New English Words

Adam   Monday, March 29, 2004, 17:47 GMT
1) Blamestorming (noun) A group discussion regarding the assigning of responsibility for a failure or mistake.

Origin: 1990's - on the pattern of brainstorming.

2) Blonde moment (noun) An instance of being silly or scatterbrained.

Origin: 1990's - from the stereotypical perception as blonde-haired women as unintelligent.

3) Cyberslacker (noun) A person who uses their employer's Internet and email facilities for personal activities during work hours.

4) Google (verb) To search for the name of someone on the Internet to find out information about them.

5) Joined-up (adjective) Of handwriting, written with the characters joined; cursive; (especially of a policy) characterised by coordination and coherence of thought; integrated.

6) Ka-ching (also ker-ching) (noun) Used to represent the sound of a cash register, especially with reference to making money.

7) Mission creep (noun) A gradual shift in objectives during the course of a military campaign, often resulting in an unplanned, long-term commitment.

8) Muggle (noun) A person who is not conversant with a particular activity or skill: she's a muggle: no IT background, understanding, or aptitude at all.

Origin: 1990's - used in the Harry Potter books by JK Rowling to mean "a person without magical powers."

9) Noughties (plural noun) the decade from 2000 to 2009

Origin: 1990's - from "nought", on the pattern of twenties, thirties, etc.

10) Thinko (noun) A mistake in one's thought processes; a mental lapse or failure to reason correctly.

Origin: 1990's - formed on the pattern of TYPO.
Boy   Tuesday, March 30, 2004, 05:22 GMT
1)Sex up (Phr v)/ Sexed up (adj) = to make changes to something, especially a piece of writing, in order to make it seem more significant, exciting or interesting than it originally was


‘In the greatest scandal to threaten the free world yet, it appears that the BBC may have sexed up the reporting of its allegations that the Government “sexed up” its Iraq report last September. But this interpretation may itself be a sexing up of the situation.’
(The Times, 28th June 2003)


p.s: This is my favorite word nowadays.