Wordnik is a term used describe a geek fond of words.
Examples:John is such a wordnik that he can often glue himself to a dictionary for days without ever dragging off. People just call him wordnik of the wordniks.
The word embrangle (to confuse or entangle) won with 1,434 votes, while fubsy (short and stout) came in a distant second. Roborant (tending to fortify) and nitid (bright, glistening) failed to shine; they finished last, drawing roughly 550 votes between them.
This grab-you-by-the-throat talk by Ghanaian economist George Ayittey unleashes an almost breathtaking torrent of controlled anger toward corrupt leaders -- the "Hippos" (lazy, slow, ornery, greedy) who have ruined postcolonial Africa, he says. Why, then, does he remain optimistic? Because of the young, agile "Cheetah Generation," a "new breed of Africans" taking their futures into their own hands.
In September 2003, Mark Liberman reported (Egg corns: folk etymology, malapropism, mondegreen, ???) an incorrect yet particularly suggestive creation: someone had written “egg corn�? instead of “acorn�?. It turned out that there was no established label for this type of non-standard reshaping. Erroneous as it may be, the substitution involved more than just ignorance: an acorn is more or less shaped like an egg; and it is a seed, just like grains of corn. So if you don’t know how acorn is spelled, egg corn actually makes sense.
Based on Karen Armstrong's book, this film examines the concept of God in the three major monotheistic religions from the days of Abraham to modern times. Through analysis of historic and holy texts and incorporation of ancient art and artifacts, the program explores the deity written about in the Bible and the Quran. The evolution and intertwining of various Christian, Jewish and Islamic interpretations of God are also addressed.
...Thus we have the possibility not just of weapons of mass destruction but of knowledge-enabled mass destruction (KMD), this destructiveness hugely amplified by the power of self-replication.
We are considered the African first-movers on web technology, the African Digerati if you will. Our insights into technology are not the same as the vast majority of those who live in Africa and our knowledge and perspective of Africa is much different than the rest of the world’s. We, currently, are the people on the bridge - maybe even the bridge - that spans the divide of both knowledge and technology when it comes to Africa.
THIS year, as never before, the line between philanthropy and business is blurring. A new generation of philanthropists has stepped forward, for the most part young billionaires who have reaped the benefits of capitalism and believe that it can be applied in the service of charity. They are “philanthropreneurs,�? driven to do good and have their profit, too.
...one entry on the Oxford shortlist rings my bell, with its rich etymology, current utility and potential staying power well beyond the nonce. It is frugalista, defined as “a person who lives a frugal lifestyle but stays fashionable and healthy by swapping clothes, buying secondhand, growing own produce, etc.�? This could become the nom de guerre of the “recession warrior.�?
Whuffie is the ephemeral, reputation-based currency of Cory Doctorow's sci-fi novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. This future history book describes a post-scarcity economy: All the necessities (and most of the luxuries) of life are free for the taking. A person's current Whuffie is instantly viewable to anyone, as everybody has a brain-implant giving them an interface with the Net.
Malcolm Gladwell’s elegant and wildly popular theories about modern life have turned his name into an adjective—Gladwellian! But in his new book, he seeks to undercut the cult of success, including his own, by explaining how little control we have over it.
"The Open Source world embraced this mantra a long time ago — they call it "scratching your own itch." For the open source developers, it means they get the tools they want, delivered the way they want them. But the benefit goes much deeper."
Antony Garrett Lisi proposes the creation of a more casual kind of science institute — a Science Hostel — which he says "would essentially be a large house somewhere beautiful where theorists could live and work." Citing his experience living in Maui and the mountains of Tahoe and Colorado, Lisi says it is important to have opportunities for good hiking and things to do outside in attractive environments.
Be prepared for linguistic diversity, change, playfulness, and creativity wherever you listen and look - on radio and television, in the press, literature, film, pop music, the internet...
..."Albrecht believes that this is a new type of sadness. People are feeling displaced. They're suffering symptoms eerily similar to those of indigenous populations that are forcibly removed from their traditional homelands. But nobody is being relocated; they haven't moved anywhere. It's just that the familiar markers of their area, the physical and sensory signals that define home, are vanishing. Their environment is moving away from them, and they miss it terribly.
