Among the New Words

Author(s): John Algeo and Adele Algeo

Source: American Speech , Winter, 1993, Vol. 68, No. 4 (Winter, 1993), pp. 410-419
Published by: Duke University Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/455775

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

Duke University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
American Speech

This content downloaded from

217.147.233.11 on Thu, 12 May 2022 13:26:47 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 AMONG THE NEW WORDS

JOHN ALGEO ADELE ALGEO

University of Georgia Athens, Georgia

With the assistance of the New Words Committee

As NEW WORD OF THE YEAR FOR 1992, the annual meeting of the
American Dialect Society chose the voguish Not! as used in sketches
on television's Saturday Night Live that were later made into a movie,
Wayne's World. That use has been documented and examined in detail in a
recent Miscellany article, "A Recent Coinage (Not!)," byjesse T Sheidlower
and Jonathan E. Lighter (American Speech 68 [1993]: 213-18). Conse-
quently we give no entry for the form here, but refer our readers to that
admirable treatment.
The other winners in the New Word of 1992 contest were Franken- as

Most Original, gender feminism as Most Unnecessary, ethnic cleansing as Most

Outrageous, grunge as Most Useful, snail mail as Most Likely to Succeed,
and Munchausen's syndrome by proxy as Most Amazing. We have no citations
for the last, which now appears in the Random House Unabridged, 2nd
edition, revised in 1993, so we do not include an entry for it. The others,
however, along with some related forms and a number of unrelated ones,
are treated in this installment.

Citations in this installment were provided by the following: Thomas J.

Algeo, Kathleen Binns, Elizabeth T. Blount, Ronald R. Butters, Donna
Chenoweth, George S. Cole, Ludwig Deringer, Gaelan T. de Wolf, Connie
C. Eble, Julie Ellington, Sam Hendricks, Jaan Ingle, BettyJ. Irwin, William
J. Kirwin, Donald M. Lance, James B. McMillan, Allan Metcalf, Donka
Minkova, Michael Montgomery, Herbert C. Morton, Frank Nuessel, Allyn
Partin, Charles D. Poe, Linda Rapp, Anne B. Russell, Jesse T Sheidlower,
Russell Tabbert, Robert S. Wachal, and Greg Williams.
In addition, the following persons contributed citations to our files
during the past year: John Abbenhouse, Michael E. Agnes, Catherine M.
Algeo, Christine Ammer, L. R. N. Ashley, Edward Callary, Frederic G.
Cassidy, Sylvia Chalker, Stuart Chapman, Lurline Coltharp, Betty Jean
Craige, Thomas J. Creswell, Daniel M. Crowl, Elaine Dasher, Steve A.
Demakopoulos, Charles Clay Doyle, Edgar L. Frost, Coburn Freer, Sidney
Greenbaum, Joan H. Hall, Patricia Harn Harris, Michael Hendrick, Albert
E. Krahn, Sidney Landau, Robert Longshore, Don McCreary, Virginia G.
McDavid, Andrew MacLeish, Jeffrey McQuain, Miriam Meyers, Barbara
Morton, Charles Moss, Thomas M. Paikeday, Herbert H. Paper, Herbert
Penzl, Louis Phillips, LewisJ. Poteet, Greg Pulliam, Phyllis Randall, Steve R.
Redford, Randy Roberts, Sean Romer, Luanne von Schneidemesser, Rich-

410

This content downloaded from

217.147.233.11 on Thu, 12 May 2022 13:26:47 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 AMONG THE NEW WORDS 411

