Archive for the ‘Nerd Word of the Day’ Category
Every day we encounter nerdy words trying to find their way into the common vernacular.
Here, I will seek them out and expose them for the phonies that they are!
Some will succeed and become common words, others will (hopefully) die a painful death!
Be sure to sign up for this site’s email notifications so that you can be notified and therefore prepared for these words as we become aware of them!
Thanks to Alexandra Gorbokon, whom I met in the Twitterverse (OH NO!!! It’s one of those words!!) and her idea for the title of this section!
“Imma let you finish”: Phrase used to interrupt someone with no intent of letting them finish what they were going to say.
This phrase entered the lexicon recently with the MTV Music Awards and Kanye uttering the phrase as he interrupted Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech.
I had to do this phrase after Bo Burnham uttered the following statement on his Twitter tonight: @boburnham “balloon boy, imma let you finish, but the gosselin kids had two of the worst parents of all time!”
Idempotent: adj. f. L. idem same + potent-em powerful: Of a quantity or element a: having the property that a × a = a, where × represents multiplication or some other (specified) binary operation. Also applied to an operator or set… enough of this mumble jumble! English please!
OK! An idempotent operation in math is one that has the same effect whether you apply it once, or more than once. For example: 1 x 1 = 1 or 1 x 1 x 1 = 1.
The STOP button on a VCR remote is idempotent, push it once and the tape stops, push it more than once and the tape remains stopped. The Pause button, on the other hand, is not idempotent.. push it twice and it starts to play again.
Now, if they just had a cure for idempotence, oh wait.. wrong word!
Can you think of any other examples of idempotence?
Nom de Strip: one’s stripper name. Taken from the expression “nom de plume” for pen-name.
I was flicking through the channels and came across the Demi Moore movie “Striptease” and one of the stripper’s names was “Urbana Sprawl”, which reminded me that strippers always pick the cheesiest names, don’t they?
If you have heard a funny stripper name, write it below, or use the table below to determine what your stripper name should be. Mine came out to be Sugar Glitztush 
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Anatidaephobia: (n) The fear that you are being watched by a duck. From the Greek word “anatidae”, meaning ducks, geese or swans and “phobos” meaning fear.
What a strange phobia, seriously! But that reminds me of something that just happened to me.
I was standing by my bed, petrified, due to my clinophobia* when suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something move! Or was it just my katsaridaphobia* acting up? I mean, I’m isolophobic*, but I’m destined to be alone especially after that disastrous dinner date last week, I’m sure!
My date was just trying to start a conversation when we sat down, but the moment his mouth opened, I screamed at the top of my lungs! I hadn’t told him about my deipnophobia*! Before that date, I was stranded in my own little apartment due to my bathmophobia* and my otisphobia* (I made that one up) but my date helped me leave. But now I’m back and I can’t even order Chinese food for delivery since my consecotaleophobia* won’t let me! But, all of that is beside the point… I’m sure there is a man out there somewhere who will save me some day, just as long as he’s fine with my genophobia* and my anatidaephobia.
Speaking of phobias, I was going to compile a …. oh.. I can’t say it.. my pinaciphobia* won’t let me… just click here, darn it!
*clinophobia - fear of going to bed.
*katsaridaphobia- fear of cockroaches.
*isolophobic – fear of being alone.
*deipnophobia – fear of dining or dinner conversations.
*bathmophobia – fear of stairs or steep slopes.
*otisphobia – fear of Otis elevators (Am I the only person who has this fear?)
*consecotaleophobia – fear of chopsticks.
*genophobia – fear of sex.
*pinaciphobia – fear of lists.
Ridonkulous: adj. An exaggerated form of ridiculous. Most likely a blending of ridiculous and donkey.
What’s ridonkulous is that, while researching this word, I found SO many misspellings of the word ridiculous.. people were spelling it rediculous! That’s rigoshdarneddiculous!
Thank you @animalntaz for the suggestion!
Chillaxin: v. A portmanteau of chillin’ and relaxin’. An extreme state of contentedness.
Thanks Capman911 for the suggestion, since I am just chillaxin’ next to the pool. Actually, not even close! I’m experiencing a lot of “stressure” with my new book coming out!
But hey… I can still visualize the days when I was chillaxin!
Hacktivism: n. The practice of gaining unauthorized access to computer files or networks in order to propagate a social or political message.
I think the definition above, from the Oxford English Dictionary, doesn’t cover the whole gamut of hacktivisim. I think it also includes setting up proxies to help people within a country access things denied by their government.
I’ve always felt that hackers are not always bad.. in fact, there are some hackers who actually hack for good! And these “hacktivists” came out in droves to assist those trying to get the word out from within Iran, during their recent election.
Even average Twitter users became “hacktivists” when they changed their home city to Tehran on their Twitter profiles to throw off the scent of the authorities.
Thanks originalistrick for the suggestion of this word.
In keeping with my last Nerd Word, weisure, today’s word is:
Staycation: (n) a vacation spent at home or nearby.
This word was recently added to Webster’s Dictionary. I REALLY hate it though… it just sounds so… goofy! But I am certainly guilty of taking quite a few staycations with all of my weisure time!
Can someone just shoot me now please?!!
Weisure: n. Free time spent doing work or work-related tasks. A blend of work and leisure.
I’m certainly guilty of a lot of weisure time! I mean, seriously, any free time I have I am on my computer doing something work-related.
How about you? How do you spend your weisure time?
Cummingtonight: (′kəm·iŋ·tə′nīt) A basic silicate of magnesium and ferrous iron,
(Mg, Fe)7Si8O22(OH)2,
that is an amphibole mineral similar to anthophyllite but monoclinic and with more iron, and that occurs as fibres and lamellae in metamorphic rocks.
This mineral was found by Dr. J. Porter in a town called Cummington, Massachusetts. He named the mineral after the town, adding the -ite suffix to signify that it’s a mineral.
I saw this word in a post on Digg that was titled: She Will Definitely Be Cummingtonight. I don’t get the joke.. how can a woman be a mineral? Hmmm…
Every day we encounter nerdy words trying to find their way into the common vernacular.
leonard on 
Greatest Potential on 
Capman911 on 
neuroway on 
