athwear noun clothing designed for sport and exercise

Going down: referring to your ‘gym gear’ It’s ‘athwear’ now, and old T-shirts are most definitely not OK.

[The Guardian (UK broadsheet) 29 November 2014]

Shifts in lifestyle are also as important as catwalk trends, and the rise in status of workout clothing is reflected both in a new range of high-tech sports bras, and in “athwear” detailing in fashion ranges: a silky vest has mesh segments and white piping, while silky tracksuit bottoms are styled with high heels.

[http://www.fashionandstyle.org/ 19 November 2014]

lumbersexual noun a man who affects a hearty, outdoorsy style of dress

Boys, chuck out the moisturiser! It’s out with the ‘metrosexual’ and in with our latest crush the ‘lumbersexual’ (wood chopping skills not essential).

[www.dailymail.co.uk 14 November 2014]

waist training noun the deliberate narrowing of one’s waist, achieved by wearing a tight corset

Last week, Kim Kardashian Instagrammed yet another picture of herself in a corset with the caption: ‘Really obsessed with weight training.’

[Grazia (UK celebrity magazine) 24.11.14]

About new words

ebolaphobia noun irrational fear of the (spread of) the Ebola virus

Ebolaphobia Going Viral

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ 30 October 2014]

Doctors Combat ‘Ebolaphobia’ With Facts as Antidote to Fear

[http://abcnews.go.com/ 22 October 2014]

 

bibliotherapist noun a therapist who uses books to facilitate better mental health

Walker is a bibliotherapist working for Kirklees Libraries and Information Services.

[http://www.cilip.org.uk 17 December 2014]

social prescribing noun in general practice, a more holistic approach to treating a patient with multiple issues in which the doctor puts the patient
in touch with organizations/charities, etc. who will address their problems

So-called ‘social prescribing’, where patients are referred to voluntary bodies or community groups for help, is already used
in the district.

[http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk 14 October 2014]

About new words

ancestral health noun diet based on the presumed diet of our Palaeolithic ancestors

‘Ancestral health,’ to use a term popular among Paleo followers, has gone mass.

[New York Times (US broadsheet) 21 September 2014]

Which is odd, because in many ways my husband has the instincts of a wild boar, and Ancestral Health – the lifestyle extension of the Paleo or ‘Caveman’ diet – is about going way back to a time of elk-jerky-eating, loincloth-wearing Lascaux dwellers.

[www.telegraph.co.uk 17 October 2014]

golden rice noun a genetically engineered form of rice with enhanced levels of vitamin A

Golden rice, as it is called, is meant to combat vitamin A deficiency, a huge problem in developing countries in Asia and Africa. Vitamin A deficiencies affect children and pregnant women who suffer everything from blindness to infections to death.

[www.thestarphoenix.com/ 07 October 2014]

hamburger tax noun a tax on unhealthy food

Poll: Do you think there should be a ‘hamburger tax’ on fatty and sugary foods?

[www.expressandstar.com 02 October 2014]

About new words

plyscraper noun a skyscraper made mainly from wood

The development of engineered timber could herald a new era of eco-friendly ‘plyscrapers’. Christchurch welcomed its first multistorey timber structure this year, there are plans for Vancouver, and the talk is China could follow

[www.theguardian.com 03 October 2014]

 

FOG abbreviation fat, oil and grease as poured down the drains in domestic households. It wreaks havoc in the sewers.

Customers pre-ordering a turkey from selected stores will receive free gadgets to help collect the fat, oil and grease (FOG) from their Christmas roast.

[http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk 03 December 2014]

fugitive emissions plural noun a gas or other product that escapes during a process such as drilling

Cornell environmental engineering professor Anthony Ingraffea […] found newer [gas and oil] wells using fracking and horizontal drilling methods were far more likely to be responsible for fugitive emissions of methane.

[www.desmogblog.com (website dedicated to climate science) 17 October 2014]

About new words

mint adjective (informal) nice; cool

Either way, the car looks mint.

[Stuff (UK innovations magazine) Nov 2014]

 

 

 

 

bae noun (slang) a romantic partner (often used as a form of address)

I have to kill my bae because he is CHEATING ON ME.

[www.youtube.com 13 November 2014]

See ya, bae!

[Heard in conversation (young girl, early teens) 15 December 2014]

neg verb (informal) to insult someone in order to attract theme sexually

I watched JBU this week and nearly choked on my drink when you talked about negging guys to pick them up. Just had to share.

