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anti-elite, adj.
Pete Paphides, 21 October 2018:
No BBC email trying to justify its platforming of Bannon can do so by using the word “anti-elite” – a term coined by alt-right disrupters with the specific purpose of cloaking dangerous ideas in populist language. Their goal, as Nicola Sturgeon says, is to normalise those ideas.
apology tour, n.
Blumenthal said: “We’ve seen the apology tours before. You Mark Zuckerberg have refused to acknowledge even an ethical violation to report this violation of the FTC consent decree. My reservation about your testimony today is that I don’t see how you can change your business model unless there are specific rules of the road. Your business model is to maximise profit over privacy.”
Comicsgate, n.
You would be forgiven for thinking a scandal named “Comicsgate” meant Tony Stark bugged the offices Bruce Wayne. But the reality of Comicsgate, a naked pushback against progressivism and diversity in comic books, is infinitely worse. This past weekend, the year-long episode came to a head when pros from Marvel, DC, and beyond expressed solidarity against Comicsgate, which recently spiraled into harassment against Marsha Cooke, the widow of the late writer and illustrator Darwyn Cooke.
counter-map, n.
Travelling through tree-covered areas is a slow and arduous process, as is travel through politically unstable areas. Scale on an orthodox map is uniform; counter-maps can represent psychological as well as physical distances that are rarely linear or uniform. In the town of Duvergé in the Dominican Republic, I once interviewed a Haitian migrant who had dealt with civil unrest, a long mountain chain, forests, police checkpoints and clusters of militias (chimères) on his journey across the border. Although geographically his home town was only 177km away, he was psychologically about as close to home as a Londoner is to Murmansk.
counter-mapping, n.
What is unusual is that Sara’s story has been documented in a recent academic paper that includes a map of her journey that she herself drew. Her map appears alongside four others – also drawn by migrants. These maps include legends and scales not found on orthodox maps – unnamed river crossings, locations of kidnapping and places of refuge such as a “casa de emigrante” where officials cannot enter. Since 2011, such shelters have been identified by Mexican law as “spaces of exception”. This kind of work is an example of the growing field of counter-mapping.
cyberchondria, n.
Among the issues they are hoping to explore are cyberhoarding – reluctance to delete information gathered online – and cyberchondria – compulsively using search engines and websites in the hope of finding reassurance about medical fears, only to self-diagnose further ailments.
cyberhoarding, n.
Among the issues they are hoping to explore are cyberhoarding – reluctance to delete information gathered online – and cyberchondria – compulsively using search engines and websites in the hope of finding reassurance about medical fears, only to self-diagnose further ailments.
day zero, n.
The Guardian, 24 January 2018:
Local authorities have warned its 4 million inhabitants that if they do not reduce consumption by “day zero” – 12 April – they will have to queue at 200 standpipes for daily rations of 25 litres (6.6 US gallons).
deep like, n.
The Guardian, 15 January 2018:
Under 21s call this the "deep like": scrolling back on social media and liking someone’s photos from weeks ago. It’s micro-cheating because it’s intended to send a signal that says: "Look, I burrowed into your history and I don’t care if you know it!"" or "See, I found you fit in 2016, too!" All in all, best to avoid liking anything more than one week old.
deepfake, n.
The Guardian, 7 February 2018:
Twitter and Pornhub have become the latest platforms to ban pornography made using AI-generated face-swap technology – known as “deepfakes” – as non-consensual porn.
drop, n.
Now a prominent trend in fashion, the queue outside certain shops as they release new collections – otherwise known as “the drop” – has become the most significant decider of success for a brand, with the raucous hype it generates outweighing other forms of traditional marketing.
dropshipper, n.
The New York Times, 27 November 2018:
Dropshippers are online sellers who don’t keep any products in stock. Instead, they advertise a product and, if it is purchased, they buy the item from overseas and ship it directly to the customer.
dropshipping, n.
The New York Times, 27 November 2018:
As it happens, uncanny ecommerce is a passion of mine, which is why my student mentioned the packages, and why I suspected that whoever was behind these retailers was doing something like “dropshipping,” just taken up a notch.
dumb bomb, n.
The Russian air force has used unguided “dumb” bombs in Syria, in what UN sources say could be an effort to shift responsibility for possible war crimes and civilian deaths to their ally, the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.
e-carceration, n.
The New York Times, 8 November 2018:
Some insist that e-carceration is “a step in the right direction.” But where are we going with this? A growing number of scholars and activists predict that “e-gentrification” is where we’re headed as entire communities become trapped in digital prisons that keep them locked out of neighborhoods where jobs and opportunity can be found.
e-gentrification, n.
