Word of the day: crashworthiness

During my time working on B2B transport mags and now websites, I've come across some interesting transport-related words. 'Crashworthiness' is one of my favourites.

According to Wikipedia:

Crashworthiness is the ability of a structure to protect its occupants during an impact. This is commonly tested when investigating the safety of vehicles.

The OED online gives:

The quality in an aircraft or motor-vehicle that makes it safer in the event of a crash. So crashworthy a.

Its first quotation is from the Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1948. Interesting that three of the OED's four quotations put crashworthiness in inverted commas.

A quick Google search brings up a publication called the International Journal of Crashworthiness - what a great title. It dates back to 1996.

Word of the day: copyleft

I first came across the word 'copyleft' in a Computer Weekly article called The World of Wikinomics just over a year ago.

Here's the par in question:

Projects under that [WikiMedia Foundation] umbrella include Wikipedia (contributed to and edited by millions of people, and the fourth most visited website in the world) Wikibooks and Wikisource (out-of-copyright or "copyleft" texts) Wikimedia Commons (royalty-free multimedia files) Wikinews (which, like "microblogging" site Twitter, often breaks news globally), and Wikiversity (free-to-use courses and educational materials).

I'm not sure whether CW is saying here that Wikisource includes both out-of-copyright and copyleft texts, or whether it is saying that 'copyleft' means 'out of copyright'. I'm veering towards the latter.

So is copyleft a synonym for 'out of copyright'? Not according to Wikipedia:

Copyleft is a play on the word copyright to describe the practice of using copyright law to offer the right to distribute copies and modified versions of a work and requiring that the same rights be preserved in modified versions of the work.

Copyleft is a form of licensing and can be used to maintain copyright conditions for works such as computer software, documents, music and art.

Whatever its exact definition (if it has one), the word 'copyleft' originated in the 1970s and now has fairly widespread use: over seven million results in Google, although some of those are company names and so on. I'm surprised I only encountered it for the first time in 2009.

Oh, and just because I like it, here's a copyleft symbol:

Word of the day: waitperson

This evening my girlfriend and I had a meal out at a restaurant in Crystal Palace. The food was excellent but the menu suggested we ask "our waitperson" about the soup and terrine of the day.

'Waitperson' - is this a common word? I'd been under the impression that 'waiter', like 'actor', was increasingly being used gender-neutrally. Or can I expect to come across 'actperson' soon?

The Oxford English Dictionary does list 'waitperson' (as an American English term) - the first quotation is as follows:

1980 N.Y. Times 3 Aug. (Long Island Weekly section) 13/1 The young waiters and waitresses (referred to as ‘waitpersons’ on the menu),..wear a preppy uniform.

Word of the day: microperfed

The notebook I use at work is "microperfed", which I assume means it has tiny perforations.

To my surprise, the word throws up a respectable 25,400 results on Google (and that's not including variations such as "micro-perfed").

It's not only paper that can be microperfed - plastic bags and shoes are also microperfable. And, er, shapes.

I've just checked again and my notebook is actually a "jotta". That's the description, not the product name...

Word of the day: leave-behinds

So I was on a course recently and one of the speakers had prepared handouts for everyone.

Except he didn't hand them out - he left them behind. And he didn't call them handouts, he called them 'leave-behinds'.

I'd never come across this word before (although it makes sense). Googling 'leave-behinds' throws up a few definitions, including:

• A part or sampling of a portfolio that is left with a potential employer or exhibitor after a meeting or interview (Wikia)

• Things other than your resume that can be left behind with potential employers (About.com)

• Something you leave behind, compelling your audience to take a closer look at who you are and what you offer (Go-to-Market Strategies)

• A creative reminder of your particular style. Even if you don't get the job but your leave-behind is considered a "keeper," the designer or creative director will hang onto it in case they need a freelancer in the future (The Graphic Designer's Guide to Better Business Writing)

So this word seems to be most often used in the contexts of design and recruitment (and especially design recruitment). Perhaps these are fields in which the speaker had experience?

