NEOLOGISMS AND THE NET
by Trad. Patricia García Ces*
Artículo publicado originalmente en Conceptos, revista institucional de laUMSA, Buenos Aires, enero-feb./marzo-abril 2003.
Keeping up to date with the
ever-changing terminology cur-
rently used in most of today’s
publications may prove to be
quite an ordeal. However, a prac-
tical, inexpensive way to prevent
one’s vocabulary from getting
rusty is subscribing to a special-
ized electronic mailing list, or
joining a discussion group or
forum devoted to linguistic
issues. This gives us immediate
access to new lexical data, paper
abstracts and article summaries
from a wide range of areas, just a
mouse-click away, on a monthly,
weekly, or even daily basis.
Some of these e-publications
feature mainly neologisms –
including abbreviations,
acronyms and idioms–, most of
which are from, or related to, the
booming macrofield of Informa-
tion Technology. However,
plenty of vocabulary from other
areas is also covered.
Below is a compilation of
examples gathered from such
publications, mainly from the
fields of IT, business and finance,
and the labor sector. Following
each entry, there is a quote that
serves to not only clarify its
mean-ing and illustrate usage, but
also –in most cases– to provide
related terms.
Highlights of the huge, inex-
haustible Information
Technolo-gy field include:
calm technology (n.)
Technology that remains in the
background until needed and thus
enables a person to interact with
it in a calm, engaged manner.
“In this new world, what Weiser
called “calm technology” will reside
around us, interacting with users in
natural ways to anticipate their
needs.” –Rick Merritt,
“Ubiquitous computing: slow
going, “Elec-tronic Engineering
Times”, March 31, 2003.
click-wrap (noun): A license or
contract that appears during the
setup of a software program or
online service and that requires
the user to click a button to agree
to the terms of the license.
“Sometimes a contract is a
mouse click away-all of the free e-
mail services and commercial ISPs
use ‘click-wrap’ contracts, which
[...] require users to agree to con-
ditions before using a service.
[...].”–Anita Susan Brenner, “Con-
tractual Obligations– Click here to
waive your rights,” Smart Busi-
ness, September 2000.
invisible Web (noun): The col-
lection of searchable Web sites
whose content exists within data-
bases and so cannot be indexed
by search engines.
“While the aforementioned
Internet search resources are
essential for ‘on the Internet’
searching, they do not and cannot
find and make all that is ‘on the
Internet’ accessible...This
‘hidden’ information is often
called the ‘Invisible Web.’ Gary
Price, “Myths for Today, Hopes
for Tomorrow,” Searcher,
January 1, 2000.
rejecter (noun): A person who
rejects or limits their interaction
with technology.
“But in a scary finding for e-
commerce boosters, a fast-grow-
ing number of occasional online
users are ‘rejecters,’ abandoning
the Internet in droves. Earlier this
year, 29 million U.S. adults
stopped using the Net. That’s
nearly double the number of
those who had dropped out by
1998.”-Edward Iwata, “Tech’s
tyranny provokes revolt,” USA
Today, August 21, 2000.
skinnable (adjective): Describes a
software program that is capable of
using different modules –called
“skins”– that change the program’s
colors and interface design.
“Winamp is skinnable so you
can change the look of the soft-
ware as you wish. –Mark Gibbs,
“The elephant remembers to
remember audio,” Network World,
July 17, 2000.
typosquatter (noun): A person
who registers one or more Internet
domain names based on the most
common typographical errors that a
user might commit when enter-ing
a company’s registered trade-mark
name (e.g., “amazom.com”).
“Typosquatters look around and
see which Web sites get the heavi-
est traffic. They then register, for
themselves, domain names that
consist of the likeliest typographi-
cal errors that users make when
seeking to access these sites.” –
Robert C. Cumbow, “‘Typosquat-
ters’ Pose Threat to Trademark
Owners on the Web,” New York
Law Journal, October 13, 1998.
unstrung (adjective):Describes a
person or technology that uses
wireless communications to access
the Internet.
