Buzzwords of 2008: Frugalista? Recessionista? Skadoosh!

This is from Grant Barrett, a lexicographer specializing in slang and new words. Some of my favorite lexical items he defines are:

1) Recessionista: Originally, someone who favored a recession as ultimately good for the economy. Now, a person who stays fashionable during an economic downturn without spending a lot of money.

2) Plutoid: A new term designated by the International Astronomical Union to refer to Pluto and space objects like it, which are something less than planets.

3) Maverick: A person who is beholden to no one. Widely used by the Republican presidential and vice-presidential candidates, John McCain and Sarah Palin. Also in the adjectival form mavericky, used by Tina Fey portraying Governor Palin on “ Saturday Night Live.”

4) Gas-sipper: The opposite of gas-guzzler. Though more than 30 years old, the term took on new significance as gasoline prices rose to record highs.

5) Frugalista: A person who is frugal but fashionable.

Excellent piece. Read more here.

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Gifts for Men or Women?

Especially apropos during this season. Here is the featured piece.
What do you think?

A piece says:
" The researchers think their findings are consistent with the tendency for women to act as guardians of relationships, and that their positive reaction to the receipt of a bad gift was a form of psychological defence against the disappointment of receiving a dud present.

"That is, in response to the relational threat posed by receiving a bad gift from a partner, women may be more motivated than men to protect their sense of similarity to the gift-giver," the researchers said, adding that this reflects "the broader tendency for women — more than men — to guard relationships against potential threats."

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via MR
graph per google image

Gendering a Profession

Good piece.

"Rania Abou Youssef, 26, a flight attendant for the Dubai-based airline, Emirates, said that when she went home to Alexandria, Egypt, her female cousins treated her like a heroine. “I’ve been doing this for four years,” she said, “and still they’re always asking, ‘Where did you go and what was it like and where are the photographs?’ ”

Many of the young Arab women working in the Persian Gulf take delight in their status as pioneers, role models for their friends and younger female relatives. Young women brought up in a culture that highly values community, they have learned to see themselves as individuals.

For many families, allowing a daughter to work, much less to travel overseas unaccompanied, may call her virtue into question and threaten her marriage prospects. Yet this culture is changing, said Musa Shteiwi, a sociologist at Jordan University in Amman. “We’re noticing more and more single women going to the gulf these days,” he said. “It’s still not exactly common, but over the last four or five years it’s become quite an observable phenomenon.”

More here.

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