New words – 29 December 2014

On December 29, 2014December 18, 2014 By Cambridge WordsIn New words3 Comments

fit-shaming noun informal the online trolling of people who post pictures of themselves exercising

Unfortunately, not everyone is as happy for me… and instead I find myself facing a daily barage of fit-shaming.

[Grazia (UK celebrity magazine) 20 May 2014]

skinny-bash verb informal to criticize someone for being slim

Kate Wills knows the feeling and last month wrote a powerful yet humorous piece on why it’s not OK to skinny-bash people like her, either.

[www.graziadaily.co.uk 12 April 2014]

Loub job noun informal a procedure on the foot, usually one which modifies the foot so that a person can wear high heels with a greater degree of comfort

According to Look magazine, Kardashian reportedly spent around $6,000 on a ‘Loub job,’ in order to easily wear her high heeled shoes.

[www.ibtimes 27 May 2014]

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New words – 22 December 2014

On December 22, 2014December 18, 2014 By Cambridge WordsIn New words4 Comments

tweleb noun informal a Twitter celebrity; (more specifically, someone who has more than 1,000 followers on Twitter)

There were a few old and a few new faces, including a tweleb or two. Expect to see and hear more from these cool kids.

[mookzilla.tumblr.com 03 June 2014]

Twag noun informal, humorous tennis wives and girlfriends: the wives and girlfriends of prominent male tennis players

Forget football, here come the TWAGs (that’s tennis wives and girlfriends): Meet the glamorous partners set to light up Centre Court at Wimbledon this week

[www.dailymail.co.uk 23 June 2014]

Kipper noun informal a member or supporter of the UK Independence Party

Asked to explain the party’s failure in London, Ukip’s Suzanne Evans was asked if she agreed with the Kipper who had said the problem was that the capital was too full of the ‘cultured, educated and young’.

[The Guardian (UK broadsheet) 24 May 2014]

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Cleavage proves divisive in Cambridge’s words of 2014

On December 19, 2014December 18, 2014 By In the English language7 Comments

by Alastair Horne

Other dictionaries may choose faddish novelties as their words of the year, but here at Cambridge, we like to do something different. We look for the words that have seen sudden surges in searches over the course of the year – words that have been baffling users of English and driven them to their dictionaries for explanation.

Some of the most remarkable rises in search frequency occur when a popular news story involves obscure words or phrases – items that are unlikely to have featured in a student’s vocabulary notebook. Sometimes these words are obscure because they are technical: September’s vote on Scottish independence saw a massive rise in searches for the words ‘devolution’ and ‘referendum’, as our users tried to understand precisely what the vote involved. Continue reading “Cleavage proves divisive in Cambridge’s words of 2014” →

New words – 15 December 2014

On December 15, 2014December 10, 2014 By Cambridge WordsIn New words2 Comments

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]

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New words – 8 December 2014

On December 8, 2014December 2, 2014 By Cambridge WordsIn New wordsLeave a comment

reverse showrooming noun the practice of researching a product online and then going into a store in order to buy it

Brick and mortar retailers have been noticeably on the decline over the past few years due to stiff competition from online retailers. Fortunately, ‘reverse showrooming’ is helping these many retailers develop an all new strategy for to [sic] responding to many of these challenges.

[www.fusionrms.com 14 April 2014]

the reputation economy idiom the purchase and sale of services based on a consumer’s or vendor’s reputation, which is determined by consumer evaluations of a business or vendor evaluations of a consumer

It’s this interesting new relationship between consumers and business. We’re calling it the reputation economy, and the street goes both ways.

[WNYC/PRI: The Takeaway (news and information) 09 May 2014]

digital redlining idiom discrimination against a customer by a business based on ratings the customer received in the past

The White House […] had a big-data report that was out last week that specifically calls for new privacy laws to combat, potentially, discrimination by data, and there’s a new term that’s coming out for this, which is ‘digital redlining’.

[WNYC/PRI: The Takeaway (news and information) 09 May 2014]

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A nice, relaxing bath (Adjective order)

On December 3, 2014December 16, 2014 By Kate WoodfordIn the English language12 Comments

by Kate Woodford

When we want to describe something, one adjective sometimes just isn’t enough! There may be two – or even three – things we want to say about something or someone. What order, then, do we put these two or three adjectives in? Consider the following:

He’s such a sweet little boy!

She seemed like a nice, polite girl.

It’s a really lovely, bright shade of blue.

