Another one from NYT, since I'm reading it right now. Lisa Belkin has the second part of a series on information-age neologisms that includes some good ones (mixed in with some really bad ones) contributed by readers:
Capitalia — Using only capital letters in e-mail, as if sending telegrams.
Wirenia — A hernia caused by carrying too many mobile devices on your belt.
There's also this, from Michael Levy:
"The cyberworld appropriates words from other contexts," he writes. "It started with 'widows and orphans.' And 'quarantine.' The word 'virtuoso' comes to mind. It could now mean somebody who is more comfortable in the virtual world than in the real world."
If you're as old as I am (or older, I guess), you may remember Rich Hall's "Sniglets" segments on HBO (this is way back—when HBO was about the only pay cable channel available). As further evidence of my advanced age, I was confused when I read Levy's mention of "widows and orphans," because to me the terms refer to single lines at the bottom of a printed page or at the top of the next page (something good layout artists tried to avoid in the world of print).
Posted by johndanseven at April 24, 2006 12:48 AM