This website is being developed as a record of new and evolving
words and phrases in the English language, with special reference to UK English usage. One of its prime aims
is to act as a repository for new words and phrases which are not
otherwise listed on the Net - or at least not found by Search
Engines. Hence the working title: Dictionary of Findable Words and Phrases.
Content is intended to include etymology, definitions, derivations, origins, neologisms, coinages, usage, dialect, slang, first citations, abbreviations and acronyms.
Please send any comments, corrections and contributions to
the Editor.
- 3D Job
- Definition: A job that is dirty, dangerous or demanding. Particularly used with reference to jobs not popular with white male workers, so often taken by women or immigrants.
- Derivation: Initialization of dirty, dangerous, demanding. Probably originally a recruitment agency code.
- Atmark
- Definition: A newly current word for the "at" character @. Also called the "At Sign", "Commercial At", "Commercial At Sign", "Commercial Symbol".
Also has numerous nicknames, including snail, arabesque, monkey, curl, cabbage, twiddle, twist, a-twist, strudel, vortex, whorl, whirlpool, cyclone, ape, cat, rose.
The official ANSI/CCITT name is "commercial at". In the PostScript language it is called the "at" sign.
The expansion of the Internet has brought the sign into prominence, but it remains a mystery why people have difficulty naming the symbol, which has been on typewriter keyboards since the nineteenth century. Perhaps the decline of traditional arithmetic teaching and manual book-keeping ( "15 neeps @ 2 farthings each" ) caused the meaning of the symbol for the younger generation to drop out of knowledge just before it acquired a new use.
The single unit term Atmark perhaps has some utility for people speaking aloud Internet addresses.
Derivation: The atmark written as a single character is a manuscript abbreviation of the Latin "ad", which means "at".
Variant spellings: Attmark, ATMARK
See Atmark variants
For a comprehensive discussion of the At sign, see the page
Where its At on John Quinion's superb World Wide Words site.
- Biffa Sniffer
- Definition: One who investigates the contents of skips for recyclable material. A "dumpster diver".
- Derivation: From the name "Biffa" -- a UK company operating waste skips.
Citation: "Text " Source
- Boujet
- Definition: Boujet is the formal name for the symbol used by the Dublin Assay Office.
- Derivation: to be researched.
- Capataz
- Definition: The manager of a farm or estate (in Spain).
- Derivation: From the Spanish "capataz".
Citation: "Jesus Duque, our long-serving capataz, is a pivotal member of the Faustino family. " Financial Times 2002-10-04 p18[FTMoney].
- Cosmoceutical
- Definition: A cosmetic with active pharmaceutical ingredients.
- Derivation: A blend word from cosmetic and pharmaceutical.
Citation: "In 1984, Los Angeles dermatologist Howard Murad formulated a cosmetic cream for his patients that contained safe but active quantities of alpha hydroxy acids. He christened it a 'cosmoceutical', and from that moment, no cream without a research background was so covetable." Financial Times 2000-04-01.
- Cosmocrat
- Definition: A member of a supposed global ruling elite of cosmopolitan business people and administrators.
- Derivation: Meld of cosmopolitan and bureaucrat. Popularized by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge in A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalization.
Citation: "The cosmocrats are becoming a self-conscious class, helped by the way that the global economy is coalescing around clusters such as Silicon Valley, Wall Street, Hollywood and the City of London. ". Financial Times 2000-05-27.
See Davos Man
- Davos Man
- Definition: An archetype of a supposed global ruling elite of cosmopolitan business people and administrators.
- Derivation: From the financial summit held in Davos, Switzerland. Coined by Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington.
Citation: "..."Davos Man", the prototype believer in free-market economics.. ". Financial Times 2000-05-27.
See Cosmocrat
- Devil's delphinium
- Definition: A telecom transmitter tower.
- Derivation: Probably coined by Vikram Seth.
Citation: "...a grey telecom tower with its pustules of transmitters and receivers, a devil's delphinium. " [Vikram Seth, An Equal Music, Phoenix 1999 p.78]
- Dublin Core
- Definition: An html browser language addition - resource description record that has come to be known as the Dublin Core Metadata element set, commonly abbreviated to Dublin Core.