“Eager to expunge the dot-com
taint much of Silicon Alley is
recasting itself in a wireless role.
There is even a new buzzword to
describe the scene: ‘unstrung.’” –
Simon Romero, “Wireless Inter-
net Casts Its Shadow, and Sub-
stance, in New York,” The New
York Times, August 21, 2000.
WAPathy (noun): The general
lack of interest in WAP (Wireless
Application Protocol), the tech-
nology that enables Web pages to
be viewed on the latest
generation of cell phones.
“Most people have barely heard
of WAP phones –the mobiles
which use a cut-down version of
the Internet– yet already there’s a
new word to get used to: WAPa-
thy. Instead of connecting to the
latest technology, the early signs
are that people are switching off.”–
Patrick Collinson, “Phones fail to
ring up sales,” The Guardian, July
8, 2000.
Among the stars of the “Labor
Sector” –which, ironically as it
may seem, at least in our country,
is also fairly bulky– are:
rat-race equilibrium (noun): A
work environment in which an
employee’s willingness to work
long hours for possible
promotion is equal to an
employer’s belief that working
long hours merits promotion.
“According to the standard theo-
ries, unreasonable work weeks are
self-defeating...because workers
get tired or demand high over-time
rates or simply rebel. How-ever,
according to a newer model, some
businesses manage to devel-op
what economists call a ‘rat-race
equilibrium.’ The rat-race occurs
when managers use a will-ingness
to work long hours as a sign of
some tangible yet much-desired
quality that merits pro-motion.” –
James Gleick, “Faster,” Pantheon
Books, 1999.
scarlet-collar worker (noun): A
woman who owns or operates an
Internet pornographic site.
“Women [...] control more than
50 per cent of pornographic sites in
cyberspace. ‘Scarlet collar’
workers are the feminists of the
modern age, say psychologists,
free from coercion and the dan-
gers of the traditional, male -dom-
inated business.”–Cherry Norton,
“Women Take Control of Cyber-
porn,” The Independent, August
6, 2000.
trading coach (noun): A person
who advises stock traders on the
strategy and psychology of
invest-ing.
“A successful day trader has to
be able to stay calm while absorb-
ing painful losses. ‘It’s easy to get
suckered into this game,’ says Ari
Kiev, a psychiatrist and trading
coach who wrote Trading to
Win.”-Daniel Kadlec, “Day
Trad-ing: It’s a Brutal World,”
Time, August 9, 1999.
windshield time (noun): Work-
related time spent in a car,
includ-ing commuting time.
“Consolidated Network, [...]
says its video conference room has
raised productivity by elimi-nating
many 150-mile trips [...] for
meetings with its parent com-pany
and other subsidiaries. ‘When you
place a value on the windshield
time of certain employ-ees, it has
paid back its cost at a reasonable
rate for the amount of investment,’
said Richard Gibbens, president of
Consolidated Net-work.”–Jerri
Stroud, “New Busi-ness Routine:
Lights, Camera, Meeting,” St.
Louis Post-Dispatch, July 14, 1991.
WMWM (acronym): White mar-
ried working moms; according to
some, a key demographic in the
2000 U.S. presidential election.
Also: WMx2, WM squared.
“In fact, 2000’s key voters
appear to be white married work-
ing moms –in political junkie jar-
gon, ‘WMWMs,’ ‘WM squared’
or ‘WMx2’ –because they back
Bush by a giant margin that has
Democrats wringing their
hands.” –Deborah Orin,
“Women’s Vote Holds Key for
Gore Win In Battle of Sexes,
Men Solid for Bush,” The New
York Post, August 20, 2000.
work-life balance (noun): A season. But that didn’t happen,
state of equilibrium in which the
demands of both a person’s job
and personal life are equal.
