While I was watching an episode of Gossip Girl, some of the terms they used jumped out at me (not literally of course!) and they are:
1) dress to kill
2) call the fashion police
I was thinking these are really fierce words which are associated with many negative things like crime and death etc. and why would they want to associate it with something so beautiful and expressive as fashion? Thinking about it though, the fashion industry is indeed cutthroat in so many ways, condemning people they claim to be 'fashion disasters' and setting rules by which the fashion conscious live by, some sort of 'law' and the fashion editors and trend setters being the 'government' in this crazy fashion world. The Oxford English Dictionary carries definitions of the fashion police and fashion victim:
(OED)
fashion police n. colloq. a group of people enforcing a particular dress code; esp. (humorous) a notional group of self-appointed experts who habitually comment on the fashion sense of others, usually to condemn them for a perceived lack of style.
1986 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 29 Aug. B7/1 He wanted them to get ready for next week, when they become *fashion police, enforcers of a new dress code that bans the ‘three Ds’clothing that is dangerous, distracting and disruptive. 1988 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 16 Mar. 20 In Washington you get the feeling that if people fall out of line and, say, wear yellow shirts, or skirts above the knee, the fashion police will rush right over to cover them with a Burberry. 2001 Cosmopolitan Dec. 208 It used to be that the fashion police would flag you down if you wore creamy colors after labor day.
fashion victim n. usually depreciative a person who slavishly follows trends, esp. in clothing fashion.
1984 Adweek 7 May 39/1 Slick, monied punks show you can wear diamonds without being a *Fashion Victim. 1992 R. GRAEF Living Dangerously i. 39 When the precious jeans were finally on board, he sheepishly conceded there was nothing he could point to which distinguished them from any othersexcept the label... I felt there was some value in hinting to them they might be fashion victims rather than connoisseurs. 1999 N.Y. Times Mag. 14 Nov. 87 (caption), I also had just gotten an asymmetrical buzz cut at Astor Place. I was a total MTV fashion victim.
What confused me was, if police usually are out for people who kill, why is it that the fashion police 'catch' people who are not dressed to kill? In the fashion world, it seems, the word "kill" is not used in the same way as the rest of the world. "Dressed to kill" would mean wearing something so fabulous and strong in terms of design and so fashionable that it 'kills' off all the other competition and 'kills' off any criticism that could arise, earning only praise. Interestingly I found another term that is used to describe models who trip on the runway, "fashion road kill". link! What a fierce and terrifying world fashion is!
3.30.2010
Listening to some old songs by Fergie and Destiny's Child, I noticed that part of the word delicious has come to be combined with other words to attach the meaning of delicious to a particular object or entity. Some examples include "fergalicious" (one of Fergie's songs), "bootylicious" (a Destiny's Child song), "yummilicious" and "Girlicious" (an American girl group).
Surprisingly a few dictionaries had the definition of "bootylicious" (onelook.com)
- bootylicious: Cambridge International Dictionary of English [home, info]
bootylicious adjective
/ˌbuː.tiˈlɪʃ.əs/
/-t ̬i-/US slang sexually attractive - bootylicious: Wiktionary [home, info]
- bootylicious: Dictionary.com [home, info]
Main Entry: bootylicious Part of Speech: adj Definition: sexually attractive, esp. in the buttocks Etymology: booty + delicious Usage: slang - Bootylicious: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia [home, info]
- bootylicious: Dictionary/thesaurus [home, info]
The most interesting word I felt was "yummilicious", as is yummy not equivalent to delicious?
Only Urbandictionary.com had the meaning of "yummilicious" from which I derived that the combination of these two words intensified the degree to which what was being described is "yummy":
1.To describe what is both yummy and delicious.
2. Make them taste-buds crazy.
In this case the part of the word delicious, -licious, carries the meaning of appeal and attractiveness and when attached to another word, attributes it with that meaning, which explains the girl group Girlicious and Fergie's choice of doing just that in order to associate themselves with the traits of being appealing, and sexually attractive especially.
Whenever I use the word "retarded" I never really think about it. I usually use it to describe someone who is being really foolish, or silly. When I checked the meaning out I realised the word denotes something much stronger than how I use it.
