Many of the speakers (mostly baby boomers themselves) were talking about the low level college students today. They have all these reasons, like too many computer games, television, etc. However, I don't buy it. I have taught college students for 20 years and found that they are just as eager and intelligent today as they ever were. They surely are more savvy at being able to find resources today because of the Internet.

I read this wonderful quote in the sports pages of the Tribune, and if these aren't coinages...they should be!

Reporter: "What was the cause of your team's drastic turnaround?"

Coach: "I don't know how drastic it is. That's up to the people who measure drasticity. You'd have to ask a drastician."

Since the team was 5-11 last season and 11-5 this season, the reporter used the word "drastic." Drastic does seem a bit strong to me since the dictionaries define it as "severe" or "radical" in nature. On the other hand, it comes from the Greek word drastikos, which means active, a considerably weaker word. Perhaps the reporter knew the roots of the word drastic.

Reviving a thread...
While the word "yuppie" was coined in the 80s, I recently read an article in the NY Times about a new movement in the U.S...the elderly are beginning to move from the south back to the north. They described a new coinage: the yuppie elderly, meaning younger seniors with spouses present and in good health. Have you heard it?

I much prefer "rich old fart."

Nope. Never heard "yuppie elderly." Probably never likely to be one either. I like Asa's alternative.

Wordmatic

I heard another today that anybody in academia will love: "curriculum obesity"

As I recall, "Yuppie" was an acronym coined from "Young Upwardly-mobile Professional"

Thus "yuppie elderly" must be oxymoronic (unless it refers to those who were once yuppies and are now suffering the ravages of age).

I just heard a new one (to me) today: shockvertising. This is when the an advertisement gets attention by shocking people. An example cited was the Budweiser ad that was on the 2007 Superbowl game, where the couple driving pick up a young man with an axe...and a 6-pack of Budweiser, and this is followed by picking up another who has a chainsaw (besides more Budweiser).

Have you heard it before? I guess these ads gain attention, but they'd not convince me to buy their products.

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
They described a new coinage: the yuppie elderly, meaning younger seniors with spouses present and in good health. Have you heard it?

That sounded so odd to me at first. Remembering that "yuppie" was coined sometime in the early 80s, it struck me that yuppies couldn't possibly be old enough to be considered even "younger seniors." (The term "younger seniors" strikes me as kinda funny, anyway. ) But I did the math, and those yuppies really are old enough for this coinage to apply, a fact that makes me feel excruciatingly aged, since I'm too old to have been a yuppie, regardless of lifestyle.

I just read about a newish coinage in the NY Times, orthorexia. I'd not heard of it, and I used to teach about eating disorders.

It is an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating, coined by a Dr. Steven Bratman. Bratman coined orthorexia in 1997 from Greek orthos, “correct or right”, plus orexis, “appetite”. Quinion says that while the word is beginning to appear in the US and Britain, it is not a recognized medical condition, at least as of yet.

Have you heard of it? It almost seems like an oxymoron, doesn't it?

It seems to me that the definition should be "eating properly." Maybe 'teratorthorexia?"

I read about this word today: free-riding - This is when a consumer learns from a service-oriented store about all their products and then goes across the street to Discounts Galore and buys the product he wants at a cheaper price.

Nice word!

quote:

I read about this word today: free-riding - This is when a consumer learns from a service-oriented store about all their products and then goes across the street to Discounts Galore and buys the product he wants at a cheaper price.

This happens in every trade and probably none more than the travel industry, where people visit their local travel agent to pick up brochures and seek advice, only to book directly with the principals.

It is an inherent risk that all traders take and there can be no blame attached to customers for taking advantage of the situation.

The solution, in many cases, is for tradespeople to turn themselves into professionals and charge for their advice rather than make a margin on the products they sell. Try getting free information from an architect, lawyer or accountant so that you cab then arrange your own building, litigation or tax return and see how far you get.

Apparently this is quite common, particularly in electrical goods stores. The customer will choose what they want then use the Internet to order it at a cheaper price. Internet sites have much lower overheads, of course. There's a similar phenomenon with book shops - people use Amazon instead.

There's little purpose in customers asking for advice in stores like Curry's or Dixon's (UK electrical chain stores); they will get a blank look and a mumbled "I'll have to ask the manager." and that will be the last they'll see of that assistant.

quote:

There's little purpose in customers asking for advice in stores like Curry's or Dixon's (UK electrical chain stores); they will get a blank look and a mumbled "I'll have to ask the manager." and that will be the last they'll see of that assistant.

In my comment about professionalism, I didn't mention one essential - that that professional knows about his or her topic. Sadly many retailers do not and thus lose out to online sellers.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Richard English,

Reviving a thread...

I just heard this word today: drunkorexia, meaning replacing food with alcohol, especially with young women who are concerned about their weight.

"Lauren is a closet drunkorexic. She'll nibble on a rice cake all day so that she can drink her daily calories at the nightclub."

This one won't last, but apparently George Will was quoted as saying (referring to Hillary's chances of winning the nomination), "The arithmetic is almost Huckabeean at this point."

Eric Zorn of the Tribune defined that as meaning, "delusional optimism or a refusal to surrender that's gone from tenacious to foolish."