“Even the longest economic
expansion in history cannot con-
tinue forever. And when it ends,
what will happen to the smaller
revolutions it has created? To the
transformation of the office into a
place where workers are
acknowl-edged to have families?
Is all this talk of work-life
balance really a change to the
social core, or is it just cocktail
conversation that will fade when
the party’s over?”–Lisa Belkin,
“Life’s Work,” The New York
Times, March 29, 2000.
The ever-growing “Business
and Finance” world features:
BAM (acronym): A bricks-and-
mortar company. “Brick and
mor-tar firms (BAMs) and fence-
sitters have treated the web like a
fax-on-demand box –a novel way
of satisfying formulaic inquiries
and fulfilling low-level support
requests.” –Bill Michael, “The
Customer Always Clicks Twice,”
Computer Telephony, November
1, 1999.
cookie jar accounting (noun):
The corporate accounting prac-
tice of taking a reserve to reduce
profits in good years and then
using that reserve to increase
profits in bad years.
“The SEC (Securities and
Exchange) charged that Grace
employed a ‘cookie jar’ account-
ing strategy that stashed as much
as $20 million of excess profits
[...]. The idea, according to the
SEC, was to declare the profit at
some later date when operations
were not running so well ...” –
Steve Bailey and Steven Syre,
“SEC files suit against W.R.
Grace,” The Boston Globe,
December 23, 1998.
dotbam (noun): The Internet ver-
sion of a traditional bricks-and-
mortar retailer.
“The report says online retail is
strong in many industry cate-
gories, including computers,
autos, books, sporting goods and
catalog sellers. What’s significant
is that many analysts predicted a
sharp drop after the Christmas
which is welcome news for
today's surviving e-tailers –and
downright encouraging for dot-
bams stepping up their Web
efforts.”–Judith N. Mottl, “Brick
and Mortars Fight Back,” Inter-
netWeek, June 19, 2000.
falling knife (noun): A stock
whose price is currently undergo-
ing a steep or long-standing
decline.
“Let’s look at Oak Brook-based
McDonald's Corp. (MCD). The
stock closed Friday at $33.38 a
share, up $1.38 on the week, but
far off its 52-week peak at $49.56,
touched last November. A falling
knife.” –Mitchell Zacks, “When a
stock’s price falls, those selling
may be right,” Chicago Sun-
Times, August 6, 2000.
passion brand (noun): A brand
that resonates with consumers
and makes them passionate about
the brand’s products or services.
“[...] Flowerbud.com has hired
Nerve Inc. to oversee its $7.3
mil-lion advertising campaign
[...]. ‘Our goal is to be the passion
brand,’ said Traci Hill, Nerve’s
account supervisor. ‘We’re going
after a more emotional target –the
passionate, soulful person who
recognizes the role flowers
play’”– Kristina Brenneman,
“Flowerbud hopes to bloom
under Nerve’s watchful care,”
Business Journal-Portland, April
21, 2000.
potrepreneur (noun): A person
who creates a business based on
selling marijuana (pot+entrepre-
neur).
“Lately it seems that everyone
is getting into the ‘M-Commerce’
market (the M is for ‘Mobile,’
though in this case it could stand
for ‘Marijuana’). American drug
dealers in Amsterdam have start-
ed a company called iToke to sell
pot via WAP-enabled cell
phones. ‘Potrepreneurs’ Mike
Tucker and Tim Freccia are
trying to get ven-ture backing for
the company, but so far their
plans have gone up in smoke.” –
Mike Elgan, “Dial-A-Dope,”
Mike’s List, August 22, 2000.
put skin in the game (idiom): To
take an active interest in a
compa-ny or undertaking by
making a significant investment
or financial commitment.
“While Microcom was willing to
part with some of its precious cash
for Parthenon’s expertise, the
consultants had a different idea:
pay us in stock. Microcom agreed,
granting Parthenon options on
195,000 of its shares with a $2
strike price. ‘It said that the out-
side guys believed in the company
and were willing to put some skin
in the game.’ ‘Putting skin in the
game’ –it could be the slogan of a
new era.”– Edward O. Welles, “Put
skin in the game,” Inc., June
1999.