- Derivation: Dublin Core derives from its origins with a working group (composed of experts drawn from the Information Science and Internet communities) which met in Dublin, Ohio.
Citation: Dublin Core Metadata Initiative http://purl.org/dc/
- Egypt Bug
- Definition: A problem in telecoms software (relating to the 22 April 2000 UK dial code changes) whereby new dialling codes may not be recognised, causing a system to dial international numbers, specifically in the example of 020 (London) being dialled as +20 (international dial code for Egypt).
Citation: "Oftel, the telephone industry regulator, appears to have been wrong-footed by the Egypt bug. " Financial Times 2000-03-30.
- Fesnying
- Definition: The term of venery for
ferrets, as in "a fesnying of ferrets"; the collective
noun for ferrets.
- Gonia
- Definition: An Indian carp Labeo gonius.
- Derivation: tba.
Citation: "The potential of periphyton-based culture of two Indian major carps, rohu Labeo rohita (Hamilton) and gonia Labeo gonius (Linnaeus) " Source Aquaculture Research, Volume 32, Number 3, March 2001.
See Rohu
- G-mail
- Definition: Electronic message sent on a GSM mobile phone by the SMS ( short mesage services) facility.
- Derivation: Combination of GSM and e-mail.
Citation: "In Germany, more than half a billion SMS messages, which the Association has started to call "g-mails", travelled the airwaves. ". Financial Times 2000-03-15.
- Gate
- Definition: The # keyboard symbol.
See Octothorpe
Variant spellings: gatesign; gatemark; gatesymbol
- Gleninsheen Collar
- Definition: The Gleninsheen Collar is a gorget
or neck ornament made from a sheet of pure gold, dating from approx 700 BC
(the Late Bronze Age). The term "Gleninsheen Collar" is also a shorthand to describe a special mark on Irish silver: a small logo of the Collar appears on the Irish silver Hallmark for 1973 to commemorate Ireland's year of entry into the EU.
The Gleninsheen Collar is also the logo of the Federation of Jewellery Manufacturers of Ireland.
Also called: Gleninsheen Gorget
- Haemosexuality
- Definition: The sexual basis of the vampire relationship.
- Derivation: Coined by Christopher Frayling in "The Vampyre".
Citation: "Whether vampirism is related to civilization and its discontents (Freud), to suppressed memories in the collective unconscious (Jung), to breast-feeding and the projection onto others of the need to bite (Melanie Klein), or to monstrous manifestations of eroticism for any othe reason, I have chosen 'haemosexuality' as the most apt general term to describe the sexual basis of the vampire relationship " The Vampyre by Christopher Frayling, 1978; London: Victor Gollanz.
- Heishi
- Definition: Small tube beads in shell, precious metal or stone. Also called (when in silver) "liquid silver".
- Derivation: From native American language. ?Navajo
Citation: "Text ". Source .
- Hutber's Law
- Definition:
Hutber's Law is a mock scientific Law in the tradition of Parkinson's Law. It states: Improvement means Deterioration.
- Derivation: Coined by Patrick Hutber, city editor of The Sunday Telegraph.
- Iscador
- Definition:
A purported anti-cancer drug treatment derived from European Misletoe Viscum album. An aqueous extract is produced by the Institut Hiscia in Switzerland, under the trade name Iscador. [ ? trademark] The drug is also known under the names Viscumalbum, Plenosol, Helixor and Iscucin. Not scientifically recognised as a pharmaceutical.
- Derivation: Iscador, an extract of mistletoe, was proposed as a cancer treatment by spiritualist Rudolph Steiner (1861-1925). It is assumed he coined the name.
Variant spellings:Iskador, Iscarod.
- Kanban
- Definition: A manufacturing strategy
in which parts are produced or delivered only as needed; just-in-time
(JIT).
Notes:Toyota Motor Company has been credited with developing the
"kanban system" of manufacturing, which takes its name
from the Japanese word for "sign" or "placard."
In the kanban system, each shipment of parts used in making a
product comes with a "kanban" (sign). When the stock
parts reach a predetermined level, the sign is sent to suppliers,
who deliver new ones to the assembly line.