ard K. Seymour, Steven Short, Charles R. Silbereisen, Alan Slotkin, James

C. Stalker, Thomas M. Stephens, John Tinkler, Joseph Wallfield, and Mary
Wilson.
We are grateful for the help of all the friends of "Among the New
Words," and if we have overlooked anyone, please let us know.
cleanse vt Carry out ETHNIC CLEANSING (on an area) 1992 Jul 27 US News &
World Report 44/1 Austria, having accepted 50,000 of them so far, is turning
away refugees traveling on Yugoslav passports, arguing in part that allowing
them in would encourage the Serbians to continue "cleansing" Bosnia.
-cleansed; ethnically cleansed 1992 Aug 17 US News & World Report 9/2 By
now we should know the drill in doomed places: the rooftop snipers, the
"cleansed" neighborhoods, the cease-fires beyond count. 1993Jun 27 Atlanta
Constitution A10/3 Mrs. Dedic was beaten in front of her children. Eventually,
the Muslim village was "ethnically cleansed."
cleansing formative [abstracted from ETHNIC CLEANSING, see also CULTURAL
CLEANSING] Eliminating something or someone undesirable -ideological
cleansing Entered in 68.2 (Summer 1993) -male cleansing 1993 May 7
Wall St Jour A14/1-2 The Catholic Church is currently issuing its first cat-
echism of doctrine since the classic work by the Council of Trent in 1566, but in
the United States ... it has bogged down in a battle over "inclusive" or "gender-
neutral" language. ... [?] The product of this male-cleansing effort is now
before the Vatican, which has to decide whether to sign off on an edition that
presumably won't violate the index of forbidden words in the United States.
-political cleansing 1993 May 17 Nation 664/1-2 "Political cleansing" is one
way of describing it. In Colombia, cleansing rests on the notion that people who
hold what are defined as communist or socialist ideas, or who work with grass-
roots organizations, are dirty and must be eliminated or forced out to preserve
the nation's health. -urban cleansing 1993 May 3 Nation 585/2 Perhaps
Sarajevo will outlast this siege and its surviving citizens will get a chance to take
on the herculean task of rebuilding. ... If the city must be abandoned, another
term will have to be added to the language. Urban cleansing? -cleansed 1993
May 7 Wall StJourA14/2 In the new translation [of the catechism] the cleansed
line reads: "What you do to the least of my family members you do to me."
cultural cleansing n 1: ETHNIC CLEANSING 1992 Sep 17 International Herald
Tribune 4/7 The refugees are Nepali-speaking people of southern Bhutan....
[?1] What started out in 1990 as a campaign to force all citizens to wear the
traditional Bhutanese dress and speak the Dzongkha language has grown into a
macabre "cultural cleansing" exercise. 2: Removing dissidents (as from a
political party) 1993Jan 2 Atlanta ConstitutionAll/3 [Molly Ivins] Many of us
were given pause by the Republican convention in Houston, at which Pat
Buchanan seriously proposed religious warfare, cultural cleansing and rooting
out dissatisfied Americans who have infiltrated their own country block-by-
block.
environmental racism n [ Trash Cash, Fizzbos, and Flatliners: A Dictionary of Today's
Words] The locating of industrial or waste plants in minority areas 1991 Mar
4 US News & World Report 21/1-2 (head & article) Uohn Leo] The political
taboos of the '90s / ... Environmental racism-the siting of smokestacks in
Hispanic or black neighborhoods. Dec 30-1992Jan 6 US News & World Report

This content downloaded from

217.147.233.11 on Thu, 12 May 2022 13:26:47 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
412 AMERICAN SPEECH 68.4 (1993)

86/1 ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM The practice of placing toxic waste and