(Dictionary.com)
re·tard
[ri-tahrd, for 1–3, 5; ree-tahrd for 4]
Show IPA–verb (used with object)
1.
to make slow; delay the development or progress of (an action, process, etc.); hinder or impede.
–verb (used without object)
2.
to be delayed.
–noun
3.
a slowing down, diminution, or hindrance, as in a machine.
4.
Slang: Disparaging.
a.
a mentally retarded person.
b.
a person who is stupid, obtuse, or ineffective in some way: a hopeless social retard.
5.
Automotive, Machinery. an adjustment made in the setting of the distributor of an internal-combustion engine so that the spark for ignition in each cylinder is generated later in the cycle.
re·tard·ed
[ri-tahr-did] Show IPA–adjective
1.
characterized by retardation: a retarded child.
–noun
2.
(used with a plural verb
) mentally retarded persons collectively (usually prec. by the): new schools for the retarded.
) mentally retarded persons collectively (usually prec. by the): new schools for the retarded.I think this is one example in which the meaning of a word is diluted over time and it has now come to be used in more casual and less serious situations where what is being referred to as being "retarded" is not necessarily a person but could be the situation itself. Say for example a person could trip over something and someone else would say "You're so retarded, can you please walk with your eyes open?". Or if a test date gets pushed to an earlier date, a student would say, "Oh man, that is just so retarded." So in this case the meaning of the word has been diluted and is less derogatory when it is used nowadays perhaps?
In a recent episode of the Amazing Race, one contestant mixed up Joan of Arc with Noah and that got me thinking, why did that happen? How is it possible to mix up such key male and female figures? The contestant kept insisting that Joan of Arc was the MAN who built the ark for the animals and her partner had to tell her that the person she was actually talking about was Noah, from the Bible. The only reason for her to mix it up and for me as a Singaporean to think that is ridiculous, is due to the way in which we are lexically primed. As an American, she probably has some sort of religious background as she knows about Noah and the ark, which explains her referring to that story when she hears the word "arc". For myself, my being a Christian and also having background knowledge on French history primed me in a way that the two would not be mixed up and hence explains my reaction to what I saw.
Check out a recap here!
Amazing Race Recap
Is there such a thing as a fruitmonger? In a conversation with friends, someone used that term and got a strong reaction from the rest who felt only the word fishmonger existed. However when I checked out the meaning of "monger", it appeared that "monger"meant a dealer in a certain commodity (dictionary.com) with examples like "fishmonger", "ironmonger" being given. Since fruit is a commodity it could be used with the word monger. However looking at the word's origin, there could be some reason why it is not used with the word monger. Coming from PIE base *mang- "to embellish, dress, trim.", perhaps this is why fruits are not usually used with the word "monger" as they do not need to be dealt with in the same way fish or iron might have to be (scaled, shaped). Also, since "monger" has another meaning of:
A person promoting something undesirable or discreditable. Often used in combination: a scandalmonger; a warmonger.Dictionary.com
which is something negative, perhaps more unpleasant commodities also come to be associated with the term as seen with fish and iron.
which is something negative, perhaps more unpleasant commodities also come to be associated with the term as seen with fish and iron.
I was just wondering how "shut up" has come to be used to express extreme shock at something someone says instead of to ask someone to stop talking. I am pretty sure this use of the terms came from American TV as usual and have translated into the same usage by many youngsters in Singapore. As seen in the Mean Girls trailer, when one of the Plastics says "Shut up! Shut up!" at 0:35 and Cady replies "I didn't say anything.", showing very clearly the confusion that might arise when the phrase now carries a new meaning when used in a certain way.
Perhaps the key is in the pronunciation, particularly the tone. If "shut up" is said with a more significant pause in between the two words accompanied with a slower enunciation of the words and eyes opened so big you look like your eyeballs are going to fall out, then it would mean extreme shock instead of the other meaning. It makes it easier if the word "up" is said with a rising tone, a high pitched voice would help in this case, and a meaning of extreme shock would be translated to the other person listening. It seems only girls use "shut up" this way though, given the need for a high pitched voice to successfully evoke the right meaning of the phrase and also because guys just do not react to what their friends say in such extreme manners, if anything shocks them, the fist is what they take out, not the unbelievably awesome phrase "shut up!".
