Keeping Up with Words

One of the ways older folk are perceived as irrelevant is by not keeping up with current language.  It’s tough, slang just seems to be growing by the moment.  though.  Merriam-Webster just added 1000 new words to their dictionary.  One-thousand!  While that’s great for Scrabble players, it means hundreds of new words I should at least look at so as not to be out of date or out of touch.

So here is my listicle of ten of my favorites:

  1.   Snollygoster  (n):  A politician who cares more about personal advantage than serving the people (isn’t that all of them?)
  2.  Woo-woo   (adj):  dubiously or outlandishly mystical, supernatural, or unscientific
  3.  Thoughtscape  (n):    A landscape of ideas
  4.  Side-eye (v):  A sidelong glance expressing contempt
  5.  Face-palm  (v):  to cover one’s face with the hand as an expression of embarrassment, dismay or exasperation
  6.  Ghost (v):  To abruptly cut off all contact with a person
  7.  Listicle (n):  an article consisting of a series of items presented as a list.
  8.  NSFW (abbr): Not safe for work; not suitable for work- used to warn someone that a website, email attachment is not suitable for viewing at most places of employment
  9.   Weak sauce (n):  Something inferior, ineffective or unimpressive
  10.   Throw shade (v):  To express contempt

This is one case when FOMO (fear of missing out – a word from last year) can be helpful.  Jump in and keep up to date with the language.

Is there a word or phrase that confuses you?

As always,

Beth

 

Comments

  1. AJ Sefton says:

    Good list. Some I know and use, but some are completely alien to me. There is the fear that if an older person uses too many trendy words they are accused of trying to ‘get down with the kids’

    I try to stick to Medieval ones, especially insults 😉

    1. Beth says:

      Oh I so agree. However, even if I’m not going to use them so I won’t look old, I have to know what they mean so I won’t look old. This aging thing is tricky.
      Beth

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