other environmental hazards at sites in minority neighborhoods. Blacks, His-
panics and Native Americans complain of being stung by WASPs in govern-
ment, industry and environmental organizations who believe in laying garbage
to rest in accordance with the sacred principles of NIMBY (not in my back
yard). May 4 US News & World Report 34/3 The rise of "environmental racism"
is a classic example of activists' trying to seize the politically correct high
ground by employing one of society's most provocative charges. The volatile
phrase was coined a decade ago, after the NAACP failed to stop construction of
a hazardous-waste landfill in predominantly black Warren County, N.C. But the
issue took off in 1987, when a study by the United Church of Christ, using
census data, analyzed the racial breakdown around selected waste sites in 25
states and 50 metropolitan areas. It concluded that a disproportionately high
percentage of minority groups-3 in 5 blacks and Hispanics-lived in neigh-
borhoods with abandoned toxic-waste sites. Oct 20 Atlanta Constitution A3/4
And they cite this success [cancellation of plans by a Taiwanese company to
build a rayon factory in Louisiana] as proof that what they call "environmental
racism"-the practice by huge industrial and waste companies of locating
plants in minority neighborhoods-can be stopped. 1993 Apr 10 Raleigh NC
News & Observer A12/5 In 1982, [Benjamin] Chavis helped organize massive
protests against a planned toxic waste dump in predominantly black Warren
County. He coined the term "environmental racism" based on his belief that
minority neighborhoods are disproportionately affected by pollutants.
ethnicated adj (Of mailing lists) segregated by racial or ethnic identity for
commercial or fund-raising purposes 1992 Nov 14 Washington PostAl (head &
article) [Joel Garreau] The Ethics of 'Ethnicated' Mailing Lists / ... In this
case, the likely answer is a little-known but increasingly sophisticated network of
database companies that sell what they call "ethnicated" lists-lists that strive to
separate Americans by racial or ethnic backgrounds for commercial or fund-
raising purposes. Nov 28 Atlanta Constitution D12/2 Joel Garreau, Washington
Post] Ethnicated lists were developed because mailing-list compilers strive to
reduce the junk in junk mail. One resource is a surname table.
ethnic cleansing; cleansing n also attrib 1: The removal of ethnic minorities
from a society by forced migration or genocide, as in former Yugoslavia 1992
Jul 24 Chicago Tribune sec 1 4/3 'There are rumors that on July 27 the Serbs
plan an ethnic cleansing," she said, using the term that describes the forced
removal of non-Serbs from a town after it is captured. She said the nearby
Muslim town of Prejedar had been destroyed and massacres had been commit-
ted there. Jul 27 Tuscaloosa [AL] News A3/5 International Red Cross officials
confirm that "ethnic cleansing" operations have been carried out but note that
the victims have included Serbs in central and southwestern areas controlled by
Muslims and Croats. Jul 27 US News & World Report 41/3-42/1 Calling itself
"ethnic cleansing," a pernicious new strain of the old Nazi virus is filling the
vacuum created by the collapse of communism. Jul 30 USA Today A5/1 The
name change [of the town] was one of the less-brutal methods of "ethnic
cleansing"-clearing an area of civilian Serbs, Muslims or Croatians to make it
ethnically pure for whichever group controlled the region. Aug 10 Jerusalem
Post 3/4-5 "We have heard it before," said Harold Schulweis, a leading Conser-

This content downloaded from

217.147.233.11 on Thu, 12 May 2022 13:26:47 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 AMONG THE NEW WORDS 413

vative rabbi. "'Ethnic cleansing,' the euphemistic code word for final solut
and genocide." Aug 13 Atlanta ConstitutionA22/2 [George Will] So, is Serbia's
seizure and "cleansing" of territory aggression or civil war? Aug 26 Washington
Post A18/2 Among his satisfying moments on the Yugoslav desk, [George D.]
Kenney said, was his role in introducing the term "ethnic cleansing" into the
international lexicon after spotting it in a cable from the U.S. Embassy in
Belgrade. He said he placed it in the draft of "guidance," the policy-approved
material that the State Department spokesman uses as the basis for public
statements. [Margaret] Tutwiler used it for the first time at a briefing on May
14. 1993 Jan 15 NY Times International A3 Sakhruddin Khorakiwala, a promi-
nent Muslim industrialist who holds the important but ceremonial post of
Sheriff of Bombay, said that in other parts of the world the attacks would have
been described as "ethnic cleansing." Jan 24 Atlanta ConstitutionA2/1-2 Where
did the term "ethnic cleansing" come from? ... [?] A computer search revealed that
the first reported use of the term came in aJuly 1991 Reuters news service story
that quoted a member of the Croatian Supreme Council. He said it while
protesting Serb aggression. 2: Concentrating ethnic minorities into an elec-
toral district in order to make other districts safe for politicians representing a
different constituency 1992 Sep 28 US News & World Report 33/1 Uohn Leo]
The Republicans want to pack minorities into electoral homelands, thus "whit-
ening" surrounding districts and increasing the likelihood that black and
Hispanic gains will be more than offset by increased numbers of white Republi-
cans in Congress. This is ethnic cleansing American-style.
ethnification n Segregating (mailing lists) by racial or ethnic identity 1992
Nov 16 Albany NY Times Union A1/4 Joel Garreau, Washington Post] Yet what
Jewish leaders say is "extremely ironic" is that one of the major customers for
ethnicated lists today is the Holocaust Museum itself. For fund-raising pur-
poses, it rents lists culled for probable Jews. [1] Like genetic engineering-
which this computer-driven technology resembles in the speed of its evolu-
tion-there is no history of major abuse of modern ethnification techniques.
However, many experts from ethics professors to ethnic leaders expressed
discomfort about the possibilities.
flame v Communicate (with someone) angrily or intemperately on e-mail 1992
Mar 2 Houston Chronicle B3/1&3 E-mail technology is marching forward too
fast for social rules to keep up, leaving correspondents to police themselves ...
[?] When things get out of hand, ... it's known to hackers as "flaming." 1993
Feb 8 Time 62/1 Sociologists note that, without visual cues, people communi-
cating on-line tend to flame: to state their views more heatedly than they would
face to face. May 24 Wall StJour B5/4 As soon as he activated it [a program
blocking anonymous messages on Internet] in April, Dr. DePew was flamed by
other users, illustrating the passion with which people defend computer
speech. May (personal communication, Elizabeth Blount) My son, who works
in the library at GA TECH, says people regularly use the verb 'to flame' for what
happens on an e-mail line when people don't like a message. -flamefest
1993 Feb 8 Time62/2 The question "Is there a cyberpunk movement?" launched
a freewheeling on-line FLAME-fest that ran for months.
flame mail n Angry e-mail message [ Trash Cash, Fizzbos, and Flatliners: A Dictio-
na7y of Today's Words] 1992 Feb 24 Business Week 63 (picture caption) LEARN-