Word of the day: mumpreneur

Here's the front cover of the summer issue of Mums in Control magazine (Sutton, Cheam and Belmont edition).

I'm sharing it with you because one of the coverlines includes the portmanteau 'mumpreneurs'. A mumpreneur is, I'm assuming, someone who is both a mum and an entrepreneur.

(Click on the image to see a larger version.)


Googling 'mumpreneur' gives more than 16,000 results, some of which date back to at least 2007 - so this word is both older and more widely used than I had imagined.

It's also showing little sign of falling out of fashion, as at least two books being published this year have 'mumpreneur' in their title. Exhibit A is The Mumpreneur Diaries: Business, Babies or Bust - One Mother of a Year, by Mosey Jones.



Thanks to our (soon to be former) web editor for bringing Mums in Control and the word 'mumpreneur' to my attention. Incidentally, I agree with him that 'mumtrepreneur' works better as a portmanteau, but sadly it only gets 700 results on Google. It looks like 'mumpreneur' has won the day.

Word of the day: Māori sidestep

I came across an interesting rugby-related word (or phrase, if you prefer) in conversation the other day: 'Māori sidestep'. I suppose it could also be written as 'Māori side step', Maori sidestep', or 'Maori side step'...

The best definition I could find online is as follows:

The "Maori sidestep" was first used by the New Zealanders, and occurs when a player doesn't try to avoid the tackler, but charges him head-on, bumps off the defender, and generally tramples him as he runs over the top.

A couple of warnings, however - the first regarding usage, the second regarding the manoeuvre itself.

On the topic 'Rugby clichés you would like to hear', one member of The Silver Fern.com forums comments: "Maybe im wrong here but i don't think [the term 'Māori sidestep' is] culturally insensitive or racist. it's kinda cool."

That suggests, of course, that the term is sometimes perceived to be "culturally insensitive or racist"...

And here are a couple of extracts from a letter published in Volume 296 of the British Medical Journal:

The Maori side step, known hereabouts as "bursting the tackle," is a highly dangerous manoeuvre where the runner aims himself directly at his tackler.

[It] is more dangerous than the high tackle and should be banned from schoolboy rugby immediately. Adult rugger could also do without it.

You have been warned!

Word of the day: hack

I'm currently reading the anthology London: City of Disappearances, edited by Iain Sinclair. One of the essays in the collection, Alan Wall's 'Grub Street', has a lot of interest to say on the word 'hack' (as in hack writer or journalist).

If I could, I'd share the entire essay with you, but here are a couple of extracts:

Deriving as it does from a hackney horse, as in hackney carriage, and therefore something put out to hire, the term [hack] is used throughout the eighteenth century to mean a sorry creature, raddled and worn-out, a jade.

Johnson's Dictionary doesn't refer to writing at all under his entry for Hack; it is merely a matter of putting oneself out for hire. But the next meaning of the word listed, and one that was current at the time, is prostitute, for the hack sold his brain and his lexicon in exactly the same way that a drab sold her body.

X marks the spot

While reading a 1960s science fiction anthology this afternoon I came across the adjective papuliferous. It stopped me dead in my tracks but my OED Concise revealed that a papula is a pimple. A quick check via Google took me to wordsmith.org which had selected papuliferous (or papilliferous) as a word of the day and confirmed that it simply means "having pimples".

The author had used it to describe insolent teenagers; I plan to do likewise at the first opportunity.

Word of the day: pre-loading (in its alcoholic sense)

Pre-loading: "drinking cheap booze at home or in streets before going on to pubs and clubs"; "drinking heavily discounted alcohol before going out" (both definitions from the Addaction website)


I came across today's word of the day, 'pre-loading', in an article in thelondonpaper on Friday. The standfirst was Crackdown on 'pre-loading' drinkers and the body copy began:

A crackdown is being planned on 'pre-loaders' who get drunk on cheap alcohol at home before heading to the West End

The inverted commas suggest, of course, that thelondonpaper expects many of its readers to be unfamiliar with the word. Unfortunately I can't find a web version of the article to share with you.

