new (or unfamiliar to me) words from undergraduates

[Laurence Horn]

In this pre-WOTY season, I thought there might be some interest in a
compilation of items provided by students in my undergraduate
Structure and History of English Words class, extracted from the
NEW-Js (New English Word Journals) I had them compile.  Some of these
appear in published lexicons, others don't (and maybe shouldn't).

A number of them of course are blends, including the ubiquitous
_metrosexual_ and _recoc(k)ulous_ as well as the older-hat _hasbian_
('ex-lesbian') and _faux-hawk_ ('imitation mohawk haircut', as
discussed on the list a while back), and also...

_flexitarian_ 'a vegetarian who makes exceptions for special occasions'
_manscaping_ (apparently big on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy")
_metrodox_ 'modern orthodox Jew'
_tomacco_ (apparently first appeared in the Simpsons, but has since
been formulated in the real world, as a hybrid/graft of a tomato
plant onto tobacco roots; it bore fruit but unfortunately was almost
certainly poisonous)
_pharming_ 'producing medically active substances through creation of
transgenic plants or animals'
_egosurf_ 'to try to find references to oneself in search engines',
e.g. to autogoogle
_celebutante_ (popularized by the TV show "The Simple Life")
_carcoon_ (a car with the comforts of home built in)
_cankles_ (what fat people have instead of distinct calves and
ankles, from "Shallow Hal")
_craptacular_  (what it sounds like)

Some current slang terms with which I was unfamiliar:

_(to be/get) moded_ 'mocked, made an ass of'
_nonner_ 'one who doesn't x', for some contextually salient x
_duppie_ 'depressed urban professional'
_sketch_ 'a sketchy, suspicious or shady character'
_gank_ 'filch', as in "I'm gonna gank some of your fries"  [origin?]
_punk_ (v.) 'to pull a prank on someone pretentious', apparently from
an MTV show
_brick_ (adj.) 'very cold' (of weather)

One student cited (as non-current slang) _Gettysburg address_ as an
early 1900's term for 'grand slam', which it would have predated; the
allusion is of course to "four score".  (I did find this on one web
site.)  Another pointed out _scrip_, medical jargon for
"prescription" that isn't yet listed in a number of dictionaries
(although I'm sure it is in others).

One mentioned _algoreithm_, a cutesy Republican coinage circa Nov.
2000, defined as 'any method of calculation performed repeatedly
until a desired result is obtained'--I must have missed this at the
time.

More seriously, someone else volunteered triarchic, as applied to a
particular theory of consciousness or intelligence; evidently not
listed in the usual sources, although it's been around for a while.

An inevitable retronym:  _outernet_ (for books, magazines, and other
non-electronic media).  And a new retronymic sense of _extracellular_
'pertaining to the world outside one's cell-phone conversation'.
And finally, in no particular order, some entries from the
why-didn't-hold-off-until-the-instructor's-kids-are-out-of-college
department...

_'motential_ ("He's straight, but he's got 'motential")
_pomosexual_ (yup, post-modern, with irrelevant boundaries between
fuzzy categories)
_heteroflexible_ vs. _homoflexible_ (with the prefix apparently
designating where one is coming from)
_cooter-booter_ ('a woman who interferes with another woman's
flirtation efforts', based on the well-established cock-block)
_(get some) neck_ (converse of "give head")
_skeet_ 'ejaculate'
_homo-hop_ ('gay-based hip-hop', as opposed to the earlier blend with
"sock hop")
_cliteracy_ 'familiarity with a woman's sexual needs'
_moobs_ 'bulbous male pectoral region' (presumably requiring a
manzeer or bro, as proposed some time ago on Seinfeld)
_bridesman_, _groomsmaid_ (for nonconventionally-gendered members of
the wedding)
_lacrosstitute, puck fuck_ (for groupies of the respective male athletic teams)
_DILF_ 'dad I'd like to fuck' (as evaluated by female undergraduates
during Parents' Weekend, based on well-established MILF)
_dipthong_ 'low-cut woman's undergarment'
_jelq, jelqing_ (eponym?  acronym? African or Arabic-derived, as web
sites suggest? --a genericized trade-name for a penis enlargement
exercise device)
...and, on the basis of the earlier Yale (and elsewhere?) slang item _sexile_,
_sincarcerated_ ('trapped in inner room of walk-through double by
roommate and significant other')
_sexit_ ("The new couple discreetly sexited the party")

Larry