New words – 15 December 2014

cinderella_surgery

cinderella surgery noun cosmetic surgery to the feet

We have all heard of people having nose jobs, boob jobs and liposuction – but now a new trend growing in popularity in America: Cinderella surgery.

[www.dailymail.co.uk 25 April 2014]

 

 

nocebo noun a harmless substance that creates harmful side effects in patients (as a result of the patient believing it to be harmful)

Some patients may develop symptoms and side effects purely because they’ve been told about them, known as the so-called ‘nocebo effect’.

[http://www.health24.com/ 01 April 2014]

fear extinction therapy noun a post-traumatic stress treatment that involves reliving a traumatic event in safe conditions in order to unlearn an automatic feeling of alarm

The problem is that ‘fear extinction’ therapy […] works well with recent memories but not so well with deeply entrenched, long-term horrors.

[Smithsonian (US culture and science magazine) May 2014]

About new words

2 thoughts on “New words – 15 December 2014

  1. “Nocebo” is a nifty back-formation (a new word created from an old one by changing or deleting a syllable) from “placebo,” a harmless substance that produced positive effects.

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