[Ads-l] WOTY candidate: "twalking" = 'texting while walking'

[Mark Mandel]

I've seen "digital zombies", but can't remember where.

MAM

On Thu, Nov 14, 2019 at 12:24 PM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Here’s a candidate that seems likely to stick:
>
> https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Texting%20Zombie <
> https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Texting%20Zombie>
>
> BB
>
> > On 14 Nov 2019, at 07:58, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
> >
> > "
> > "People who text while walking need a word to describe them"
> > --I guess "dearly departed" or "corpses-in-waiting" aren't sufficiently
> > specific.  But I agree that "twalkers", like its referents, doesn't have
> a
> > promising future.
> > LH
> >
> > On Thu, Nov 14, 2019 at 10:33 AM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> On Thu, Nov 14, 2019 at 9:36 AM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Not sure how brand new it is, but I encountered it (the term, not the
> >>> activity) for the first time today, in a piece on the first page of the
> >>> Times Business section. Not a brilliant coinage, but I suppose an
> >>> inevitable one, especially since it seems to conjure both "tweeting"
> and
> >>> "talking" as well.  Maybe for the "unlikely to succeed" category?
> >>>
> >>
> >> Back in 2015 I wrote a Wall Street Journal column about suggested terms
> for
> >> the walking-while-texting phenomenon, including "wexting" and
> "distracted
> >> walking." Those who text while walking have been called "petextrians,"
> >> "pedtextrians," or "digital deadwalkers."
> >>
> >>
> https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-do-you-call-a-reckless-texter-1451407390
> >>
> >> None of those have caught on since then, and I can't see "twalking"
> being
> >> any more successful. But keep in mind that we've retired the "least
> likely
> >> to succeed" category in our WOTY voting (along with some other unloved
> >> categories).
> >>
> >> --bgz
>
>
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>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org