This content downloaded from

217.147.233.11 on Thu, 12 May 2022 13:26:47 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
414 AMERICAN SPEECH 68.4 (1993)

ING MICROSPEAK ... FLAME MAIL Electronic mail that is caustic or emo-
tional 1993 May 24 Wall StJour Bi & B5/4 But many volunteer-run bulletin
boards decline to control what people write. ... [1?] People who are offensive or
irrelevant are shouted down by "flame mail," a barrage of messages by angry
users that sometimes can even overwhelm an offender's computer.
Franken- formative [clipped from Frankenstein] (Of foods) genetically altered
-Frankenfood 1992 Oct 16 Atlanta Constitution G2/2 An Atlanta chef is
leading the charge against "Frankenfood"-genetically altered foods tha
expected on store shelves soon, such as the Flavr Savr tomato. Ibid G3/1 You
may have already heard the term "Frankenfood" to sum up genetically altered
foods. You can thank Paul Lewis [Boston College English professor], who
coined the term when he wrote a letter last summer to The New York Times.
Since then, the word has caught on and has appeared in various media. Nov 5
Baton Rouge LA Morning Advocate H1/1&3 [Mark Munro, Boston Globe] First
off, on June 28, Lewis' neologism turned up on the front page of the Sunday
Times, in the headline of a big story entitled "Geneticists' Latest Discovery:
Public Fear of 'Frankenfood."' ... [?] "I'm proud of this word," he says. "It has
a phonetic rhythm, it's pithy, and you can use the 'Franken-' prefix on any-
thing: 'Frankenfruit,' say. You can say, 'We're breathing Frankenair.' 'We're
drinking Frankenwater.' 'It's a Frankenworld."' -Frankentomato Tomato
with the gene that governs rotting removed and reinserted backwards 1992
Nov 12 CNN News 10:30 am Some people call it Frankentomato.
gender equity n Treating males and females alike 1992 Nov 15 NY Times 9/1
As you might guess, "gender equity" is the hot buzz phrase in athletics these
days. The N.C.A.A. has a Gender Equity Task Force, and there is the hope/fear
that college sports is finally moving toward a real enforcement of Title IX, the
laws that bar sex discrimination at institutions that receive Federal aid. Some
people think gender equity will lead us to that sweaty Nirvana, the Fair Shake
Athletic Club. ... [?] However, Lopiano says that her sense of gender equity
forcing athletic departments to spend the same amount on women as on men-
will be a catalyst for change. 1993Jun 27 Athens [GA] Banner-Herald D1/2-
The AAUW supports an amendment that calls for training public school
teachers in gender equity, reviving research and involving more girls in math
and science. [l] The Sadkers have given hundreds of presentations on gender
equity in which they show educators a videotape of a classroom discussion, then
ask if both genders were treated fairly. Very few perceive obvious discrimination
... [1] The teachers then watch the tape again, counting the number of times
boys are called on-nearly three times as often-and the amount of praise
given to boys -four times as much. Jul 16 Athens [GA] Banner-Herald 1/1 The
committee discussed several courses of action, including ... turning the data
over to a faculty committee on statistical analysis, appointed earlier this year by
Vice President for Academic Affairs William Prokasy to examine a similar study
on gender equity in faculty pay.
gender feminism n The belief that sex roles are defined mainly socially rather
than biologically, specif that roles forced upon women are designed to oppress
them 1991 Jan 21 New York 38/1 Indeed, the central tenet of gender femi-
nism is that Western society is organized around a "sex/gender system." What
defines the system, according to Sandra Harding, a professor of philosophy at