Apart from the above three
areas, new terminology from a
great variety of other fields, such
as ecology, education, language,
medicine, politics, tourism,
sports, social sciences, etc., can
also be found, although –not sur-
prisingly, these days– in remark-
ably smaller numbers. Here are
just a few representatives:
agritourist (noun): A tourist
who watches and participates in
agri-cultural activities.
“Within the next two years,
Vineland Estates is planning to
open an international culinary
institute on its property, with
lodging for up to 70 students, vis-
iting chefs and agritourists who
want to see Niagara wine-and-
food country up close.” –Joe
Chi-dley, “Haute Canuck,”
Maclean’s, August 24, 1998.
fuzzy math (noun): Mathematics
education that de-emphasizes
memorization and rote learning
in favor of a cooperative
approach to solving problems.
“A method that [...] does not
require students to memorize
multiplication tables, compute
fractions or learn other basic skills
essential to algebraic suc-cess. It’s
often rightly derided as ‘fuzzy
math’ because of its murky goals,
which include, according to one
popular integrated math program,
‘linking past experience to new
concepts, sharing ideas and
developing concept readiness
through hands-on explo-rations.’”–
“Old Math, Good Math,” Los
Angeles Times, Janu-ary 29, 2000.
good wood (noun): Wood that
does not come from an endan-
gered forest region or from an
endangered tree species; wood
grown on a plantation. Also:
ethi-cal wood, plantation wood,
man-aged wood.
“‘Good wood’ is the new buzz
term in furniture. And it isn’t just
for eco-activists any more; Home
décor retailers such as Ikea and
Restoration Hardware are jump-
ing on the good-wood bandwag-
on, along with hardware giants
such as Home Depot.”–Karen
Burshtein, “Good wood,” The
Globe and Mail, August 12, 2000.
greengrocers’ apostrophe
(noun): An apostrophe erro-
neously inserted before the final
“s” in the plural form of a word.
(Also: greengrocer’s apostrophe.)
“And usual big business policy
is counter-balanced by the wide-
spread use of the greengrocers’
apostrophe, which sneaks into
everything from apple’s to
yam’s. One of our local pubs
recently ran a pool tournament
and invit-ed ”lad’s and dad’s,
mum’s and son’s, uncle’s and
niece’s, aunt’s and nephew’s“ –
which may be a record.” –
Matthew Engel, “I demand an
end to the apostro-phe: Then the
maligned green-grocer will be as
literate as you and I,” The
Guardian, June 6, 2000.
orphan patient (noun): A hospi-
tal patient who doesn’t have a
family doctor. Also known as an
“unattached patient.”
“Dr. Tom Dickson, chief of staff
at the William Osler Health Cen-
tre in Brampton, Ont., said the FP
[family physician] shortage is so
severe in the ring of suburbs sur-
rounding Toronto –the ‘905 belt’–
that dozens of orphan patients are
arriving at local community hos-
pitals every day.” –Patrick Sulli-
van, “Enter the hospitalist: new
type of patient creating a new type
of specialist,” Canadian Medical
Association Journal, May
2, 2000.
As it is often suggested, the Inter-
net offers such colossal amounts of
data (not necessarily information)
that one can easily drown while
trying to surf its electronic waves.
Nevertheless, it can still be invigo-
rating and rewarding to take a dive
now and then, and attempt a few
amateur strokes, at least, rather
than letting the vastness of this
cyber realm overwhelm us.
(*) Excerpted and adapted from:
“Neologisms in Today’s English Lan-
guage,” by Patricia García Ces.
* Profesora de Lingüística y Termi-
nología I y II,y Práctica de la Traduc-
ción I. Interpretariado de Inglés.
UMSA.