The New York Times, 8 November 2018:
Some insist that e-carceration is “a step in the right direction.” But where are we going with this? A growing number of scholars and activists predict that “e-gentrification” is where we’re headed as entire communities become trapped in digital prisons that keep them locked out of neighborhoods where jobs and opportunity can be found.
ego travel, n.
After 50 years of putting the “shag” in Shagaluf, Club 18-30 could be coming to an end. According to Thomas Cook, the tour operator that owns the infamous holiday brand, millennials are more interested in “ego travel” than pairing off with like-minded singles over buckets of cocktails, with their tastes being shaped by what looks good when posted on social media. But what is ego travel – and are you guilty of it? Here is your guide to the narcissistic heart of modern holidaying.
ego traveller, n.
Ego travellers don’t go on holiday. For you, travel is a spiritual pursuit, taking you on a path to inner peace, happiness and solidarity with your fellow humans (especially the guy who brings kombucha cocktails to your sun lounger and massages your feet for a dollar – he might not speak English, but you definitely feel a deep connection). Your posts on Instagram are accompanied by nonsensical pseudo-philosophical captions such as: “We all walk our own paths”, “Follow no one” and “The road will always lead you to a new sunrise #livetrue”.
episodic anthology, n.
Still, not long after "Amazing Stories" left the airwaves came "Freddy's Nightmares," an "Elm Street" tie-in horror anthology that rarely even featured Freddy Krueger in its stories, and HBO launched "Tales from the Crypt" with a raft of star actors and directors. As the 1990s dawned, as a form the episodic anthology was well and truly stuck in the shadow of both "The Twilight Zone" and of feature films.
episodic anthology series, n.
The episodic anthology series (e.g. "Black Mirror" and "The Twilight Zone"; not "Fargo" or "American Horror Story") should also be seen as a potential creative godsend to a medium in many ways is beleaguered by too-lengthy narratives. For every serialized television show that never fails to impress us, there are a handful that take their sweet time getting good, and plenty that are never worth a damn. If you've ever involuntarily rolled your eyes when a friend swore their favorite show "gets there by the third season," then having your pick of a bunch of one-shot, low-investment stories from all sorts of writers and directors could be a welcome reprieve.
exitscam, v.
Assclown McStevens, 28 January 2018:
a shitcoin startup called Prodeum just exitscammed with millions of investor dollars and left them the following message on their site
femtech, n.
The Guardian, 12 October 2018:
But that hasn’t stopped the industry from thriving, with the launch of Moody Month, which tracks hormones and menstrual cycles , and Flo Health, an ovulation calculator, being valued at m in the same week, suggesting there is still massive demand among women for products which are invariably described as femtech.
flap mash, n.
As he explains, women who are considered “outie” have much more pronounced and exposed labia, and often a more prominent clitoris, meaning there is far more delicate flesh exposed to the front of the saddle. This can often lead to the dreaded “flap mash.” Innies have far less exposed soft tissue and, Cobb found, tend to prefer a saddle with a narrower nose.
flick, n.
I was all set to dislike the “flick,” a time unit just recently invented by Facebook (technically the Oculus team), because I thought it was going to be something worthless like “the average time someone looks at a post.” In fact it’s a very clever way of dividing time that theoretically could make video and audio production much more harmonious. So what is a flick? A flick is one seven hundred and five million six hundred thousandth of a second — 1/705,600,000 if you prefer the digits, or 1.417233560090703e-9 if you prefer decimals.
funbux, n.
The Register, 10 November 2018:
When the feds refused to help the young man out with his request, the kid made the perfectly rational decision to lash out by making 50 separate threats blow up the Miami International Airport. His plan sort of worked, in that it finally got the attention of the FBI, but rather than send a team of agents to track down the young man's funbux, they instead arrested him.
fursona, n.
The Guardian, 4 February 2016:
To this day, Dee has brought more than 300 “fursonas” (furry personas) to life – including Baltoro the Fox, realistic with taxidermy eyes, hand-molded silicon paws and muzzle and digitigrade hind legs; Zeke the Hyena, cartoonish with hand-stitched stripes and airbrushed abs; and Blaze, a vixen with flirty eyelashes and curvaceously padded chest.
ghost gun, n.
