|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The speed with which words are making their way into dictionaries, editors will soon find that theirs is a high-risk profession. If it is not the neologism-a-minute culture, it is the lists of taboo words in different areas or the words that are left out of a new edition that are all ready to pulverise the hapless editor. The lexis reflects the world, which is a blur of dynamics at any given time and today’s set of neologisms reflects the world in every way. This is the age of bling-bling. This is the expression that was first coined to describe the shiny jewellery that rap stars wear. It is today used for expensive or gaudy jewellery worn in excessive amounts or a flashy or tasteless display of wealth. Beginning life as one word, bling-bling is now the metaphor for a life of gaudy ostentatiousness. A bacronym is a reverse acronym; it is a regular word that also doubles as an acronym, incidentally creating more new words. For example, the arrival of coeducation at St. Paul’s in 1971 inspired the verb ‘to scope,’ derived from telescope, and led to the derived noun scoper, meaning ‘one who appreciatively ogles the opposite sex.’ From this process has arisen an unofficial organisation named SCOPERS, a reverse acronym, or bacronym, for ‘Students Concentrating On the Palatable Extremities of the Reciprocal Sex’. Candy is not to be found in
confectionaries alone. Thumb candy is available everywhere, even in the
most unlikely of places because it is a computer game that’s mainly
all hand-eye coordination, with little strategy or thought required. As
if this candy is not enough, there is arm candy, along the lines of the
earlier eye candy. Arm candy is an extremely beautiful person who
accompanies a member of the opposite sex to a party or event, but is not
romantically involved with that person. This neologism promises to spawn
more such words, as in the air is another such new word — ‘room
candy’ a similarly attractive young thing who is invited to receptions
or parties for decorative purposes. |
