juste a mot

A fortnightly update on new words, compiled in association with Chambers Dictionaries.

All you out there in logofandom, what's with the language? None of the weep-worthy dictionaried words of the usual Dwems, this is the chicest in-yer-face guide to the verbal Euromulch fighting its way into the next editions.

So here's another view from the untime-limited churning textscape of the incessantly inventive Euro-hacks. The loose change of language, to lose in deep pockets of vocabulary, to fritter away or to video conference with friends.

Glossary

chicest: Most chic, a well-formed superlative, but very ugly. Spotted in the Boots Magazine of Spring 1995.

dictionaried: Probably not a word, but in keeping with the American tendency to change nouns into verbs. See video conference.

Dwem: Dead white European male.

Euromulch: One of a Euroglut of Euro-words spawned by the EC, including Eurobarometer, Euro-chic (but not yet Euro-chicest), Eurodomino (a rail ticket), Euro-hack, Eurosceptic, Eurosclerosis, Eurospeak, Eurosquawk and many others.

in-yer-face: Vulgarly forthright, imported from the US around 1992, sometimes seen as "in-your-face", and included in the dictionary under preparation in a refined form: "in-one's-face".

logofandom: "Fandom" is on course for the next edition of Chambers. Can "logofandom" - the community of word-groupies, be far behind?

loose change: Once only money, the wider applications of "loose change" are being closely monitored, including a recent spotting of "the loose change of protest" describing those who complain about TV adverts.

textscape: Another of the recent generalisations of landscape.

untime-limited: "I want this to go forward in an untime-limited way" (Sir Patrick Mayhew, 26.2.95). Ugly.

video-conference: Noun used as verb, first spotted in a press release launching the British Council's English 2000 Project.

weep-worthy: "Only in Paris do people really weep at fashion shows and, as fashion shows go, this one was pretty weep-worthy." (Tatler, April 1995)

what's with: What is the matter with. The sort of ghastly Americanism - rather like "to video-conference" - that Prince Charles loudly deplored when launching the British Council's English 2000 Project.