Think Pink Radio

The NY Times recently published some new phrases and buzz words by Grant Barrett, who is a co-host of the public radio show “A Way With Words” and a lexicographer. Some of the words are:

bacn n.
Impersonal e-mail messages that are nearly as annoying as spam but that you have chosen to receive: alerts, newsletters, automated reminders and the like. Popularized at the PodCamp conference in Pittsburgh in August.

gorno n.
A genre of movies that are gory almost to the point of being fetishistic. A blend of “gore” and “porno.”

kinnear v.
To take a candid photograph surreptitiously, especially by holding the camera low and out of the line of sight. Coined in August by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee of the Yarn Harlot blog when she attempted to take a photograph during an encounter with the actor Greg Kinnear at an airport.

make it rain v. phr.
To drop paper money on a crowd of people, especially in strip clubs, nightclubs or casinos.

vegansexual n.
A person who eats no meat, uses no animal-derived goods and prefers not to have sex with non-vegans.

Dr. Lou, please use all of the preceding words in one cohesive, intelligent sentence.

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The interesting thing about 2007’s new words and phrases on Grant Barrett’s list is my immediate gut reaction of utter annoyance.

Most of these cutesy words seem totally unnecessary and created for the sole purpose to show how clever someone is. Examples include Lolcat, a noun describing an odd or funny picture of a cat given a humorous and intentionally ungrammatical caption in large block letters on the internet. Is there really the need for a new word for this phenomena? I don’t think it’s so hard for the people into these things to email a friend, “I’ve enclosed a link some more funny cat pictures.” Vegansexual is another. It just isn’t all that onerous for those who eat no meat, use no animal-derived goods and prefer not to have sex with non-vegans just sit down with an omnivorous admirer and say, “You’re really great, but I only date other vegans. You’re a dirty animal killer”

Obviously our lives are filled with words and phrases that have been recently created or popularized. When things are commonplace or important concepts in our daily lives like Spam, Blog, or even Carbon-footprint , new words or phrases are organic and serve a purpose. I wouldn’t want to have a box in my email for “Unsolicited Penis Enlargement Ads.” On the other hand I don’t necessarily need a word for every single obscure phenomena in this culture.

Now, Stinky-Pinky, make it rain!

–Dr. Lou