a new entry for the unpack-that-euphemism competition

[Laurence Horn]

On Aug 5, 2012, at 5:44 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:

> In case anyone is wondering, the (non-adjectival) word in question is
> "cocksuckers."

Thanks.  I was thinking "assholes" myself--not as a value judgment, just as the missing "adjective".
>
> http://diehipster.wordpress.com/about/
>
>

So "hipster is the new white trash"; the snowclone strikes again.  And it seems that adjective is the new noun.

LH

> On Sun, Aug 5, 2012 at 4:57 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>
>> Oh, a trick question!
>>
>> Somebody at the Times doesn't know what "adjective" means. (It's 2012, so
>> I'm not surprised!)
>>
>> Or did the original read, "...who do not seek attention like you
>> fucking...um...er...huh?"
>>
>> On Sun, Aug 5, 2012 at 4:40 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>
>>> OK, we finally sorta sorted out how Rashida Jones manages to
>>> "[masturbate] vegetables".  This week's contest (no gold medal for the
>>> winner) involves Finding That Adjective.  The context is an article
>>> about "Montauk's Hipster Fatigue", as illustrated by locals sporting
>>> T-shirts with a diagonal line through a fedora, and worse, i.e.
>>> invocations of what have come to be called "Second Amendment solutions"
>>> to deal with the influx of rich tourists (after they've been relieved of
>>> some of their disposable income, of course).
>>>
>>> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/fashion/montauk-feels-the-effects-of-too-many-hipsters.html
>>>
>>> As the Web site Diehipster.com puts it in a diatribe aimed at
>>> urban-based hipsters, "You've accomplished nothing over the last
>>> decade but displaced hard-working families, old-time residents and newly
>>> arrived immigrants who do not seek attention like you [Offensive
>>> Adjective Inappropriate for Family Newspaper].
>>>
>>> I checked the diehipster.com site, but despite learning some useful, if
>>> non-adjectival, lexical items (apparently the dread hipsters, not
>>> content with "pussifying" the outer reaches of Brooklyn, will be
>>> marching on to colonize distant outposts of "Flyoverlandia"), I didn't
>>> find out what this [Offensive Adjective Inappropriate for Family
>>> Newspaper] might have been.  No credit for offensive nouns; only
>>> adjectives will be considered.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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