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December 02, 2003
Neologisms R Us

WordSpy is an online archive that tracks new English words. Today the new word is "neuromarketing" -- and my recent New York Times Magazine article on neuromarketing is listed as a citation example.

The definition that Wordspy gives is:

neuromarketing (new.roh.MAR.kuh.ting) n. The neurological study of a person's mental state and reactions while being exposed to marketing messages. Also: neuro-marketing. —neuromarketer n.

WordSpy's a pretty cool site, actually. Check out their list of the Top 100 Words, and you can see which neologisms have been most clicked-on by visitors in the past seven days. It's a fascinating glimpse into the zeitgeist in action; my personal favorite new phrase is "time porn", which is defined as "Television shows and other media that portray characters as having excessive amounts of spare time."


(Thanks to Maura for this one!)

Posted by Clive Thompson at December 02, 2003 01:55 PM

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Comments

Clive,

Yeah, I liked "time porn" when I first heard it in reference to "Seinfeld" a few years ago. My personal re-definition of the phrase goes: "shows about people wasting their fucking time." [i.e. time that would be better spent having sex.]

And I confess I've yet read your article on "neuromarketing," but its one of those words that makes me bristle immediately: another in the lexicon of business-speke that probably kills more effective speech than it inspires. :)

and wordspy might just earn itself a bookmark in my browser: it seems pretty cool!

Posted by: bud at December 3, 2003 7:10 AM

Hmm...find me a phrase for the phenomenon that people on television never are seen watching television (Simpson's doesn't count)...

Posted by: Misanthropyst at December 3, 2003 9:07 AM

Ahahahaha! That's true.

The medium doesn't want to mirror back to its viewers what they look like while they watch.

Posted by: Clive at December 3, 2003 11:15 AM

Bud -- my personal most-hated corporate weasel word is the use of "buy in" as a noun, as in: "Yeah, I talked to the vp of finance and he liked the idea, so I think we've got buy-in on that."

Though I also want to club anyone who uses the word "impactful". For god's sake.

Posted by: Clive at December 3, 2003 11:22 AM

Maybe it's the fact that I'm new to the office environment, and the fact that I'm a bit of a chameleon personality (after speaking for any length of time with a person who has an accent, I get caught up using their accent -- and don't even try to imagine what I'm like for the week after I've seen "Strange Brew"), but I actually caught myself (just a second too late!) using this phrase yesterday: "...so, as we plan for the go-forward with these components..." Ummm...didn't I mean "The Future?"

And though I basically work in the out-bound mailroom, we call if "Fulfillment" and I am the "Fulfillment Coordinator" (sounds more l33t anyway, dunnit?)...

So far however, I've avoided being pulled in for some facetime, so I can spitball and blue-sky some innovations to maximize synergy within our brands, all the while avoiding low-hanging fruit and getting caught putting out fires.

So far.

Pray for me :)

Posted by: bud at December 3, 2003 12:18 PM

I was out walking the dog, when two of your recent threads (this one and the OCAD eyesore) commingled in my head, and produced a neologism:
"Obscenery" -- something that visually pollutes the landscape.

And that reminded me of an old neologism of mine: "Pathetiquette" -- really bad manners (esp. from someone whom you know knows better)

that is all for now.

Posted by: bud at December 3, 2003 9:15 PM

DUDE!

Posted by: Alfred O. Cloutier at December 4, 2003 6:58 PM

okay, Alfred, that was cool. :)

Posted by: bud at December 4, 2003 10:27 PM

Must agree with Shot on this one. The rugby world is worse off not seeing Wilkinson playing rugby. Wishing injury on your opposition is possibly, if not worse, than the blue bulls anouncer from a couple of weeks back. Search Google http://www.google.com/

Posted by: Google at November 11, 2004 7:30 AM

great site

Posted by: phentermine at December 30, 2004 2:24 AM

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