Albrecht has given this syndrome an evocative name: solastalgia. It's a mashup of the roots solacium (comfort) and algia (pain), which together aptly conjure the word nostalgia. In essence, it's pining for a lost environment. "Solastalgia," as he wrote in a scientific paper describing his theory, "is a form of homesickness one gets when one is still at home.'"
we can take advantage of our cognitive surplus, but only if we start regarding pure consumption as an anomaly, and broad participation as the norm. This not a dispassionate argument, because the stakes are so high. We don't get to decide whether we want a new society. The changes we are under can't be rolled back, nor contained in the present institutional frameworks. What we might get to decide is how we want this change to turn out.
"Xenophiles are people who are fascinated by the whole world, by things other than their ordinary experience. They’re people who want to connect with people who see the world very differently."
The purpose of Wikisaurus is to serve the role of an electronic thesaurus—a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms in a rather vague and inaccurate sense of the word "synonym".
Microcelebs are those people who are well-known to a small set of folks...and nowadays we achieve this celebrity through the artifacts we leave behind on the Web.
Dan Dennett talked of "unthinking engineering" in his 2002 TED speech, quote:
Yesterday, Amory Lovins spoke about "infectious repetitis." It was a term of abuse, in effect. This is unthinking engineering. Well, most of the cultural spread that goes on is not brilliant, new, out-of-the-box thinking; it's infectious repetitis.
And we might as well try to have a theory of what's going on when that happens, so that we can understand the conditions of infection."
Comments by immerbeta
immerbeta commented on the word wordnik
Wordnik is a term used describe a geek fond of words.
Examples:John is such a wordnik that he can often glue himself to a dictionary for days without ever dragging off. People just call him wordnik of the wordniks.
April 4, 2009
immerbeta commented on the word people mountain, people sea
a typical Chinglish idiom, meaning a crowded group of people
March 11, 2009
immerbeta commented on the word mouth yes heart no
In Chinese, it is "�?�是心�?�", which means what one acts does not correspond with what one says
March 11, 2009
immerbeta commented on the word heart flower angry open
a typical Chinglish idiom, meaning very happy, and come to like something very much
March 11, 2009
immerbeta commented on the word open the door see mountain
in Chinese it is 开门�?山, it means cutting straight to the point when talking
March 3, 2009
immerbeta commented on the word zhonglish
(n) The mangled, garbled, butchered, malapropriated or trashed Chinese spoken by native speakers of English.
That is the definition from Urban Dictionary... Would be interesting if Zhonglish evolves into another Chinese dialect.
February 26, 2009
immerbeta commented on the word collapsitarian
Kevin Kelly got a nice piece of six species of collapsitarians
February 20, 2009
immerbeta commented on the word homo evolutis
Juan Enriquez said at TED2009 that Homo Sapiens might not be the pinnacle of evolution, and we are likely to have homo evolutis in the future.
February 18, 2009
immerbeta commented on the word sukha
a Sanskrit and P�?li word that is often translated as “happiness" or "ease" or "pleasure" or "bliss"
January 5, 2009
immerbeta commented on the word aspirational apocaphilia
Jamais Cascio wrote about "Aspirational Futurism" on his blog today.
January 2, 2009
immerbeta commented on the word fubsy
The word embrangle (to confuse or entangle) won with 1,434 votes, while fubsy (short and stout) came in a distant second. Roborant (tending to fortify) and nitid (bright, glistening) failed to shine; they finished last, drawing roughly 550 votes between them.
- Hangman, Spare That Word: The English Purge Their Language, article from Time magazine
December 18, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word biophilia
a concept exemplified by E.O. Wilson
December 18, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word cheetah generation
George Ayittey on Cheetahs and Hippos
This grab-you-by-the-throat talk by Ghanaian economist George Ayittey unleashes an almost breathtaking torrent of controlled anger toward corrupt leaders -- the "Hippos" (lazy, slow, ornery, greedy) who have ruined postcolonial Africa, he says. Why, then, does he remain optimistic? Because of the young, agile "Cheetah Generation," a "new breed of Africans" taking their futures into their own hands.
