The following are a list of words and phrases that are "new," as in recently invented, or new to me, because I work from home and no longer get out that often. Perhaps these words and phrases are new to you too?
The Riff-Raff Are Naff
I don’t recall exactly when I heard it, but it must have been on or around April 1 when I encountered the word, naff, which was uttered in a BBC radio segment about April Fools jokes in the media. Should naff be new to you too, it means “lacking in style or good taste, vulgar and unfashionable,” and although I don’t remember the context of the discussion, it must have had something to do with the comedic value of media outlets running fake news stories on this joke-filled “holiday.”
Rude Comments Are One Thing, but Rude Health?
To continue with the Britishisms for a bit longer, I am not shy about my affinity for the British TV show Midsomer Murders. Not only do I love the show’s long and winding storylines, but each episode is a treasure-trove of British slang. As a case in point, the show recently introduced me to the idiom “in rude health,” which means “strong and healthy.”
Interestingly, in its example of how to use the idiom, Merriam-Webster offers, “We hope to find you in rude health when we arrive.” This is not too far from how it was used in the episode of Midsomer Murders wherein I was introduced to it. For in it, there’s a scene in which the forthright and tireless Inspector Barnaby looks upon the corpse of a notoriously rude man and says something to the effect of “… and here he is in rude health.” Oh, that Inspector Barnaby ….
How Long Has It Been Since You Touched Grass?
The kids these days. They’re so quick with the new slang for, well, just about everything. Thankfully old geezers like me have the Internet, which helps me stay somewhat in the loop and aware of what time it is. In fact, the Internet was where I encountered and learned the meaning of the phrase “touch grass.” Before I go on to tell you what it means, let me just say that, surprisingly, I kind of like this one—and sometimes feel the same way.
According to Spieltimes.com, the phrase “is used to describe the act of going outside and spending time in nature to improve one’s mental health and well-being.” However, based on the context, the phrase can also be used as something of an insult, as in, "Dude, how about you get off-line and touch grass?" Now you know.
Chatoyant-On You Crazy Diamond!
I love email newsletters. I love signing up for them and I love deleting them unread from my inbox because I’m too lazy to read them. In this particular instance, however, I did read one of the newsletters I agreed to receive for reasons I don’t quite remember—the daily missive from (supposed) marketing guru Seth Godin—and that’s where I encountered the word chatoyancy.
Chatoyancy is defined as “the quality or state of being chatoyant,” which is absolutely no help at all. However, the word chatoyant is defined as “having a changeable luster or color with an undulating narrow band of white light.” That is more helpful. So is the additional explanation of the word on Merrian-Webster.com, which includes the following: “chatoyant, a word used by jewelers to describe such lustrous gems (and by others who see the same luster elsewhere). Chatoyant derives from the present participle of chatoyer, a French verb that literally means "to shine like a cat's eyes."
Is Phrogging Just Extreme Squatting?
Among the most troubling of the new words and phrases I’ve encountered lately is phrogging. According to the website Lifehacker.com, is the practice of “living a rent-free criminal existence hiding in occupied houses.”
Holy shit, is this a real thing? Apparently it is and, apparently, it happens on occasion (at least according to this story). What’s important to know, from a criminological taxonomy perspective, is that, as is noted in the article, “Phrogs aren’t squatters. You squat in an unused house. Phrogs are not common thieves—those are all too real.” (So, no, phrogging isn’t just extreme squatting.) The other thing to note is:
Supposedly, there is an underground community of phroggers out there who don’t draw enough attention to themselves to be the subject of news stories. They are said to congregate on dark web message boards where they share tips for successfully avoiding detection in strangers’ homes, and even post videos of homeowners sleeping for bragging rights.
The last and perhaps most important thing to note is that, if you think you have a ghost in your house, it might really be a phrog. Again, as stated in the article, "Many news stories of phrogging report that residents at first thought their house was haunted. But ghosts aren’t real, so don’t hire a priest of a shaman to cleanse your house—burning sage and sprinkling holy water doesn’t work on phrogs."
Pelé Now Means Exceptional
Okay, I know who Pelé is, so the word, which is also his nickname, is not exactly new to me. Nevertheless, in a fantastic example of how language evolves, National Public Radio recently discussed how this moniker for one of soccer's greatest players has now, thanks to The Michaelis Dictionary, one of Brazil's most popular, become a synonym for being the best at something.