This content downloaded from

217.147.233.11 on Thu, 12 May 2022 13:26:47 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 AMONG THE NEW WORDS 415

the University of Delaware and one of its exponents, is "male dominance

possible by men's control of women's productive and reproductive labor."
7 Wall StJourp n/a [Christina Sommers] Ms. MacKinnon, a professor of
the University of Michigan, is a matron saint of gender feminism. ... He
some of Prof. MacKinnon's insights: ... [1] "Feminism stresses the indistin-
guishability of prostitution, marriage and sexual harassment." 1992 Oct 5
National Review 47/1 Gender feminism is a bastard child of Marxism. It holds
that women are not women by nature, but that society has "constructed" or
created them female so that men could oppress them. -gender feminist
1991 Jan 21 New York 38/2 But it is not just the coldly analytical and dualistic
structures of male thinking that the gender feminists find so contemptible. It is
males themselves, or at least heterosexual males. 1992 Oct 5 National Review
47/2 Of course, the gender feminists are not so naive as to admit their radical
agendas outside the sanctuaries of women's studies departments. In testifying
before Presidential Commissions they will say that placing women in combat
positions is merely an extension of women working outside the home, and of
equal opportunity.
genetic racism n Eugenics 1992 Nov21 Atlanta Constitution E1l/2-3 The spec-
ter of genetic racism: New genetic information is likely to show differences
between races that could be used to justify "improving" genetic stock. Through
selective abortions, genetic manipulation to create designer babies, or en-
forced sterilization of certain groups ... a hidden and unobstructed practice of
eugenics could result.
grunge; grunge chic n A fashionable style of mismatched clothing suggestive of
thrift shops and street life 1992 Nov 4 Houston Chronicle sec D The other is
grunge, the Seattle-born, thrift-shop type of dressing where everything wrong is
worn together. Nov 5 USA Today Dl Grunge Chic, a street-smart style spawned
in the showrooms of avante-garde Paris designers Martin Margiella and Ann
Demeulemeester has landed here with a big splash. Nov 22 Atlanta Constitu-
tion L1/2-3 (subhead & article) The trickle-up theory: Grunge, hip-hop looks
going mainstream / ... The grunge look includes a motley layering of cutoff
jeans, long johns, plaid shirts, leatherjackets and stocking caps or baseball hats
worn backward. Dec 19 Louisville Courier-Journal Scene mag 4/1-2 (head &
subhead) GRUNGE / The trashy sound and look have gone from obscure to
hot to nearly passe ... in little more than a year 1993Jan 3 Atlanta Constitution
LI/I The hats [skullcaps] showed up on runways in New York in grunge-style
fashion presentations. -grunger 1992 Nov 22 Atlanta Constitution L1/3 Less
trendy than the hip-hop crowd, grungers pride themselves on combining a new
concert T-shirt with a gauzy flowered skirt still scented with the musty perfume
of a vintage resale shop and topped with a leather jacket or Grandpa's old plaid
flannel. Footwear is ultimately functional-combat boots or Doc Marten work
shoes.
grunge; grunge metal; grunge rock n A type of heavy metal music like speed
metal 1991 Dec 1 NY Times 26/5 Of all the dream-pop groups, Swervedriver is
the least androgynous and the one most influenced by American grunge-rock
groups. 1992 Aug 23 Buffalo News G1/1-2 It's impossible to list them all, but
here is a sampling of some of the more popular categories, based on a list
compiled by rock critic Ron Tannenbaum. ... Thrash metal is close to speed