December 9, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word eggcorn
In September 2003, Mark Liberman reported (Egg corns: folk etymology, malapropism, mondegreen, ???) an incorrect yet particularly suggestive creation: someone had written “egg corn�? instead of “acorn�?. It turned out that there was no established label for this type of non-standard reshaping. Erroneous as it may be, the substitution involved more than just ignorance: an acorn is more or less shaped like an egg; and it is a seed, just like grains of corn. So if you don’t know how acorn is spelled, egg corn actually makes sense.
quote from the Eggcorn database
December 4, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word memeoid
"victims who have been taken over by a meme to the extent that their own survival becomes inconsequential." - Richard Dawkins
December 3, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word origami
The word is Japanese, literally meaning to fold (oru) paper (kami).
December 2, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word a history of god
Based on Karen Armstrong's book, this film examines the concept of God in the three major monotheistic religions from the days of Abraham to modern times. Through analysis of historic and holy texts and incorporation of ancient art and artifacts, the program explores the deity written about in the Bible and the Quran. The evolution and intertwining of various Christian, Jewish and Islamic interpretations of God are also addressed.
Watch it on Google Video
November 29, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word knowledge-enabled mass destruction
...Thus we have the possibility not just of weapons of mass destruction but of knowledge-enabled mass destruction (KMD), this destructiveness hugely amplified by the power of self-replication.
-Why the future doesn't need us, article by Bill Joy
November 25, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word african digerati
The Dark Continent: It’s Still Dark
We are considered the African first-movers on web technology, the African Digerati if you will. Our insights into technology are not the same as the vast majority of those who live in Africa and our knowledge and perspective of Africa is much different than the rest of the world’s. We, currently, are the people on the bridge - maybe even the bridge - that spans the divide of both knowledge and technology when it comes to Africa.
November 22, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word philanthropreneur
quote from New York Times
THIS year, as never before, the line between philanthropy and business is blurring. A new generation of philanthropists has stepped forward, for the most part young billionaires who have reaped the benefits of capitalism and believe that it can be applied in the service of charity. They are “philanthropreneurs,�? driven to do good and have their profit, too.
November 22, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word frugalista
William Safire's pick of word of the year 2008:
...one entry on the Oxford shortlist rings my bell, with its rich etymology, current utility and potential staying power well beyond the nonce. It is frugalista, defined as “a person who lives a frugal lifestyle but stays fashionable and healthy by swapping clothes, buying secondhand, growing own produce, etc.�? This could become the nom de guerre of the “recession warrior.�?
November 22, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word whuffie
Whuffie is the ephemeral, reputation-based currency of Cory Doctorow's sci-fi novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. This future history book describes a post-scarcity economy: All the necessities (and most of the luxuries) of life are free for the taking. A person's current Whuffie is instantly viewable to anyone, as everybody has a brain-implant giving them an interface with the Net.
definition from Wikipedia
November 22, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word gladwellian
Malcolm Gladwell’s elegant and wildly popular theories about modern life have turned his name into an adjective—Gladwellian! But in his new book, he seeks to undercut the cult of success, including his own, by explaining how little control we have over it.
quoted from Jason Zengerle
November 12, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word wordnik
wordnik: a new way to learn about words.
October 31, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word logolepsy
n. - an obsession with words
October 31, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word scratching your own itch
"The Open Source world embraced this mantra a long time ago — they call it "scratching your own itch." For the open source developers, it means they get the tools they want, delivered the way they want them. But the benefit goes much deeper."
from Getting Real
October 25, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word couchsurfing
Couchsurfing the Zeitgeist, article by Alex Steffen
Couchsurfing on Wikipedia
October 21, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word barcamp
A BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment.
http://barcamp.org
October 21, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word science hostel
Antony Garrett Lisi proposes the creation of a more casual kind of science institute — a Science Hostel — which he says "would essentially be a large house somewhere beautiful where theorists could live and work." Citing his experience living in Maui and the mountains of Tahoe and Colorado, Lisi says it is important to have opportunities for good hiking and things to do outside in attractive environments.