Pelé died in 2022 at the age of 82. Since then, the article explains, “a Brazilian charity established to further Pelé's legacy had been leading the campaign to get the term added to the dictionary. With help from the sports channel SporTV and Pelé's former team, Santos, the Pelé Foundation gathered more than 125,000 petition signatures to push for the formal entry.” Clearly, that campaign was successful … and now I think I’m going to cry.
Dramaturgically. It’s a Word!
I don't watch the show Succession. That might make me some sort of philistine, but … whatever. Anyway, apparently, one of the actors in that show, Jeremy Strong, recently used the word dramaturgically in an interview and people on the Internet went nuts, or so Yahoo News tells me.
According to this article, “fans found his rather erudite word choice amusing, while others were left bewildered, wondering if it was a real word.” Well, a few days later, the hip folks at Merriam Webster took to their Twitter account to tell the world (or at least the part of it that pays attention to this sort of nonsense … which apparently includes me because I’m writing this) that, yes Virginia, dramaturgically is a word.
I’m gonna be honest, I haven’t heard that word, which is why I’ve decided to include it here. That’s why this newsletter is called Live and Learn.
The “Twilight Zone” in the Ocean
You may be unaware of it, but the twilight zone in Earth’s ocean is suffering the negative effects of climate change.
Wait, you didn’t know the ocean had a twilight zone? Me neither. First, I thought the twilight zone was a television show and, second, I imagine the reception under water is just awful. But I kid the ocean, seriously.... You may not be familiar with the marine “twilight zone” because that’s not it’s real name. The real name for this part of the ocean “located between 656 feet and 3,280 feet (200 meters to 1,000 meters) below the surface” is the mesopelagic zone (now you see why folks have begun using twilight zone), and it's “home to billions of metric tons of organic matter and some of Earth's most stunning biodiversity, despite being beyond the reach of sunlight.”
The term mesopelagic, in case you’re wondering, comes from meso-, a combining form meaning middle, and pelagic, a biological term that the Penguin Dictionary of Biology defines as, “Inhabiting the mass of water of lake or sea, in contrast to the lake or sea bottom.”
Anyway, according to new research, “the climate crisis could reduce life in the twilight zone between 20% and 40% by the end of the century.” You may not care, but you should. After all, as the saying goes, “When the ocean dies, we die.”
You’ve Been Ghosted, but Have You Been “Zombied”?
Surely, you’re familiar with the term ghosted, which refers to a person who suddenly ignores you and acts like you don’t exist (either in person or online) after you’ve had several conversations or even some sort of relationship with them. We’ll, courtesy of this article from Fox5 New York, I now know that a person can also be zombied, which is the name for what happens when the person who ghosted you suddenly comes back into your life.
I know … I’m having a hard time keeping up with all these stupid relationship terms too.
Like, Literally Intensifying the Language
Above, I mentioned how the inclusion of Pelé in the Michaelis Dictionary was a nice example of how language evolves. Well, according to this article from public radio station WBUR, so is the word literally. Yeah, I know, literally, like, literally isn’t a new word. Yet, according to University of Nevada, Reno linguist Valerie Fridland, the way we’re using it is new.
“Literally is now used as an intensifier, [it is a] word like completely or horribly that [amplifies] what someone is trying to say,” she said.
Okay, I can accept that. But why does the use of literally as an intensifier literally drive people crazy? The answer, Fridland says, is that we’re witnessing (or maybe hearing) the language change before our ears—and we’re not comfortable with it yet.
The word very, for example, meant true or actual in old English but has since been semantically bleached, or removed from its original meaning,” she said. “We don't remember when that happened. So [very] doesn't bother us. Literally is still in the process of doing that. And that's why it bothers us.
Brain Rot
The word is in from PC World and it is not good: all that doom scrolling you’re doing at night before you go to bed is giving you brain rot. No, I’m not making this up. According to an article published April 14, 2023, on the PC World website, doom scrolling—the act of endlessly scrolling through social media feeds and news websites in search of negative or distressing information—may be giving you “brain rot.” Doom scrolling is not a new term, although I was unaware that some would confine it to social media (my doom scrolling takes place on Google News). Brain rot, however, took my by surprise. But wait, before you run to your medical dictionary of choice, you should be aware that, at least according to this article, brain rot “is not a medical or scientific term.”
