Underwater? Honey, You Ain't Drowning Anymore

                                                                   

Welcome to 2013!

After hugging, kissing, and swearing at congress, the New Year brings even more delightful treats.   We’ve added lots more words to our over-sized sacrosanct dictionaries—the Merriam-Webster and Oxford for starters, but all the other ones too.

 

Slang that used to be way out there is now accepted as regular lingo though some are odd and even downright ridic, a new word short for  ridiculous.  Sound crazy?   Ever hear of vajazzle?  It’s a verb about adorning the pubic area of women with crystals, glitter, and other decorations.  Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt allegedly vajazzles all the time.

How about soul patch?   It's the small tuft of facial hair below a man’s lower lip.    And brain cramp—an instance of temporary mental confusion.   A vegetarian can develop brain cramp if he becomes a  flexitarian—one who normally eats no animal protein but occasionally includes meat or fish.

 

I never heard of earworm before—a noun that means a song or melody that keeps repeating in one’s mind.   I do it all the time.  Now it's got a name.

And here are some others:

Laymanize--to  simplify things so average person understands

Gassed—adj.—drained of energy, exhausted.  

Shovel-ready, adj.—ready to start work

Toxic—an asset that used to hold value but presently cannot be sold on the market.  Yep, I knew that already.

frape--tightly bound

And how about these:  We’ve been talking about our “bucket lists,” and now the phrase is official.   There’s Oprah’s aha moment, the f-bomb, (come on, you know what that means), a game changer, life coach, energy drink, man cave, and e-reader.  Whew!

hangry--irritable because you're hungry

A popular one is mash-up.  According to Merriam-Webster, it's a noun that happens when something is created by combining elements from two or more sources that have never been together before.  This can mean anything—a music trailer using two or more divergent rock groups, a mixed up politician, who contradicts himself from his earlier speeches, or any combo that brings another prospective.                                      

Did you ever hear about copernicium—a new chemical element, and of course, underwater too.  The latter has dominated the news these last few years because it occurs when a person owes more on a house than it’s worth.   Aha!  I got it.

So fellow readers, keep talking and posting.  You might think you’re gassed and experiencing brain cramp, but honestly, you’re shovel-ready—mashing-up phrases into brand new words.