- La Buena Onda
- Definition: literally "the good wave", a movement in Latin-American film making.
- Derivation: in tribute to La Nouvelle Vague - the New Wave of french cinema.
Citation: "just as success comes, some wonder whether la buena onda is selling out to a globalized American vision of culture. " The Guardian 2002-07-19.
- Larva Therapy
- Definition: The medical use of maggots as anti-bacterial wound dressing.
See also Maggot Debridement Therapy
- Linezolid
- Definition: Linezolid is the first in a new class of synthetic antibacterial drugs, called
oxazolidinones, designed to treat a number of drug-resistant bacterial infections. Also know by its trademark name of Zyvox.
Citation: The Scout Report for Science & Engineering 2000-04-26.
- Maggot Debridement Therapy
- Definition: Maggot Debridement Therapy (MDT) is the medical use of live maggots (fly larvae) for cleaning non-healing wounds.
See also Larva Therapy
Reference: Maggot Therapy Project
http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/com/pathology/sherman/home_pg.htm
- Mariculture
- Definition: Another world for aquaculture, fish farming
- Derivation: Blend word from marine agriculture.
Citation: Aquaculture Research vol 31, Number 1, 2000.
- Marron
- Definition: A large freshwater crayfish species Cherax tenuimanus native to the main permanent rivers in the forested, high-rainfall south-west of Western Australia. Distinguished from the yabby (any of a group of freshwater crustaceans found in south-eastern and central Australia).
- Derivation: Native Australian language.
Citation: "The marron is one of the largest freshwater crayfish in the world..." Aquaculture Research vol 31, Number 1, 2000, p69.
- Mockintosh
- Definition: Objects and designs inspired by the works of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, especially when tawdry and debased.
- Derivation: Humourous corruption of Mackintosh.
Citation: "...it is a special feature of the Mockintosh industry that it adapts his designs to objects like jewellery and mirror-frames which he might have designed but actually never, or hardly ever, did " Alan Crawford,Charles Rennie Mackintosh, London: Thames & Hudson, 1995, p199.
- MRSA
- Definition: [Abbreviation] Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
- NCD
- Definition: [Abbreviation] Nanocrystalline diamond.
Citation: "NCD is an infinitesimal coating of diamond, developed for use in medicine and electronics." Financial Times 2000-06-03.
- Nigroids
- Definition: Trade mark name for a throat sweet containing liquorice block juice. Manufacturer: Ernest Jackson, Crediton, Devon
Further research due
- Noble Cause
Corruption
- Definition: Notion held by police
officers that it is justifiable to fabricate or artificially
improve evidence to secure the conviction of a known criminal.
- Derivation: Noble cause corruption was coined by Edwin DeLattre in Character and Cops: Ethics in Policing (Washington,
DC: American Enterprise Institute, 1989), Ch 11.
Popularised in the UK in September 1992
by Sir John Woodcock, Chief Inspector of Constabulary, England
and Wales.
Citation: "To go back to corruption
for one moment, one aspect is what is known as noble cause corruption.
Someone connected with the Police Federation once said to me
that there was nothing wrong with perjury committed by an honest
officer in pursuit of a good cause". House of Commons,
Select Committee on Home Affairs, Minutes of Evidence, Examination
of witnesses, Question 128 1998-12-08.
- Octothorpe
- Definition: Octothorpe is one of a number of names used for the # symbol on telephones and keyboards. Also called "number sign", "hash mark" "sharp sign", "scratch" or "gate". In the USA only, it is referred to as the "pound sign" referring to weight, as in "a 6# bag of sprouts", but also sometimes referring to pounds sterling (because the "£" symbol did not often appear on USA typewriter keyboards).
British Telecom customer messages call it the "square". Commonly in UK telecoms engineering usage, it is called the "gate" symbol.
The official ANSI/CCITT name is "number sign". PostScript language calls it the "numbersign".
- Derivation: Mark Israel in the ALT.USAGE.ENGLISH FAQ file writes:- ...in a failed attempt to avoid the naming problem by
creating a new name, the term "octothorp(e)" (which MWCD10 dates
1971) was invented for "#", allegedly by Bell Labs engineers when
touch-tone telephones were introduced in the mid-1960s. "Octo-"
means eight, and "thorp" was an Old English word for _village_:
apparently the sign was playfully construed as eight fields
surrounding a village. Another story has it that a Bell Labs
supervisor named Don MacPherson coined the word from the number of
endpoints and from the surname of U.S. athlete James Francis Thorpe.
