you lose track entirely of who said what when in response to what”; and the elusive geoduck (which by the way is not an earth duck).

The Virtual Linguist took a look at masher, “well-to-do young men who came [to the music-hall] mainly to look at the women”; women’s use of vastly and other adverbs; and the dwindling use of barrow boy stock market slang. The Word Spy spotted black-hole resort, “a resort that blocks all incoming and outgoing Internet signals”; workshifting, “using portable devices and wireless technologies to perform work wherever and whenever it is convenient”; and Eurogeddon, “an extreme European economic, political, or military crisis.”

In the week in words, Erin McKean noticed Chollima, a rather frightening North Korean version of Pegasus; neophiliac, those “who chase the new at all costs”; mouse type, “6- or 7-point type” largely used for “warnings, disclaimers and legal jargon”; and weibo, “Twitter-like microblogs” in China (“Because weibo sounds like the Mandarin word for ‘scarf,’ microblogging in China is sometimes referred to as zhi weibo, or ‘knitting a scarf’”).

Erin also collected some new words from noncelebrity neologizers, such as nukepicking, “the combination of nitpicking and blowing things out of proportion”; estiknow, “to assert that you’re 90 percent sure of something”; and technoschmerz, “the emotional pain (schmerz comes from a German word meaning ‘pain’) caused by difficult interactions with electronic gadgets or unhelpful websites.”

Fritinancy’s word of the week was grandiosity, “greatness of scope or intent; feigned or affective grandeur or pomposity; excessive use of verbal ornamentation.” Fritinancy also examined incorrect usage of the word infamous, and the anachronistic usage of the phrase to contact in period drama Downton Abbey. Dialect Blog delved into Downton Abbey’s accents, and the supposed decline of the New York accent. Editor Mark offered an updated archive of very helpful tweeted tips; Lists of Note listed William Safire’s Fumblerules of Grammar; and Mental Floss gave us Ben Franklin’s 200 synonyms for drunk.

We learned that a town in Western France has banned the word mademoiselle, arguing that “women, like men, should not be defined by their marital status”; some teen slang from British TV; the 20 biggest differences between British and American English; the unexpected inspirations behind some children’s books; and the origin of the snark.

We loved this letterheady website and the new look this artist is giving the print dictionary. We were amused by the idea of rabbles at underground Scrabble meetings, and would very much like to read this book, “a historical and cultural study of fiction fandom.”

Finally, we thoroughly enjoyed this Maurice Sendak interview (otherwise known as “Shit Maurice Sendak Says”) with Stephen Colbert. Here’s part two.

That’s it for this week! We hope you Burns Supper suppers enjoyed your haggis, tatties, and neeps, and we wish everyone a lucky and prosperous year of the dragon.

Here are our favorites from last week:

Thanks to everyone for playing! You’ll have another chance this week to perfect your word of the day perfect tweets. To get the word of the day, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or subscribe via email.

For the first course, you may start with some cockieleekie, “soup made of a cock or other fowl boiled with leeks,” or Scotch broth, “a thick soup made from beef or mutton with vegetables and pearl barley.” Afterward is the “entrance of the haggis,” at which time bagpipes (or zampognas, gaidas, cornemuses, or loures) play some music, such as a pibroch, “a wild, irregular kind of music, peculiar to the Scottish Highlands, performed upon the bagpipe.” The word pibroch comes from the Scottish Gaelic piobaireachd, “pipe music,” which ultimately comes from the Latin pipare, “to chirp or peep.”

Just so you know what you’re in for, haggis is “a dish made of a sheep’s heart, lungs, and liver, minced with suet, onions, oatmeal, salt, and pepper, and boiled in a bag, usually the stomach of a sheep.” The origin of this word is unknown. It may come the Old French agace, “magpie,” playing on the idea “of the odds and ends the bird collects,” and the odds and ends in the dish. Another possible origin is the Middle English hagese, which may be related to haggen, “to chop.” Haggen also gives us haggle, perhaps with the idea of “hacking or chopping” prices.

Haggis by tjmwatson on Flickr

[Photo: CC BY 2.0 by tjmwatson]

Along with haggis, Burns supper diners might also have some neeps, otherwise known as the rutabaga, the Swedish turnip, or the swede, and which “originated as a cross between the cabbage and the turnip.” The word neep may be a corruption of “new turnips.” Don’t forget your potatoes or tatties, which presumably comes from the -tat- of potato (see tater), or perhaps some clapshot, “a traditional Scottish dish comprised of boiled potatoes and boiled swede (or Scottish turnip) mashed together with chives.”