Although 'pre-loading' (the word, not the activity!) is new to me, it has evidently been around for at least a couple of years as I've found a reference to it in a 4NI.co.uk article dating from August 2007.

Judging by that article, I wouldn't be surprised if the word 'pre-loading' (as it relates to drinking alcohol at home) was coined by UK-based drug and alcohol treatment charity Addaction.

Pre-loading: a new meaning to 'homebrew'

However, 'pre-loading' isn't just found on this side of the Atlantic. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board website states in the brilliantly titled 'Pre-Gaming: An Exploratory Study of Strategic Drinking by College Students in Pennsylvania':

We defined pre-loading/pre-gaming as “the practice of drinking alcohol in a private setting prior to attending an organized event/social activity where alcohol might or might not be served."

So perhaps 'pre-loading' originated in American English and was then picked up and popularised by Addaction.

Incidentally, 'preloading' (without a hyphen) is also included in Urban Dictionary - although the entry only dates from January 2009. The entry for 'pregaming', in comparison, dates from February 2004.

It's also worth mentioning that the OED Online does include entries for 'preload' (noun and verb), 'preloaded' and 'preloading', but none of them (as far as I can tell) relate to alcohol consumption.

Anyone out there familiar with 'pre-loading' (or indeed, 'pre-gaming') in its alcohol-related sense? And again - I mean the word, not the activity...

Word of the day: Panamax

Although the word 'Panamax' does occasionally crop up in the publications I work for, I've chosen it as a word of the day mainly because I like the way it sounds.

But what does it mean? As Wikipedia says:

"Panamax" ships are of the maximum dimensions that will fit through the locks of the Panama Canal. This size is determined by the dimensions of the lock chambers, and the depth of the water in the canal. An increasing number of ships are built precisely to the Panamax limit, in order to transport the maximum amount of cargo in a single vessel.

So Panamax is a portmanteau of 'Panama' and 'maximum'.

Ships larger than 'Panamax' are often known as 'post-Panamax', which I also think has a nice ring to it.

• BestCruises: Glossary of Cruising Terms

Word of the day: pixelation/pixilation

My version of Microsoft Word automatically changes 'pixelation' to 'pixilation'. That's annoying, but it's also interesting – for three reasons.

1. Word doesn't automatically correct 'pixelate' to 'pixilate'. Why the inconsistency?

2. In contrast to Word, the OED Concise prefers the 'e' spellings; that is, it gives 'pixilate' as a variant of 'pixelate' rather than the other way round. (It gives 'pixellate' as another variant, but doesn't suggest 'pixillate' at all. Shame.)

3. My OED also defines 'pixilated' as "crazy; confused" and "drunk (informal, dated)". It adds: "Origin C19: var. of pixie-led, lit. 'led astry by pixies', or from PIXIE, on the pattern of words such as elated."

So does Microsoft Word change my 'pixelation' because it assumes that I'm writing about pixies rather than pixels? I think the programmers must have been away with the fairies...

Word of the day: Uniqulture

I came across this word in issue six of a free publication called Gravity Guide, "your local music and lifestyle guide to South and East London".

According to page 5:

South East London is the home of Uniqulture (multi-culture without divisions); it is at the hub of the thriving, arts powered explosion in creativity.

OK, I admit it, I added that semi-colon myself... I did refrain from putting in a couple of hyphens, though.

Anyway, I'm unable to find very many other clear references to 'Uniqulture' (with or without a cap) on the web.

In January this Music Tourist Board / Artful MySpace blog asked: "What will Uniqulture have achieved in one year, i.e. by October?" - indicating that Uniqulture originated in October 2008.

The Artful website, on "DIY creativity throughout South East London", states that Music Tourist Board is a "social enterprise" which was planning to "give birth to Uniqulture, publicly, in the new year" - that would be the new year just gone.

Whatever Uniqulture is, both the guide and the websites suggest that it is centred around Deptford. Maybe I should pay a visit - it's not too far away...

Word of the day: bustitution

I've made another serendipitous discovery on Wikipedia!

The noun 'bustitution' is a portmanteau of 'bus' and 'substitution', and can be used to refer to the temporary or permanent replacement of train services with bus services.

It has given rise to a transitive verb, 'to bustitute', and an adjective, 'bustituted'.

• Macmillan English Dictionary: Bustitution

While we're on this topic, I have to say that the phrase 'rail replacement bus' annoys me. Why not 'train replacement bus'?

Is it a bus? Is it a train? Er, yes, it's a train

Word of the day: documentalist

My significant other is training to be a librarian and was amused to come across the word 'documentalist' in one of her academic texts recently.

The OED Online defines a documentalist somewhat laconically as "a person engaged in documentation"; Wikipedia adds that "when the field of documentation changed its name to information science, the term information specialist often replaced the term documentalist". Shouldn't that be information scientist?

I'm not sure exactly when documentation became known as information science, but 'documentalist' can't have had long in the limelight as the OED dates it from as late as 1939 (and Merriam-Webster agrees).

As an aside: documentalists are not to be confused with mentalists such as Derren Brown...

Word of the day: Bankenstein

Just a quick portmanteau today as I'm off on an html course in a few minutes.

I spotted the word in question in the free City AM newspaper this morning in an article on the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS. I quote:

The marriage of the pair sees the combination of expertise in several specialist areas, creating a superbank, or "Bankenstein", as one analyst put it.

Obviously 'Bankenstein' is a portmanteau of 'bank' and 'Frankenstein' (Frankenstein's monster is pictured below, gesticulating in what appears to be some kind of shop).


UPDATE: I've found a web version of the City AM print story – the 'Bankenstein' quote can be found in the third par down.

Primark+Armani=Primani

Yesterday one of my colleagues ironically referred to cheapo clothing chain Primark as 'Primani'.

I don't know how widely this portmanteau of Primark and Armani is used, or how long it has been around for, but it does appear on the Urban Dictionary site.

I've also found a story on The Scotsman's website which claims that Primani is the phenomenon of "mixing high street staples such as Primark with high-end fashion like Armani".

Oh, and here's a Digital Spy thread on derogatory or funny names for companies.

Word of the day: rifty

A strange word of the day today, in that I'm not sure who uses it, what it means or where it comes from. This copy was submitted to the subs' desk earlier this year by an English journalist based in the States:

It’s mid-morning on a bleak January Sunday in Detroit, Michigan, a city much favoured by producers of disaster films because they don’t need to spend much on dressing the set. It’s a rifty old place, boasting an ambient temperature somewhere south of very freezing

The context seems to suggest that rifty means 'cold', but I haven't come across it elsewhere before or since. My Concise OED and Google aren't much help either. Anyone out there use 'rifty' at all? Or did our writer just make a typo?

Detroit in winter is, apparently, rifty

Word of the day: drunkorexia

We haven't featured a good portmanteau for a while, and I have Sarah to thank for pointing out this one: drunkorexia. It's the phenomenon of women "skipping meals more and more in order to drink alcohol and remain slim". That's according to the Marie Claire website, anyway, which I have to point out I don't read that often.

And yes, March is evidently 'alcohol month' on the Engine Room.

Anyone for seconds?

Word of the day: lucidiots

If Apus can come over all literary, so can I. I came across today's word of the day, 'lucidiots', in a novel - Sacrament by Clive Barker. It's probably easiest if I just quote the relevant passage:

"Glenn's got a great new word, by the way, which is kind of appropriate. Lucidiots. That's what he calls people who talk too fast, seem to be perfectly lucid -"

"-and are, in fact, idiots. I like that. Where'd he get it from?"

"It's his. He made it up. Words beget words. That's the cri du jour."

"Lucidiots," Will said again, most entertained.

So there you go. Lucidiots. Googling it throws up almost no hits at all, so it may well be a Clive Barker neologism.