Officials are worried that these “ghost guns” lack serial numbers, making them untraceable by law enforcement, and that plastic weapons may be impervious to metal detectors in airports. DIY firearms may also render existing gun regulations virtually moot. People who might normally be prevented from legally owning a gun, such as convicted felons or the mentally ill, could skirt such restrictions by printing them at home.
ghost phone, n.
The Register, 16 October 2018:
The Palm brand has returned with a bizarre concept: a tiny touchscreen "ghost" phone that mirrors the contents of your real smartphone – and won’t do much without one.
golden passport, n.
The Finnish MEPs say that golden passports often lead to corruption and money laundering in Europe, and should therefore be monitored closely under joint game rules, such as more transparent criteria for application. The EU politicians from Finland say that the EU cannot address the problem adequately at present because each country is free to arrange the process independently.
golden visa, n.
While over a dozen countries in Europe – the UK included – currently issue permanent residency "golden visas" to individuals who invest money in their country, some EU states like Malta and Cyprus go one step further and also offer citizenship.
greyware, n.
The Register, 10 November 2018:
Researchers with Cisco Talos report that a number of knock-off apps claiming to be Telegram or Instagram clients are circulating within the country. Classified as "greyware", the apps aren't outright malicious, just extremely stalkery, collecting device and user information then sending that data to servers within Iran.
hovercard, n.
We’re excited to announce that you can now view issue and pull request information in a hovercard when you’re looking at issues or pull requests.
jackpotting, n.
The Guardian, 29 January 2018:
Cybercriminals are hacking cash machines to force them to give out money in what is known as “jackpotting”, according to two of the world’s largest ATM makers and the US Secret Service.
kebab case, n. eg. this-is-kebab-case
Google Lighthouse, 26 May 2018:
The string identifier of the audit in kebab case.
logline, n.
The Guardian, 30 October 2018:
Goldman’s as-yet-untitled drama will take place thousands of years before Game of Thrones and “will chronicle the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour”. An official logline from the network reads: “Only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros’ history to the true origin of the White Walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend – it’s not the story we think we know.”
micro-cheating, n.
The Guardian, 15 January 2018:
When I accidentally liked my ex’s photo, and my girlfriend found out, I also wished I had a nuclear bunker to hide in. According to experts, I am not alone: these social media flirtations – newly named as “micro-cheating” – threaten to ruin relationships everywhere.
Peak TV, n.
If the plans of various networks and streaming services pan out, our current Peak TV era is about to enter a new phase: the full-fledged comeback of the episodic anthology series.
phantom bike, n.
There have been grumbles about glitches in the app, which frequently showed as available bikes that had long disappeared (known as phantom bikes in the local parlance), as well as complaints that the bikes were too small for anyone over about 5’8” (1.73 metres). For weeks bikes could not be repaired because the spares did not arrive from China.
post-millennial, n.
And suddenly your cute adorable son is a long-haired, teenage, post-millennial.
queerbaiting, n.
Darwyn’s words sound harsh, but Marsha Cooke (@Nicest_Girl_Evr) clarified that he meant “retroactively changing … sexuality for sales promotion.” (Cooke was effectively against queerbaiting, in which producers advertise LGBTQ+ characters but underdeliver in the final story.) She added that that her husband “regretted” the “ambush interview” and that his point “was to create new characters, including gay ones.” (It’s something that also happened recently with Voltron’.
receipts, n.
The Guardian, 7 September 2018:
Unless you’ve been orbiting the Earth on a SpaceX shuttle, or maybe living under a Tesla car, you’ll probably know that rapper Azealia Banks and professional billionaire man-child Elon Musk have been embroiled in one of 2018’s oddest feuds. After a bizarre trip to Musk’s house, which the singer described as “a real life episode of Get Out” (Musk, meanwhile, claimed he hadn’t so much as spoken to Banks), she began uploading scandalous screenshots of what she alleged were private conversations with his girlfriend, fellow musician Grimes, to her Instagram story. She had, to use a phrase from the glossary of new social media-related terminology, the “receipts”, and was unafraid to use them.
retcon, n.
The Guardian, 28 September 2018:
The latest act of retroactive continuity (or “retcon” as it’s become known) to the source material comes via the final trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which confirmed that the mysterious character played by Korean actress Claudia Kim is in fact Nagini, the same Nagini who was Lord Voldemort’s right-hand-snake in the original books and film series.
roboat, n.
A first for Britain's naval service, the roboat, built by German firm Atlas Elektronik's UK subsidiary, drives itself around the high seas towing three auxiliary boats fitted with electro-acoustic transmitters. The transmitters generate pings that trigger modern digital mines at a safe distance from either the roboat flotilla or actual human-carrying shipping.
shitcoin, n.