Haggis, Neeps and Tatties! by tjmwatson, on Flickr

[Photo: CC BY 2.0 by tjmwatson]

While the origin of the word clapshot is unknown, World Wide Words speculates it may be similar to that of the Irish dish colcannon, a dish of “mashed potatoes and cabbage, seasoned with butter,” which was “pounded together in a mortar,” and “that vegetables such as spinach were formerly pounded with a cannon-ball,” hence, the cannon of colcannon. Col is derived from cole, or cabbage (see coleslaw). Clapshot may imply the clap or loud and sudden noise of a cannonball shot.

You may end the evening with some cranachan, “a traditional Scottish dessert made with whipped cream, whisky, oatmeal, honey, and raspberries.” The word is Gaelic in origin and originally referred to a kind of churn or “beaten milk.” A similar British dessert is syllabub.

Of course no Burns Night would be complete without Scotch whisky (otherwise known as usquebaugh, Gaelic for “water of life”), whether a dram, a tappit-hen, or a quaich. Too much usquebaugh? Try the Irn-Bru, a “fizzy orange-gold drink” touted as the Scottish hangover cure, or a few rounds of the Highland Fling, “one of the oldest of the Highland dances that originated in the Gaelic Highlands of Scotland,” and an ancient Scottish cure.

According to the Porridge Lady, to prevent a hangover before a ceilidh (from the Old Irish célide, “visit”) or a gilvarage (perhaps a combination of gild and ravage), have some crowdie.

And remember: we warned you about the haggis.

While the television show The Soup brings you “the strange, obscure and totally unbelievable moments in pop culture, celebrity news and reality TV,” Word Soup brings you those strange, obscure, unbelievable (and sometimes NSFW) words from talk shows, sitcoms, dramas, and just about anything else on TV. Today we take a look at some pickup artist lingo, a few Britishisms, blah people, and more.

authorizing

Bailey: “He counters with some authorizing. He makes it seem like the last thing on his mind is hooking up. He just finds her interesting and wants to talk.”

“Till Death Do Us Part,” Castle, January 9, 2012

Authorizing is part of made-up pickup artist lingo constructed for this episode of Castle, and plays on “real” pickup artist lingo. Authorizing may have to do with the idea of being an authority and having power over women by feigning disinterest in a physical relationship.

blah

Ed Schulz: “Blah isn’t the word I heard.”
Rick Santorum: “I don’t want to make blah people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.”

The Ed Show, January 6, 2011

Some claim that Santorum said black people, which he denied: “If you look at it, what I started to say is a word and then sort of changed and it sort of — blah — came out.  And people said I said ‘black.’ I didn’t.” Mark Liberman at Language Log asserted that what Santorum said sounded more like bligh, and that perhaps Santorum “started to say ‘black’ and used the vowel in ‘lives’, as an ordinary sort of anticipatory speech error, perhaps enhanced by a sudden doubt about whether it was a good idea to bring race into the discussion.”

bronemy

Schmidt: “He’s my bronemy. My friemesis.”

“The Story of the 50,” New Girl, January 18, 2012

Bronemey is a blend of bro and enemy, and is the “bro” version of  frenemy – a blend of friend and enemy – “someone who pretends to be your friend, but is really enemy,” or someone with whom one has a love/hate relationship. Friemesis is a blend of friend and nemesis. An older term with a similar meaning is backfriend, “a false or pretended friend; a secret enemy,” which seems to have first appeared in the 15th century and is also slang for hangnail.

bug-hunter

Doc [addressing a group of prostitutes]: “Pickpockets, lushingtons, and bug-hunters will be severely dealt with.”

“God of Chaos,” Hell on Wheels, January 15, 2012

A bug-hunter is “a street thief who specializes in snatching (drunken) men’s jewellery.” Bug was once slang for “breast-pin.” See this list for even more words for thief.

butter job

Esposito: “A butter job, what’s that?”
Bailey: “It’s when you flirt with the mark’s friend.”

“Till Death Do Us Part,” Castle, January 9, 2012

Butter job is another example of pickup artist lingo constructed for this episode of Castle, and perhaps comes from the idea of buttering up the targeted woman’s friend in order to get to the woman.

city, the

Anthony Bourdain: “[Sweetings is] one of the great institutions of what’s called ‘the city,’ London’s financial district.”

“London,” The Layover, January 16, 2012

In addition to the city, some other financial district nicknames include Wall Street (New York), FiDi (San Francisco), and La Defense (Paris).

duress

Emily: “Defense lawyers use the term duress to describe the use of force, coercion, or psychological pressure exerted on a client in the commission of a crime. When duress is applied to the emotionally unstable, the result can be as violent as it is unpredictable.”