This content downloaded from

217.147.233.11 on Thu, 12 May 2022 13:26:47 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
416 AMERICAN SPEECH 68.4 (1993)

metal, as are grunge metal and grindcore. Dec 13 Des Moines Sunday Register
F2/1 [J. D. Considine, Baltimore Sun] (From a glossary of pop music) Grunge
(grunj) n. 1. Rock style generally associated with alternative-metal bands from
the Seattle area, ... 2. A fashion craze drawing from the Seattle rock scene in
which couturiers sell thrift-shop clothing ... adj. 3. Of electric guitars, having a
dirty, distorted tone, similar in sound to heavy metal guitar but lacking the
virtuosity. Dec 19 Louisville Courier-Journal Scene mag 4/1 In 1988, a fledgling
Seattle record label called Sub Pop released a boxed set called "Sub Pop 200."
... [1] Sub Pop also sent out a catalog describing its bands' punk-metal guitar
noise as "grunge," the first documented use of the now-ubiquitous term. 1993
Jan 8 Athens [GA] Banner-Herald (Weekend sec) 10/1 The newest entry from
the pre-eminent grunge men [rock group Nirvana] contains tracks licensed
from Sub Pop and other Seattle independent labels. Jun 20 Atlanta Constitu-
tion K13/1 Seattle-Summer's here and you've decided to take a vacation to
the birthplace and reigning capital of Grunge Rock. ... [l] If the bands don't
look promising at the RKCNDY, go about two blocks north and you're at
another of the best grunge grottoes. -gunge-o-mania Idem But if you want
sweaty, smelly, beer-spilling toe-smashing grunge-o-mania, scoop it up here
[Colourbox, Seattle club]. -grungie jumper; grungie wannabe 1993 Feb
Vanity Fair 92 (top) The Grunge Plunge / In Singles, in Nirvana's videos, and at
almost any "alternative" music event, you'll find the same flannel-clad grungie
jumpers, diving from the stage, then swimming over the sea of hands they've
landed on. Then years ago punks slam-danced. Now P.C., communal, post-
Lollapalooza, suburban grungie wannabes "mosh," and stage-diving has be-
come the preferred way to establish ... a personal relationship.
hard mail n 1992 Nov 2 Victoria BC Times-Colonist A5/1-2 [William Safire]
This question has also puzzled John W. Nason of Jericho, N.Y., ... "Now that
there's voice mail and E-mail, I wonder what all those bills and other stuff that
come through the U.S. Postal Service will be called in the future. Real mail?" ...
[?] The solution: voice mailand its accompanying voicephone number to print on
your business card, fax mail ... and companion fax number, and the unreal-time
communication that enlivens and enriches this column hard mail.
medical racism n Racial discrimination in the delivery of medical services 1993
Jun 21 Atlanta Constitution A9/1 [Derrick Z. Jackson] This and other recent
studies found that African-Americans received fewer heart procedures, even
adjusting for insurance and income. [?] This is medical racism. But researchers
lack the courage to say so.
medicide n Medically assisted suicide 1992 Jan 23 Atlanta Constitution A9/1
Dr. Jack Kevorkian outlines the plan [for a nationwide network of doctors to
help people end their lives] in an article in February's American Journal of
Forensic Psychiatry ... [?] The 85-page issue is entirely devoted to the article, "A
Fail-Safe Model For Justifiable Medically Assisted Suicide (Medicide)." Nov
28 Detroit News C9/2 The infamousJack Kevorkian has invented a new term for
what he does: medicide. ... Taken literally, "medicide" would be the killing of
doctors. Dec 16 USA Today A3/3-4 Kevorkian, 64, a retired pathologist, was
stripped of his Michigan medical license last year. He has waged a public
campaign in support of the practice he calls "medicide." 1993 May 31 Time

This content downloaded from

217.147.233.11 on Thu, 12 May 2022 13:26:47 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 AMONG THE NEW WORDS 417

