Adding new words to the Calabresi-coined lexicon today:
"AIMspeak": the multitude of abbreviations and shortenings that take place within instant message windows, text message conversations, MySpace, etc.
"Intellectual Ice Age": what is going to result from the continual dumbing-down of our society.
Showing posts with label vocab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vocab. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 12
Sunday, August 20
words I've learned recently
Here are two words that I've learned recently that have helped me understand a few things. They're both German, but I don't think that's a coincidence or anything like that.
bildungsroman - a novel which chronicles the story of a single individual's growth. For example, Ender's Game and its sequels are a series of bildungsroman.
Schadenfreude - no direct English translation, it means "taking pleasure in another's misfortune." I understand that one completely, and have a big problem with it, in the fact that I think that is what a lot of the humor in today's society is based on, and that's, as my daughter would say, "yucky."
bildungsroman - a novel which chronicles the story of a single individual's growth. For example, Ender's Game and its sequels are a series of bildungsroman.
Schadenfreude - no direct English translation, it means "taking pleasure in another's misfortune." I understand that one completely, and have a big problem with it, in the fact that I think that is what a lot of the humor in today's society is based on, and that's, as my daughter would say, "yucky."
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