“Brain rot” … [is] a slang term that can be used in a variety of ways depending on the context of the situation. In a more general sense, brain rot refers to the feeling of mental fog or confusion after prolonged drug use or lack of sleep, or a feeling of mental or emotional decline or decay, often associated with stress, anxiety, or depression. These conditions can affect brain function and structure, causing symptoms like cognitive impairment and reduced creativity and productivity.
So how does doom scrolling lead to brain rot? Well, you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to figure this out ... or maybe you do. In essence, doom scrolling tickles the brain’s “reward system,” which is invigorated by the act and anticipation of getting new information, even if that information is ultimately negative. Over time, the brain gets accustomed to these negative messages wrapped in positive stimuli’s clothing, which is precisely the kind of information that the algorithms directing content to your social media and news feeds run on, and the result of all that toxicity and ugliness can “harm mental health by boosting anxiety, stress, hopelessness, and depression,” which in turn can “disrupt sleep patterns and lead to emotional exhaustion.” Brain rot—that mental fog or confusion after prolonged drug use or lack of sleep, or that feeling of mental or emotional decline or decay--is an outgrowth of these conditions.
And how does one avoid this all too modern condition? Naturally, the good people at PC World have some ideas but, not surprisingly, they just can seem to tell you put down your phone or get away from social media. Thus, let me be the one to propose such remedies.
Ambient Gaslighting
There’s a high probability you’re familiar with the term gaslighting, which refers to the practice of trying to make someone else question his or her reality. (in fact, as I noted in issue #4 of The Butter Lamb News, gaslighting was Merriam-Webster’s 2022 word of the year. Well, now there’s ambient gaslighting, which according to an article from USA Today, refers to “the subtle undercurrents of mistreatment or disrespect that we experience in small doses and may not realize are a form of gaslighting.” The article goes on to explain:
It could be as simple as a passive-aggressive communication style you encounter frequently from someone in your life, or it could look like a boss who employs a leadership style that makes your team fearful to speak up. It could even refer to imbalanced news or deceiving advertising we encounter when we scroll on our phones.
Got that? Good, now please explain it to me.
But seriously, if I understand this correctly, gaslighting is when someone says something to you directly that makes you question your reality (or at the very least, the legitimacy of your feelings). Ambient gaslighting, then, is gaslighting that occurs indirectly. I’m not sure I’m on-board. But then, maybe that’s okay. As noted in the article (and I find this somewhat surprising) ambient gaslighting isn’t really a thing. The person quoted in the article, “Physician psychiatrist Dr. Grant Brenner,” is identified as the person who’s “trying to coin the term.” If I didn’t know any better, I’d say USA Today is trying to gaslight me into believing ambient gaslighting is a thing.
Juice Jacking
In addition to COVID-19, ticks, phishing, ChatGPT stealing your job, and inflation, the new thing we’re supposed to be afraid of, at least according to National Public Radio (and several news outlets) is “juice jacking.” What the fuck is juice jacking, you may be asking? Well, it’s not orange juice spiked with steroids. No ma’am. Juice Jacking is “a portable charger or a charger [left] in public that will charge your phone or mobile device, but also install malware on or steal your data.” According to cybersecurity expert Jim Stickley who is quoted in the NPR story, “building fake charging stations is pretty easy” and the practice “is becoming more prevalent, possibly due to the increase in travel now that the COVID-19 restrictions have mostly been lifted.”
Are you fucking kidding me? Is this really a problem? Is this really something we need to be worried about? Is this really something that needs to take up space in our brains? Before I answer that, I shouldn’t be so hard on NPR. After all, they’re just reporting the news. The primary source of this is the Denver office of the FBI, which issued an advisory on April 6 that told people to: “Avoid using free charging stations in airports, hotels or shopping centers. Bad actors have figured out ways to use public USB ports to introduce malware and monitoring software onto devices. Carry your own charger and USB cord and use an electrical outlet instead.” Okay, so how much of a “threat” is juice jacking? Well, I don’t know enough about it to tell you to avoid the FBI’s warning. What I can tell you is that, according to Snopes.com, juice jacking may not be the worry NPR makes it out to be. As reported on the website krebsonsecurity.com:
An FCC spokesperson told Snopes that the commission wanted to make sure that their advisory on “juice-jacking,” first issued in 2019 and later updated in 2021, was up-to-date so as to ensure ‘the consumers have the most up-to-date information.’ The official, who requested anonymity, added that they had not seen any rise in instances of consumer complaints about juice-jacking.
Ticks, on the other hand, are definitely something to worry about.
Comments