35/2 The A.C.L.U. challenged the law, and Kevorkian promised to postpone
any further medicide until after the court reached a decision.
mosh v [Ayto, Longman Register of New Words 1989] Dance with exaggerated
movements and collisions with other dancers 1992Jun 26 Atlanta Constitution
F4/3 The 20-year-old spent the early part of the evening in the sparsely
populated pit, trying to mosh-a form of slam dancing that combines high
stepping and jumping around while smashing into other dancers. Sep 1
Atlanta Constitution D6/3 Ministry (8 p.m.) is the industrial-rock act du jour,
monolithic in terms of sheer aggression, monotonous otherwise. Time to
mosh-or run for soda. -moshing 1991 Dec. 15-21 Houston Post 11 [TV
schedule] MTV Breakin' Outta Bounds Profiles "moshing," or slam-dancing;
women in music; bands Metallica, Nirvana, ... 1992 Sep 1 Atlanta Constitution
D1/2-5 (head & subhead) LOLLAPALOOZA '92 / music, moshing and (orga-
nized) mayhem
mosh pit n Place for MOSHING 1992 Sep 1 Atlanta Constitution D6/2 PearlJam
(3 p.m.) smoked 'em last time 'round, fueling the Lakewood mosh pits with
adrenalized Seattle rock.

Rapology n Incitement of black violence against whites 1992 Jul 27 Insi

21/2-3 & 22/3 The name of Frantz Fanon, a Franco-African from the West
Indies, is seldom heard nowadays. ... [?] Sister Souljah and Ice-T, who say it's
time for blacks to kill whites and police, may not know it, but it was Fanon who
supplied the rationale for Rapology, the audacious incitements to a modern
form of lynch law in the name of a putative black liberation. ... [1] The real
sadness of Fanon's message and the message of such violence promoters as
Sister Souljah and Ice-T is that while they themselves won't kill white people or
police officers, other blacks may take Rapology seriously and act upon it.
-Rapological Ibid 22/2 For Fanon, whose ideological message changed with
the passing years, the Rapological cries of Sister Souljah and Ice-T might appear
to be "utopian solutions" stemming from a lack of confidence in themselves, in
their ability to achieve their desired goals. -Rapologist Ibid 22/3 Black
America as well as white America will pay the price for the "internal war" that
Rapologists like Sister Souljah and Ice-T have declared against the people of
this country, and an even greater price because of the leadership failure of their
indulgent defenders like Jesse Jackson and Roger Wilkins.
raptivist n An activist who uses rap music as a medium, specif Sister
Souljah 1992 Feb 13-20 NY Observer The defining move ... of Bill Clinton was
the Sister Souljah ploy. As members of his entourage have boasted, it was cool,
calculated and gratuitous. [1] They used a snippet from an interview with the
"raptivist" a month earlier, while South Central Los Angeles still was
smoldering. Jun 29 Newsweek 53/1 [Lorene Cary] I don't know exactly what
Lisa Williamson, the self-named "raptivist" Sister Souljah, said before and after
the killing white people quote that Governor Clinton condemned, and that TV
shows and newspapers and magazines, including this one, have reacted to ever
since.

skank [U.C.L.A. Slang (UCLA Dept of Linguistics 1989); Spears, Contemporary

American Slang (Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook, 1991)] 1: adj
Disgusting, cheap looking, ugly; in the GRUNGE style; sexually promiscuous 198

This content downloaded from

217.147.233.11 on Thu, 12 May 2022 13:26:47 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
418 AMERICAN SPEECH 68.4 (1993)

