Exergaming; Rolodex Ranger; Smash & Grab

[Dennis R. Preston]

Word of the YEAR, Barry. Not a few weeks. Wait a year. I've already
seen 'tsunami' broadened to include even famines.

dInIs



>WOTY: I just read Jesse Sheidlower's account in SLATE. "Tsunami" didn't get
>a single vote for WOTY? No special mention? Would it have made a difference if
>  500,000 people died? One million people? Second place was "wardrobe
>malfunction"?
>...
>Here are a few terms in today's newspapers. I've heard them before, but I
>don't know if we recorded them.
>...
>...
>...
>...
>ROLODEX RANGER
>...
>METRO (NY)
>11 January 2005
>pg. 11, col. 1
>MY VIEW by Dave Levy
>_Hi Yo, politics lovers--
>_it's a Rolodex Ranger_
>(...)
>When asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" recently to defend the delayed  response
>for the tsunami disaster in SOutheast Asia, Secretary of State Colin  Powell
>said that you can always find a "Rolodex Ranger"--someone in a card file
>guaranteed to back up any point of view--to criticize a government
>action. Most
>Americans would not dispute Powell; America's response, in my opinion, is
>generally compassionate and as punctual as possible. But when New York Times
>columnist William Safire remarked later in the program that he liked this new
>term, Rolodex Ranger, it was clear to me that we are gearing up for another
>round of the Republicans' favorite method of attack--the name game.
>...
>...
>...
>METRO (NY)
>11 January 2005
>pg. 19, col. 1
>_Entrepreneurs optimistic on "exergaming"_
>(...)
>Company executives insist that "exergaming" or "exertainment"--the marriage
>of physical exercise and video gaming--is becoming a hot new niche, and the
>most  bullish aficionados say it might even help reduce the nation's obesity
>epidemic.
>...
>...
>...
>...
>NEW YORK POST
>11 January 2005
>pg. 19, col. 5:
>_JEWEL_
>_HEIST_
>_BUSTS_
>_Smash & Grabsky_
>
>(The Russian mob has a member named Oleg Grabsky! - ed.)
>...
>SMASH AND GRAB--59,200 Google hits
>SLASH AND GRAB--1.150 Google hits


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages
A-740 Wells Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: (517) 432-3099
Fax: (517) 432-2736
preston at msu.edu