More on Wikipedia
October 15, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word playfulness
Be prepared for linguistic diversity, change, playfulness, and creativity wherever you listen and look - on radio and television, in the press, literature, film, pop music, the internet...
David Crystal, On learning English
October 4, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word social notworking
Surfing a social networking site instead of working. Also: social not-working.
from Word Spy
October 3, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word solastalgia
..."Albrecht believes that this is a new type of sadness. People are feeling displaced. They're suffering symptoms eerily similar to those of indigenous populations that are forcibly removed from their traditional homelands. But nobody is being relocated; they haven't moved anywhere. It's just that the familiar markers of their area, the physical and sensory signals that define home, are vanishing. Their environment is moving away from them, and they miss it terribly.
Albrecht has given this syndrome an evocative name: solastalgia. It's a mashup of the roots solacium (comfort) and algia (pain), which together aptly conjure the word nostalgia. In essence, it's pining for a lost environment. "Solastalgia," as he wrote in a scientific paper describing his theory, "is a form of homesickness one gets when one is still at home.'"
Wired Magazine, Clive Thompson on How the Next Victim of Climate Change Will Be Our Minds
October 2, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word cognitive surplus
we can take advantage of our cognitive surplus, but only if we start regarding pure consumption as an anomaly, and broad participation as the norm. This not a dispassionate argument, because the stakes are so high. We don't get to decide whether we want a new society. The changes we are under can't be rolled back, nor contained in the present institutional frameworks. What we might get to decide is how we want this change to turn out.
Clay Shirky
September 30, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word xenophile
"Xenophiles are people who are fascinated by the whole world, by things other than their ordinary experience. They’re people who want to connect with people who see the world very differently."
Ethan Zuckermann, founder of Geekcorps and Global Voices Online
September 29, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word multilingual
"We need to become more multilingual in our thinking and in our abilities."
David Crystal, The Language Revolution
September 28, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word cold blue
Daniel Sabin at Language Scraps called words like Cold Blue and Screeching Stench and the like "Mix the Senses".
September 27, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word rengen
RenGen, short for renaissance generation, is a term coined by Patricia Martin in her book RenGen: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer and What It Means to Your Business
New York Times recently did an interview with Pat about the concept of RenGen and its possible implications for our society at large.
September 27, 2008
immerbeta commented on the user whichbe
your lists are of infinite jest, thanks:-)
September 26, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word logorrhea
log-uh-RI-uh, n an excessive flow of words, prolixity Gr logos word + roia flow, stream
cite from the International House of Logorrhea
September 26, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word wikisaurus
The purpose of Wikisaurus is to serve the role of an electronic thesaurus—a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms in a rather vague and inaccurate sense of the word "synonym".
from the Wikisaurus project page at Wikitionary
September 26, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word microcelebrity
Microcelebs are those people who are well-known to a small set of folks...and nowadays we achieve this celebrity through the artifacts we leave behind on the Web.
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/15-12/st_thompson#
September 25, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word technium
Kevin Kelly is running an ongoing blog on the technium: http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/
September 24, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word douban
Douban is a wildly successful web community for book lovers in China
September 21, 2008
immerbeta commented on the user nullpointer
Hi, are you NullPointer@douban?
September 21, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word ted
it can also mean the TED conference
September 21, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word gnu
GNU is a recursive word, meaning "GNU is Not Unix", coined by Richard Stallman 25 years ago in his initiation of the Free Software Movement
September 21, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word meme
Dan Dennett talked about memes and dangerous ideas at TED 2002
September 21, 2008
immerbeta commented on the word unthink
Dan Dennett talked of "unthinking engineering" in his 2002 TED speech, quote:
Yesterday, Amory Lovins spoke about "infectious repetitis." It was a term of abuse, in effect. This is unthinking engineering. Well, most of the cultural spread that goes on is not brilliant, new, out-of-the-box thinking; it's infectious repetitis.
And we might as well try to have a theory of what's going on when that happens, so that we can understand the conditions of infection."
link
September 21, 2008
immerbeta commented on the list the-history-of-cool
Wow, that's a cool collection itself...
September 20, 2008