Assclown McStevens, 28 January 2018:
a shitcoin startup called Prodeum just exitscammed with millions of investor dollars and left them the following message on their site
Slack strike, n.
Slate Union, 16 November 2018:
THREAD: 1/ Today, Slate’s union is conducting an hour-long Slack strike to express our unity and commitment to what we’re asking for at the table. We feel these asks are essential to the wellbeing of our workplace.
smart speaker, n.
Move over smartphones. The battle now raging between the big technology companies for consumer cash is focused on the voice-controlled smart speaker.
solution-thinking, n.
Jasmijn Muller, 14 September 2018:
It is a strategic job, that requires thinking time and sometimes those thinking processes follow me while in bed or on the bike. The job is about problem-solving and solution-thinking. It means finding and analysing large amounts of data quickly and, more importantly, drawing relevant implications and recommendations for the particular client/project and expressing these in a clear, concise and actionable manner. There is no template, no routine, no repetition. We invent the wheel afresh each time, providing a custom solution to a unique situation. There are deadlines, targets and budget pressures. Often several deadlines coincide. Planning projects so that you have a clear run ahead of important cycling races is neigh-on impossible. Projects run over, or you face the inconvenient luxury of winning more work than you had anticipated. Our work is closely scrutinised as it is often in support of applications for several millions of capital investment. I regularly work on at least 4 or 5 different projects at the same time, whilst simultaneously pitching for new projects.
space graffiti, n.
The Guardian, 26 January 2018:
“Wow. Intentionally bright long-term space graffiti. Thanks a lot @RocketLab,” California Institute of Technology astronomer Mike Brown wrote on Twitter.
sport-washing, n.
The organisers have also been accused of “sport-washing” by allowing the start to be held in Israel. Critics claim it is an attempt to divert attention from the killing and maiming of Palestinians on the Gaza Strip.
squelch box, n.
Over time, Ecuador’s counter-espionage operation became mundane. In January, the agents noted that a new cleaner had started work. Typically, Assange would hold private conversations in the women’s bathroom, they wrote in a daily log. Visitors noticed that he used a “squelch box”, a counter-surveillance device that emitted a loud sound.
street pocket, n.
Dor Caroline Wright, 03 August 2018:
Not sure why I had to justify our lovely street pockets to a motorist who said they were blocking the street, while he actually blocked the street with his massive ugly delivery van polluting our community
sucka numbers, n.
Hawes recounted rumours that Supreme attempts to counter the resale market by tracking resellers who, when they try to get tickets to drops are “given ‘sucka numbers’, which are late in the day and won’t allow admittance to the shop at all”.
technostress, n.
The Guardian, 8 February 2018:
It is not healthy, either. “This ‘always on’ culture of emails is killing people,” says Professor Sir Cary Cooper, an organisational psychologist at Manchester Business School. “It leads to worry, anxiety, depression, and physical ill-health. There’s a whole field now called technostress, and the evidence is that unconstrained emails, where there is no guidance by employers, are damaging for people’s health.”
thirst trap, n.
The Guardian, 15 January 2018:
Sexy swimwear selfies are great; everyone needs a January ego boost. But thirst traps – hot photo uploads designed for raking in likes – are a strange way to communicate with your partner, who wakes up to your snoring, nearly naked body every morning. It doesn’t take a detective to deduce that a photo of you looking your absolute best might be aimed at a wider audience.
typeahead, n.
GOV.UK Design Notes, 20 April 2017:
We’re building an autocomplete. These are sometimes called typeaheads. They can help users answer questions, and help services get more consistent data.
up lit, n.
Branded “up lit” by publishers, novels of kindness and compassion are making their mark on bestseller lists, with Ruth Hogan’s The Keeper of Lost Things also proving a hit, and this summer’s The Lido by Libby Page continuing the positive trend.
wearable content, n.
Last month, New York magazine announced an innovative way to circumvent falling print media revenues: turning headlines from the Cut, the magazine’s popular fashion section, into slogan T-shirts, in partnership with Merch by Amazon. At (£18.50) a pop, headlines such as “What do Jared and Ivanka do all day?” or “Four men and Greta Gerwig” became what Women’s Wear Daily have dubbed “wearable content”.
wypipo, n.
Adrienne Keene is a Native American scholar and activist against the appropriation of her culture. On Monday she tweeted this picture of a wypipo Woodstock attendee wearing a Native American headdress