Submissions
for the yearly neologism contest, in which readers are
asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.{
A neologism
is a word, term, or phrase that has been recently
created (or "coined"), often to apply to new concepts,
to synthesize pre-existing concepts
The
winners are:
1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight
you have gained.
3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a
flat stomach.
4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while
drunk.
5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.
6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you
absentmindedly answer
the door in your nightgown.
7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle
(n.), olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up
after you are run over
by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
11. Te sticle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing
adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation
with Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism (n.),(back by popular demand): The
belief that, when you
die, your soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck
there.
16. Circumvent (n.), an opening in the front of boxer
shorts worn by Jewish
men.
17. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed
just after you've
accidentally walked through a spider web.
The Washington Post's Style
Invitational also asked readers to take any word
from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or
changing one letter,
and? supply a new definition.
Here are this year's winners:
1. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people
that stops bright
ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortu n
ately, shows little sign of
breaking down in the near future.
2. Foreploy (v): Any misrepresentation about yourself
for the purpose of
getting laid.
3. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which
renders the subject
financially impotent for an indefinite period.
4. Giraffiti (n): Vandalism spray-painted very, very
high.
5. Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of
sarcastic wit and the person
who doesn't get it.
6. Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you
are running late.
7. Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness.
8. Osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease. (This one
got extra credit.)
9. Karmageddon (n): its like, when everybody is sending
off all these really
bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and
it's like, a serious
bummer.
10 Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through
the day consuming
only things that are good for you.
11. Glibido (v): Al l talk and no action.
12. Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to
seem smarter when
they come at you rapidly.
13. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that
gets into your
bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
16. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding
half a grub in the
fruit you're eating.
And the pick of the literature:
17. Ignoranus (n): A person who's both stupid and an
asshole.