Merriam-Webster Editorial Department told me: "All of the stories
you record are known to us, but the evidence does not line up nicely
behind any one of them."
A large number of variant names for the # sign have been attested:
Official usage: number sign; pound; pound sign; hash; sharp; gate; square.
Unofficial, slang, nickname usage: grid; crunch; crosshatch; mesh; flash; square, pig-pen; tictactoe; scratchmark; thud; thump; splat; hex, grate, reticule.
Variant spellings: octothorp, oktothorpe
- Oligoasthenoteratozoospermia
- Definition: Oligoasthenoteratozoospermia.
- Derivation: Text.
Citation: "Text ". Source.
- Paktong
- Definition: Obsolete name for a Chinese
silvery white metal alloy in the Nickel Silver family.
Variant spellings:Packtong, Pakton, Packfong, Pakfong, Paitung, Paitun, Baitong, Baitun, Baitung.
- PCT
- Definition: [Abbreviation] Paranoid Conspiracy Theorist.
Citation: "Paranoid conspiracy theorists (PCTs) believe the Illuminati cabal still exists, either in its original form or as
a paradigm for later cabals." Source:Skeptics Dictionary
- Parakrousis
- Definition: The striking of a slightly wrong note in an otherwise tuneful harmony.
- Derivation: Ancient Greek.
Citation: "The Greeks had a word for it -- parakrousis -- the striking of a slightly wrong note in an otherwise tuneful harmony. " The Wench is Dead Colin Dexter 1989 p. 59.
- Reticule
- Definition: The # keyboard symbol.
See Octothorpe
Variant spellings: reticulesign; reticulemark; reticulesymbol; reticuleglyph; reticulekey; reticule code; reticule character; reticul
- Rohu
- Definition: An Indian carp Labeo rohita.
- Derivation: tba.
Citation: "The potential of periphyton-based culture of two Indian major carps, rohu Labeo rohita (Hamilton) and gonia Labeo gonius (Linnaeus) " Source Aquaculture Research, Volume 32, Number 3, March 2001.
See Gonia
- Sasanami Chain
- Definition: A precious metal chain
link style deriving from the braiding and threading techniques
of kumihimo, the Japanese art of plaited cords and braids.
Citation: "This exquisite sasanami
chain jewellery is perfect for the festive season." Daily
Telegraph 1999-11-09.
Variant spellings: sassanami, sasanammi
- Server farm
- Definition: A large group of internet servers at a single location.
Citation: "Intel, the largest semiconductor manufacturer, has chosen a site near Reading, Berkshire, for its first European
"server farm", which will offer electronic commerce computer capacity to corporate customers.... "
Financial Times http://www.ft.com/nbearchive/email-neteq3290a6.htm
- Sestium
- Definition: Sestium - tradename of a web domain.
- Derivation: From Latin.
Citation: http://www.sestium.com
- Signaway
- Definition: Informal term used by "carpetbaggers" to define a clause used by mutual building societies to compel new account holders to sign over future windfall payments to charity.
- Derivation: Text.
Citation: www.carpetbagger.com
- Silicon Spires
- Definition: Oxford. Term denotes the high-tech software and biotech companies establishing on the edge of Oxford, often as university spin-offs.
- Derivation: Homorous extension of 'silicon valley'. The term derives from 19th century poet Matthew Arnold's description of Oxford as the 'City of Dreaming Spires'.
Citation: Siliconia -- the definitive collection on the Web of names beginning with 'Silicon' by areas other than Silicon Valley.
- Sovereign Sterling Silver
- Definition: Sovereign Sterling Silver is the working name for a new formulation sterling silver alloy with approx 1 per cent germanium. Developed by Peter Johns at Middlesex University and now produced commercially by Thessco Ltd of Sheffield. Originally referred to as "Germanium Silver", the term Soverign Sterling Silver is being registered as a trademark, in conjunction with the patenting of the alloy.
