Tuesday 6 March 2012

Buzz words of 2004 and 2005

Tote that... bag
2004

mollycoddled has made a strange and sinister comeback

tote (for collapsible umbrella, tote bag. Why, since we carry things and don’t tote them?)

road warrior

proof-of-concept
(What mean exactly? Oh well, it's gone again 2012.)

poky (seems to have come back as term of abuse, but meaning slow, provincial rather than cramped, shabby)

mimsy for girly in a tedious, whiny sort of way

came for happened (last five years)

all over the map = all over the place
Bite me! (Seems to be over Sept 2004)

relentless

slouching towards
(for blundering towards)

jump for any kind of increase

People have started talking about values again in the context of asylum seekers not understanding ours. Like family values and Victorian values, these are rarely specified. Possibly they are things like democracy, free speech, obeying the law and women having the vote, but why not say so?

refrain (for mantra – but no one says this any more)

undulate for fluctuate

I’m loving it (We’re loving Britney Spears, I’m loving the frumpy look)

push and pull factors

2005

Graceful it’s not. Been around for years, but v popular Jan 2005

marmite for something everybody either loves or hates (eg Marmite Ken [Livingstone])

serves him well (or, if American, just “serves well”)

suck in (money, troops, business, workers)

Miss Marple is still with us (but only in the context of tweed, sadly)

BOGOF (buy one, get one free) (not new this year)

bling-bling has become bling

Has uptalking gone out? Please? (Used as "Blah blah blah? As anyone else but a moron like you would know already?")

prepping for preparing

anthracite for dark grey (why, when no one under 40 has ever seen anthracite?)

slice and dice (for plastic surgery etc)

hopping (bus hopping, doctor hopping, religion hopping)

maybe not (perhaps popularised by that nice ad for nappies with the Scottish voiceover)

dipping sauce

mojo is back

vanguardist
churn (for turnover? rotation? flipping back and forth? Rita churning toward Texas, Louisiana – CNN)

dislocation for disparity, disruption, disturbance and...? Michael Philips, managing partner at Apax in Europe, said there was a dislocation between the perception of Tommy Hilfiger in the US and elsewhere – Guardian Sept. 24 05 (disparity) ... which in turn relates to drug use, discrimination and social dislocation or exclusion. Guardian Dec. 12 05 (doesn’t seem to mean anything) ...said in a statement that Katrina would cause energy price volatility and "dislocation" to the US economy. Guardian Sept. 21 05 (disruption) ...as evidence of a cash crisis that is about to cause major dislocation of health services. Guardian Sept. 7 05 (disruption, disturbance) ...committing copycat crimes motivated by unarticulated motives of political-religious protest and moral dislocation. Guardian Aug. 21 05 (ignorance? lack of connection? misunderstanding?) People don’t feel displaced any more but dislocated. (Vanished like dew in the morn 2012.)

What were they thinking?

swell for increase

there’s an X thing going on
disconnect (n) for fracture, break, rupture, split etc.

wiggle room seems to have gone out

back in the day
divisive
(a bit like controversial - think it's a euphemism for "turning people against us")

sleepwalking into/towards... (October)

matchy matchy (décor, clothes)

scale back (ie lower) charges etc.

recuse American Heritage Dictionay: To disqualify or seek to disqualify from participation in a decision on grounds such as prejudice or personal involvement.

resile (from) (recover, like being resilient)

inroads (for advances)

N-n-n-n-no (for no)

gilded for plush

All from the Guardian:

eerily redolent of so many other ill-judged flirtations with a past gilded in the memory by selective recall. (Gilded memory is a cliche, but the original seems to be “gilded by memory” which makes much more sense, i.e. memory makes ugly truth superficially beautiful by applying a thin layer of gold all over it, which is what "gilding" means.)

But the key detail that confirms his gilded existence is this: "I wore boxer shorts of combed Sea Island cotton at eight bucks a pair."
Bold
A sound system propped in the corner of the gilded dining room

Like F Scott Fitzgerald's gilded rich

Happily, the incoming month offers gilded opportunities (they mean golden opportunities)

lifted the lid on the gilded lives of the super-rich

Not even a gilded appearance by Les Dennis or a role for Kate O'Mara could save it. (What on earth did they mean?)

possessor of a life so gilded that spending time with him is dangerous for the soul

the more gilded wing of the extreme right

“Across France, the period of the Directory witnessed revenge against those who had carried out revolutionary justice during the Terror. Opponents of the Jacobins forced them from office and sought to prevent them from participating in politics. In Paris, this so–called white terror was carried out by the "Gilded Youth," a gang of youths from wealthy backgrounds who considered themselves the antithesis of the sans–culottes and whose actions eventually helped pressure the government to close down the Paris Jacobin Club, as we see in the excerpts of the memoirs of a left–wing politician from late 1794. Fréron gave the watchword to the "gilded youth" (jeunesse dorée), as they called the group he had organized.” (Web)

Buzz Words of 2011 here and here.
Complete Buzz Words of 2010 here.
Buzz Words of 2009 here.
Buzz Words of 2009 Part Two here.
Buzz Words of 2006/7 here.

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