FOOTBALL vs. SOCCER
I always get confused with the usage of these two terms. In Singapore, they mean the same thing, the beautiful game where 22 men chase a ball around a field and attempt to get the ball into their respective goals. However in other countries like in the United States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK), these terms mean different sports.
according to Merriam-webster.com,
Main Entry: soc·cer
Pronunciation: \ˈsä-kər\
Function: noun
Etymology: by shortening & alteration from association football
Date: 1889
: a game played on a field between two teams of 11 players each with the object to propel a round ball into the opponent's goal by kicking or by hitting it with any part of the body except the hands and arms —called also association football
Main Entry: foot·ball
Pronunciation: \ˈfu̇t-ˌbȯl\
Function: noun
Date: 15th century
1 : any of several games played between two teams on a usually rectangular field having goalposts or goals at each end and whose object is to get the ball over a goal line, into a goal, or between goalposts by running, passing, or kicking: as a British :soccer b British : rugby c : an American game played between two teams of 11 players each in which the ball is in possession of one side at a time and is advanced by running or passing d Australian : australian rules football e Canada : canadian football 2 a : an inflated oval ball used in the game of football b British : a soccer ball3 : something treated roughly especially as the subject of a prolonged dispute
— foot·ball·er \-ˌbȯ-lər\ noun
Football in the USA is what the British refer to as Rugby, which explains why we use the term Rugby instead of Football in Singapore when referring to the sport where hands can be used to pass the ball.
Dictionary.com offers a clearer explanation of soccer where it is explained that only the goalkeepers can catch or throw the ball,
soc·cer
[sok-er] Show IPA–noun
a form of football played between two teams of 11 players, in which the ball may be advanced by kicking or by bouncing it off any part of the body but the arms and hands, except in the case of the goalkeepers, who may use their hands to catch, carry, throw, or stop the ball.
What I gather is that due to our being educated to use British English, we use Soccer and Rugby in the same way they use it. As to why we use Soccer and Football interchangeably and refer to the American type of football as American Football to differentiate is probably due to the interpretation of Football as closely related to Soccer as there is use of the feet mostly and hence we do not see anything wrong with using the terms interchangeably, given that we already have the term Rugby for the other sport.
| 1. | ttylolmfaomfgtg | |
Simply the ultimate word. A perfect mixture of the words TTYL LOL LMFAO OMFG and GTG. They combine together to create the perfect word where each word within it shares a letter. No one alive except Chuck Norris can handle his word I attempted to say ttylolmfaomfgtg but failed horribly. | ||
Have you heard of this word?
Well, when I chanced upon it on urbandictionary.com, I laughed like crazy thinking, people must be insane or high on something to post an entry like that!
However, it also made me think about abbreviations and how they have come to be seen as entities that can stand alone, just like words and not as individual letters meshed together randomly. Terms like LOL and BTW have jumped off the computer screen and into daily real life conversation. Some of my friends would go "oh ya, B-T-W, she's a total hypocrite." or, "O-M-G, you would not believe what happened yesterday!". Could there come a day when there could be compound abbreviations with more than one abbreviation put together as shown in the example above? Would there be a day when we all talked mostly in abbreviations? Something like...
Hey!!! HYB? OMG, the weather has been HAH! I feel like I could just FAD AMOTD now. Hey, I GTG now though, GSY, TTYS!
Give it a shot and try deciphering that :) (answer below!)
Translation: Hey!!! How've you been? Oh my God, the weather has been hot as hell! I feel like I could just faint and die any minute of the day now. Hey, I got to go now though, great seeing you, talk to you soon!
Anyway, I think we would never reach a day when it is completely abbreviations we are using as there are just words that are needed to to link the abbreviations up and put them in context so that the utterance makes sense, (as I discovered from trying to come up with a sentence with only abbreviations). I guess if the whole sentence was abbreviations only it would then become a nonsensical mesh of alphabets not communicating any meaning!
ok, TAFN! :)