[gabydunn.com 05 November 2014]

About new words

Evel abbreviation English votes for English laws; the idea that only English (as opposed to Scottish, Welsh or Irish) MPs should be allowed to vote for laws that affect only England

Yet these are the two principal constitutional proposals that have come from the Conservative party in its kneejerk response to Ukip’s English nationalism and an ill-thought-out drive to impose what is commonly called ‘English votes for English laws’ (Evel).

[The Guardian (UK broadsheet) 18 October 2014]

English votes for English laws, or EVEL as it has amusingly become known (well, amusing to those of us with a penchant for jumping bikes over buses), came to dominate.

[http://news.sky.com/ 14 October 2014]

democratator noun a dictator who is democratically elected and controls a country through manipulation and legal restrictions rather than through
force

Putin, you mentioned. The late Hugo Chavez was a certainly a leading democratator as well.

[WNYC: Leonard Lopate Show (US news and culture) 19 November 2014]

kludgeocracy noun government that is over-complex and ineffective

Sprawling scale becomes unmanageable; internal complexity culminates in kludgeocracy (to use Steven Teles’s term); our electoral processes seem to produce little real accountability; and interest-group-driven sclerosis chokes off the possibility of reform.

[http://www.nationalaffairs.com/ 09 November 2014]

About new words

dumbwalking noun walking slowly, without paying attention to the world around you because you are consulting a smartphone

He told me dumbwalking probably wouldn’t be a long-term problem.

[www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine 14 July 2014]

 

 

tech creche noun a safe where visitors to a place can deposit their mobile phones before exploring that place

The short film sees a young David Attenborough (voiced by impressionist Phil Cornwell) encourage viewers to leave the car at home and store their devices in the Tech Creche, leaving them free to enjoy the region’s majestic woodlands and coastline without digital distractions.

[www.thedrum.com 25 July 2014]

vamping noun the activity of remaining awake late into the night, usually while chatting on social networks

‘Social media is about having agency over your own life and vamping is one way to recapture that,’ said Alice Marwick, an assistant professor at Fordham University who studies the Internet and society.

[New York Times (US broadsheet) 06 July 2014]

Maybe teenage behavior hasn’t changed, whether it has a new name like vamping or not.

[New York Times (US broadsheet) 06 July 2014]

About new words

bio-inspiration noun the adoption of patterns and structures found in nature for the purposes of engineering, manufacturing, science, etc.

The MIT researchers actually aren’t the only robotics team to turn to cheetahs for bio-inspiration.

[www.smithsonianmag.com 16 September 2014]

 

drought shaming noun the public shaming, often through social media, of people or companies guilty of wasting water

All across the state, people are doing their best to conserve water. But, the fight to save water has also given rise to a new phenomenon known as ‘drought shaming.’

[www.bakersfieldnow.com 30 July 2014]

plastisphere noun the discarded plastic that is now a part of our seas, rivers and lakes and, for better or worse, is developing its own ecosystem

Scientists have even coined a new term to describe it: the ‘plastisphere’ is here. In some oceanic areas the plastic is so thick that organisms have begun evolving there, as if it were a new, toxic, ecosystem. Sadly, our precious Great Lakes may not be far behind.

[http://www.thestar.com 02 August 2014]

About new words

nanorobotics noun the use of extremely tiny components (measuring a nanometer or less) to make robots

Nano-robotics is gaining importance in the field of industrial robotics. It is gaining momentum in health care and other niche markets.

[www.mmtonline.in 03 July 2014]

 

glass cockpit noun a part of a vehicle filled with computer screens from which the vehicle is controlled automatically, partially or entirely by computer

We have estimates of a glass cockpit in our cars being fairly soon.

[WNYC: Lenard Lopate Show (culture and society, interviews) 30 September 2014]

We already have a sort of glass cockpit, at least in some higher-end vehicles that have adaptive cruise control.

[WNYC: Lenard Lopate Show (culture and society, interviews) 30 September 2014]

screen scraper noun a piece of software that extracts character-based information from other applications and presents it in a more user-friendly format

I was just wondering if I could use some of that data and lacking an API I wrote a little screen scraper that collects name, date and GPS coordinates.

[http://cryptoforest.blogspot.co.uk/ 07 July 2014]

About new words