“Duress,” Revenge, January 4, 2011

Duress comes from the Latin durus, “hard,” and is related to the word endure.

ex-stalk-tion

Bailey: “Mike’s our buddy. He got involved with this crazy stalker chick. Colette something. So we staged an abduction to scare her off. You call it an ex-stalk-tion.”

“Till Death Do Us Part,” Castle, January 9, 2012

Ex-stalk-tion is a blend of the Latin prefix ex, meaning “out of, from,” stalk, and the Latin noun suffix -ion. It may also be a play on extraction, “the act of taking out.”

faffing

Chris: “I’m sorry, but the Ben Wyatt that I know – I just don’t think he’d be happy sitting here faffing around.”

“The Comeback Kid,” Parks and Recreation, January 12, 2012

To faff is British slang that means “to waste time on an unproductive activity,” and originally meant “to move violently.” According to World Wide Words, faff may have started “as a dialect word in Scotland and Northern England at the end of the eighteenth century, as a description of the wind blowing in puffs or small gusts,” and “may have been imitative of the sound of gusty wind.” Another possibility is that it was an alteration of maffle or faffle, both of which mean “to stammer.”

Special thanks to Fritinancy for pointing this out.

lushington

Doc: “Pickpockets, lushingtons, and bug-hunters will be severely dealt with.”

“God of Chaos,” Hell on Wheels, January 15, 2012

A lushington is a tippler or habitual drinker. The word may came from lush, a drunkard, which may come from “the old German word Loschen, which also means strong beer, or possibly from lush in the Irish traveller argot Shelta, which meant to eat and drink.”

pannenkoek

Anthony Bourdain: “This place supposedly is where the Beastie Boys were inspired to write the lyric ‘When I am in Holland, I eat the pannenkoeken‘ which is a lyric I’ve had tattooed on my inner thigh since the release of Super Disco Breakin’.”

“Amsterdam,” The Layover, January 3, 2012

Pannekoek (pannenkoeken is plural) is a type of large Dutch pancake which can be savory or sweet.

pop-up

Anthony Bourdain: “Pop-up means just what it sounds like: a joint that pops up anywhere it can, for a few hours or days, then moves on.”

“San Francisco,” The Layover, January 9, 2012

Pop-up in this context refers to a pop-up restaurant, a temporary restaurant which often operates “from a private home, former factory or similar and during festivals.”

rice queen

Becky [in voiceover to Mike Chang]: “No, Chang Du, I’m no rice queen.”

“Yes/No,” Glee, January 17, 2012

Rice queen usually refers to “a gay non-Asian man who is mostly attracted to East Asian men,” with rice as a disparaging yet, some may argue, reappropriated reference to East Asian culture and queen as a disparaging yet reappropriated term for a gay man. This instance of rice queen could be considered an example of cultural appropriation, “the adoption of some specific elements of one culture by a different cultural group.”

sexpionage

Beckett: “That’s espionage.”
Castle: “More like sexpionage.”

“Till Death Do Us Part,” Castle, January 9, 2012

Sexpionage is a blend of sex and espionage, and means using sex to commit espionage, “the practice of spying.”

Siegbarste

Nick: “He was big. And he has this rare genetic disorder that deadens the nerves. And abnormally dense bones.”
Eddie: “Siegbarste. Your basic ogre.”

“Game Ogre,” Grimm, January 13, 2012

Siegbarste is German in origin. Sieg translates as “victory” while barste may be a corruption of bersten, “to burst or crack.”

straw man

Nash Castor: “That’s our Democratic straw man.”

“Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson,” The Simpsons, January 8, 2012

A straw man is “a person who is set up as a cover or front for a questionable enterprise.”

tweaky

Josh: “So, there were an unusual amount of tweaky looking vampires scuffling around the doorstep last night.”

“Turn This Mother Out,” Being Human, January 16, 2012

Tweaky means having the attributes of a tweaker, slang for “a person addicted to methamphetamines.” Tweaking describes a tweaker’s behavior, which is often compulsive and repetitive, and is a a type of stereotypy. The origin of this sense of tweaking is unknown, as far as we could find, but may be imitative of twitch, tik, or twinge.  The vampires in this instance are craving blood, and as a result act like tweakers or drug addicts.

yobbery

Anthony Bourdain: “The dark side of British night life: binge drinking, drunken rickshaw tours, general yobbery.”

“London,” The Layover, January 16, 2012

Yobbery refers to behavior like that of a yob, British slang for “a rowdy, aggressive, or violent young man.” Yob is boy spelled backwards (presumably, a yob behaves in the opposite way a proper boy should) and attests to 1859.

That’s it for this week! Remember, if you see any Word Soup-worthy words, let us know on Twitter with the hashtag #wordsoup. Your word and Twitter handle might appear right here!