There was a horrible, stale smell in there.

Notice the adjectives that are used first in each of these sentences – sweet, nice, lovely, horrible. They are all subjective descriptions – words that show our feelings or opinions about something. They do not actually tell us any precise facts about the boy, the girl, the shade of blue or the smell. They don’t, for example, tell us how big the children are or anything about the precise qualities of the shade of blue or the smell. These subjective adjectives, then, are the ones that go first. In other words, whatever your first feeling or opinion about something or someone, (Are they nice, nasty, gorgeous, unpleasant, etc.?), say this first! Continue reading “A nice, relaxing bath (Adjective order)” →

New words – 1 December 2014

On December 1, 2014November 26, 2014 By Cambridge WordsIn New words1 Comment

SOLE abbreviation self-organized learning environment; an environment in which learners use technology to teach themselves collaboratively without a teacher

An excellent SOLE Toolkit is available to download for free from the TED website, which provides a framework for primary school children between the ages of 8–12 years old.

[http://noseyparka.me.uk/ 08 April 2014]

FTW abbreviation slang for the win; internet abbreviation indicating enthusiastic emphasis

Kongregate Recruitment for Akatsuki (naruto FTW!), post your thoughts on the discussion board or read fellow gamers’ opinions.

[www.kongregate.com 13 April 2014]

OP abbreviation original poster; used to denote the first person who writes on an online thread

Holy crap… because of your link, people replied to the original post from 5 months ago and the OP saw it and agreed to do
a new one.

[www.reddit.com 22 April 2014]

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New words – 24 November 2014

On November 24, 2014November 14, 2014 By Cambridge WordsIn New words4 Comments

ped-text verb to text someone while walking

I’m ped-texting, I’m looking down at my phone, 75 percent of the time.

[WNYC: Brian Lehrer Show (politics and current affairs) 15 April 2014]

kill switch noun a facility which renders a handset useless if it is stolen

Authorities have been urging tech firms to take steps to help curb phone theft and argued that a kill-switch feature can help resolve the problem.

[www.bbc.co.uk 20 June 2014]

beacon noun a device installed somewhere, usually a shop, that sends alerts to mobiles in the vicinity

If the writing was not on the wall already that the use of proximity-aware beacons was the future of retail, now we have some data to back it up.

[http://techcrunch.com 17 June 2014]

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New words – 17 November 2014

On November 17, 2014November 14, 2014 By Cambridge WordsIn the English language2 Comments

silver splicer noun informal a person who marries in later life

Newly retired and now newlywed – rise of the ‘silver splicers’
Reaching pension age becomes a trigger to tie the knot as baby-boomers begin to redefine retirement

[www.telegraph.co.uk 12 June 2014]

SBNR abbreviation spiritual but not religious; used especially on dating websites

A few minutes on Google revealed that SBNR is more than just an acronym. One in three Americans defined themselves as spiritual but not religious.

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/ 24 May 2014]

brotherzone noun informal a category of friendship where a man is like a brother to a woman, and therefore not a potential sexual partner

In my experience the ‘brotherzone’ is a lot more fun, when it’s short term/you have other female ‘friends’ cause 95 per cent of men will ‘slip-up’ before the girl. then [sic] they just end up looking sad and desperate.

[http://m.tickld.com/ 11 May 2014]

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New words – 10 November 2014

On November 10, 2014November 14, 2014 By Cambridge WordsIn New words5 Comments

smart gun noun a gun with various technologies, such as proximity sensors and biometrics, that are intended to improve gun safety

The so called ‘smart gun’ has recently been causing tension in both the EU and US firearms industries.

[www.bbc.co.uk 23 May 2014]

barrel bomb noun a type of improvised explosive device made from explosives packed into a barrel

Since the end of 2013, government forces have waged a deadly aerial campaign in the city using barrel bombs, allowing them to make several gains.

[www.bbc.co.uk 28 April 2014]

The Syrian air force has used so-called ‘barrel bombs’ dropped from aircraft to try to put down a rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad.

[www.bbc.co.uk 30 May 2014]

genericide noun the use of a brand name to mean a class of similar items and the consequent dilution of that brand name’s potency

Cue rival businesses, circling the exposed brand and swooping to attach its powerful name to their own products. And if they can convince intellectual property judges that they are entitled to use it because it’s now an everyday word, that trademark is dead and buried – the victim of ‘genericide’.

[www.bbc.co.uk (Simon Tulett) 28 May 2014]

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