- Derivation: Text.
Citation: "Sovereign Sterling Silver ". Source.
- Square
- Definition: The # keyboard symbol.
See Octothorpe
Variant spellings: squaresign; squaremark; squaresymbol; squarekey
- Swoosh-ball
- Definition: Swoosh-ball - a form of circular logotype, a kind of dot, spiral or swoosh.
Citation: "...the ubiquitous 'swoosh-ball' has come to dominate current brand identity, especially online ". Creative Review May 2000 p99.
- Ten-bagger
- Definition: Ten-baggers are stocks that achieve a ten-fold gain (1000%) very quickly. Often associated with Internet related stocks.
- Derivation: A term derived from
baseball, where a four-bagger is a home run. Its use was popularised in the UK by Alpesh B Patel, Financial Times columnist.
Citation: "I have started investing . . . a small part of my portfolio in the hunt for UK "ten-baggers" These are stocks that may rise ten-fold quite quickly. " Financial Times 2000-01-29
- Tennis Bracelet
- Definition: Tennis Bracelet is another name for Eternity Bracelet - a continuous circlet of small diamonds.
- Derivation: The term seems to have gained popularity in the mid-1980s, possibly after the incident referred to below.
Citation: "This year's most desirable fashion accessory is a tennis bracelet...[Chris] Evert wore a similar circlet of diamonds--previously called an 'eternity bracelet' by most jewelers--while playing in a televised tournament a couple of years ago. The bracelet flew off Evert's arm and play was interrupted until it could be retrieved. Courtside broadcasters dubbed the adornment Chrissy's 'tennis bracelet'. Shortly thereafter, it was to die for among female aficionados of the game, even those with lousy one-handed backhands." Chicago Tribune 1987-05-27.
- Twoc
- Definition: [Verb] -- Joyride. To twoc in police, legal and criminal slang means to joyride, to steal a car.
Also becoming more popularly used as a synonym for steal.
I suppose ya think ya clever
In ya flashy coat 'a leather
Wi' ya twoc'd nike airs
T.W.O.C. by Ferank Manseed
- Derivation: Acronym of "Take Without Owners Consent" the technical term for joyriding as defined in Theft Act 1968 §12. This terminology was devised because "joyriding" does not constitute theft within the meaning of the Theft Act, there being no "intention permanently to deprive...".
Also variously written TWOC, Twocc, TWOCC
- Twoccer
- Definition: [Noun] -- One who twocs, commits the act of twoccing. A joyrider. See Twoc
Also variously written TWOCCER, Twocer, TWOCER
- UCE
- Definition: A term in formal and legal usage for unsolicited commercial email - more commonly referred to as "spam".
- Derivation: Abbreviation-acronym of unsolicited commercial email
- Viral Marketing
- Definition: A marketing system whereby product information or advertising is disseminated by its users, often unwittingly.
- Derivation: By analogy with the activity of viruses.
Citation: "Our apparent unconscious ability to act as willing courier for someone else's business has led to it being called "viral" marketing. Viral marketing's most celebrated endorsement comes from Microsoft's Hotmail operation. " Financial Times 2000-05-06.
- Virenium
- Definition: A patented silver-coloured base metal alloy in the Nickel Silver family, often used for commemorative coins and medals. Composed largely of copper, with nickel, zinc and other constituents. Intended to have the look and stability of precious metal. Used in high denomination coinage since 1978. Trademark of Pobjoy Mint Ltd.
- Vod
- Definition: Video on demand.
- Derivation: Acronym used as a word. From video-on-demand.
Citation: "Users then pay an extra £2 to watch a particular Vod movie or 50p to a £1 for a Vod TV programme ". Financial Times 2000-03-15 .
- VSA
- Definition: [Abbreviation] Volatile Substance Abuse -- the formal term in medical and scientific usage for "glue sniffing".
Citation: "Volatile Substance Abuse (VSA) may be defined as the deliberate inhalation of a volatile substance to achieve a change in mental state." British Journal of Anaesthesia, Vol 84 No 6 June 2000
- Zamac
- Definition: A white metal alloy used for industrial casting.
- Zyvox
- Definition: Trademark name of the generic drug linezolid q.v.