Sep 25 Newsweek 6/4 (Buzzwords) This week, a look at how teenagers talk in the
heart-of-the-heart of the country--Chicago: ... Skeezer: A fast girl. Skank: Too
fast. 1990 Jan 14 Midland [TX] Reporter-Telegram E3/6 According to Kim
Massey, journalism teacher at LHS [Lee Freshman High School], and some of
her journalism students, popular slang heard in the halls and classes of LHS
include: ... "skank" or "nappy" (both mean gross or disgusting). 1992 Aug 23
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Magazine 5/2 In hip-hop, skank means ... nasty or
disgusting. -skanky 1982 Jodie Ann Posserello as told to Sue Black The
Totally Awesome Val Guide (Los Angeles: Price/Stern/Sloan) 22 SKANKY-
Weird, sickening, gross. School is a pretty skanky place to be. Mary Corey and
Victoria Westermark Fer Shurr! How to be a Valley Girl-Totally! (Bantam) p n/a
Skanky: adj. nauseating, repellent, yukky. Syn. beasty, grody. 1991 Nov 13
Houston Chronicle D5 Slinging the slang: Dude ... Skanky: Ugly. 1992 Jun 26
Atlanta Constitution F4/4 Manager Danny Hamilton says he doesn't have many
problems with out-of-control patrons at the club [Wreck Room]. Theyjust try to
look skanky. "If you got that thrash music going on, you get alternative kids and
the kids with Mohawks." 1993 May 28 Entertainment Weekly 63/2 SOUL ASY-
LUM has a lot riding on this MTV Unplugged session, and lead singer/resident
babe Dave Pirner looks tense. He tosses his appropriately skanky blond mane
self-consciously and makes forced chitchat. 2: n a: GRUNGE CHIC 1992 Aug
8-9 International Herald Tribune 1/6 [Michiko Kakutani, NY Times Service] Some
teen-agers prefer a grungier-if equally tasteless-look known as "skank"; the
look, possibly inspired by heroin addicts, includes grubby, unwashed clothes of
uncertain color and dirty, unwashed hair. b: A grungy looking person 1992
Jul 14 Atlanta Constitution C1/3-4 (subhead) & C8/5 [Kris Worrell] Out of the
mouths of babes (or maybe skanks) comes jammin' generational jargon / ...
SKANK - 1. Scuzzy-looking person with bad attitude who does his or her own
thing. 2. Cheap or sleazy-looking girl. The Red Hot Chili Peppers is a band full of
skanks. Aug 23 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Magazine 5/1-2 In the burbs, a skank
used to mean the worst kind of nerd, a guy whose underwear showed over the
tops of his jeans. Now it's a compliment. A skank is a non-conformist, someone
who doesn't dress like everyone else. 3: vi Move with a step characteristic of
grunge musicians 1992 Nov 23 Atlanta Constitution C7/2 "Afriskamatik" 10
tonight on WREK-FM (91.1)-Music you can skank to. A sampling of ska, modern
ska, dance hall, world beat and Afro-pop. -skankin'; skanking 1991 Aug 16
Atlanta Weekly 35/1 Folks were skanking-back on a Saturday night at the
African I. Reggae music was throbbing and Rastas jammed the dance floor.
Skanking, a queer little walking dance step, was the order of the night. 1992
Sep 1 Atlanta Constitution D6/3 [At Lollapalooza '92 Music Festival, Atlanta]
Red Hot Chili Peppers (9:30 p.m.), punk-funk muscle boys skankin' in their
skivvies, are surprisingly phenomenal seeing as they've been at it for 10 years.
slackin', slacking 1: adj (Of jeans) oversized, fashionably baggy 1992 Nov
Essence 26 Ever since hip-hop jams exploded on airwaves in the late 1980's, the
world has been en-raptured with homeboys' in-your-face flavor. The hip-hopsters'
trademark blue jeans five sizes too big (aka slackin') created such a noise that
clothing giants like Levi Strauss & Co. began manufacturing oversize jeans to
quench demand. 2: n The fashion of wearing such garments 1992 Sep 17

This content downloaded from

217.147.233.11 on Thu, 12 May 2022 13:26:47 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 AMONG THE NEW WORDS 419

Atlanta Constitution E3 The hip-hop craze spa

few sizes too big, and now mainstream designer
Loose Levis.

snailmail, snail mail; s/mail n Ordinary mail, ie, US Post Office mail, as
posed to e-mail 1991 Oct TESL Reporter [Brigham Young University, Ha
76/2 You can also send a regular letter (snail mail) to Anthea Tillyer, In
tional English Language Institute, Hunter College (10 East), 695 Park Avenue,
New York, NY 10021. 1992 Bob Wachal (written communication) This item is
sometimes shortened to s/mail (as opposed to e/mail), but I haven't seen it in
print. 1993 Apr 16 Atlanta Constitution F5 (cartoon B.C.) [Strip shows Dook,
the bird, askingJohn, the turtle, who is wearing a MAIL sign, if he is delivering
tax refunds. His response:] "Don't be silly. / They go by snail mail." May 2 LA
Times Magazine 14/3 Electronic bulletin boards let you send private messages
to other users or join ongoing conversations. A bit of BBS babble: ... snailmail
n. regular, old U.S. Postal Service.
stage diving, stage-diving n Jumping from a stage onto the waiting arms of
other dancers 1992Jun 26 Atlanta Constitution F4/3-4 But it's a slow night in
the pit, where signs reading "No Stage Diving" hang on the amps. 1993 Feb
Vanity Fair 92 sv GRUNGIE JUMPER

This content downloaded from

217.147.233.11 on Thu, 12 May 2022 13:26:47 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms