Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Thursday Thirteen #49

Yes, this is ruthlessly pirated from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. (The Twentieth Anniversary Edition, if you're interested.)

Upskill Your Lingo

Every year Merriam-Webster's and The Oxford English Dictionary add new words. If they weren't already commonly used, they couldn't make it into the dictionary, but it's kind of funny to think of these words as "official."


1. Ginormous - Extremely large (from gigantic + enormous)

2. Mouse potato - Like a "couch potato," only someone who sits at the computer all day, not a TV (Ouch. This one hits close to home.)

3. Upskill - To learn more skills

4. Hardscape - Manmade features in a landscape, such as gazebos and fountains

5. Sandwich generation - People who are "sandwiched" between the parents they're taking care of and the kids they're raising

6. Soul patch - Small growth of hair below a man's lower lip (And sorry if any of you men out there have one of these, but I think it's just skanky if not attached to a beard or goatee. Skanky should also be added.)

7. Smackdown - A decisive defeat of an opponent

8. Viewshed - Everything visible from one or more points (from "watershed")

9. Supersize - To increase in size (from a former McDonald's menu feature)

10. Big-box - relating to large chain stores (like Wal-Mart or Home Depot)

11. Hoody - A hooded sweatshirt or other hooded top

12. Drama queen - A person given to excessive emotional displays

13. Unibrow - When a person's eyebrows meet in the middle to form one long eyebrow

Check here for more Thursday Thirteen

14 comments:

Bethany said...

Oh no...mouse potato?!!? That would be a good term for me...but yikes! I'm glad some of those words finally made it in ;)

suchsimplepleasures said...

i'm a total mouse potato of the gi-normous type!!
awesome tt!
have a happy valentines day!

Ivÿ said...

very interesting.
nice to know :)

happy v-day!

mine's up already.

soleil said...

wow, it's official. ginormous is a real word.
i am a word lover too.

Mamarazzi said...

these are awesome!

Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Thursday Thirteen, mine is all about LOVE!

Anonymous said...

I don't care if it is in the dictionary; I shall never use a word as ugly as upskill!

Darla said...

You mean "drama queen" is new? My daughter's been a drama queen since she was about 2. :)

aftergrace said...

I love this list! I'm glad to see that some of the words I've been throwing around aimlessly are actually words, and not aftergraceisms. :)

Sharon said...

Guilty Mouse-potato here, too. I've never heard that term, either. I do frequently say ginormous, though.
Very interesting what becomes an official definition. lol

Happy TT & Valentine's Day!

Unknown said...

Wonderful list, as always! I've used all but 2 of these! And yes, I am also a mouse potato!

(M)ary said...

(-: i love learning new words!

i am being a mouse potato this evening trying to read every blog that is listed on the Thursday 13 list.

Qtpies7 said...

I'm a ginormous mouse potato with a unibrow.

Melanie said...

ginormous ..reminds me of "ElF"..LOL! Happy Valentine's Day!

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Amazing how our language changes, isn't it?