At their recent meeting in Boston, the American Dialect Society named “metrosexual” “manscaping” and “flexitarian” as the newest words in the American lexicon. Story from the Seattle Times
According to the article, gay culture had a prominent impact on our verbiage last year. TV’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” spawned “zhuzh,” which means to fluff up or primp. Hip-hop brought us the suffix “izzle” as in “televizzle” and “wait a minizzle.” “Bling bling,” as in flashy jewelry, has been clipped to “bling.” Note to spell-checkers everywhere: better add these words to your lexicon!
What About Worn-Out Words
I love keeping up with the slang of the young-uns, if only to cause eye-rolling among my highschoolers when I let slip the occasional “bling” or “izzle.”
However, there are some words I don’t want to hear anymore: “troops” used now for what was once “soldier,” and “terrorist organization” used now for what was once the NEA.
I will have more to say on that topic later.