A Gallimaufry Of Particitrousers

The Word Collector — Part 50

This is the latest in a series about new words and phrases, specimens collected during expeditions into the deepest, darkest literary and media wilderness, and displayed for your entertainment, elucidation, and enlightenment. These are new to me, but of course, you may know some or all of them already, in which case you are welcome to marvel at my ignorance, an inexhaustible seam of material to be mined. As a challenge, see how many you already know!

UCG -user-generated content — the acronym for what we all contribute on Medium, is deployed in an interview with Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine, that appears in this publication (follow link and scroll down). It’s an interesting interview in which Tony talks about Medium’s approach to AI, in-house journalism vs. member publications, and profitability:

Particitrousers –part slang, part joke, particitrousers is the Anglicised version of participants,. The word is used in “Undoctored” by Adam Kay. I had assumed the word was made up: apparently not, though Grammarly doesn’t like the word!

Gallimaufry — a noun meaning a confused jumble or medley of things. Also from “Undoctored”.

Tchotchke — a word for miscellaneous objects or nondescript junk, often used to describe knickknacks, trinkets, or gewgaws. A Yiddish-derived term from a now-obsolete Polish word. Also from “Undoctored”.

Fauxductivity– Medium writer Jim Garlits introduces the concept of fauxductivity as a way of fighting back against the strictures expecting us to be ever more productive: the art of appearing to be a busy expert by baffling colleagues:

RPG — an abbreviation meaning variously, a report program generator (a high-level commercial computer programming language); rocket-propelled grenade; or role-playing game. It was seen in an article by Matthew Clapham with the last definition in mind, and probably best not to get them mixed up!

Niksen — a Dutch word based on the concept of doing nothing, perhaps as a response to the pressures of the modern world, to be constantly productive, which is leading to burnout. The word is explained in this Guardian article.

Caparison — noun — an ornamental covering spread over a horse’s saddle or harness. The word appears in “The Afghan” by Frederick Forsyth

Entrepôt — a trading post, port, city, or warehouse where merchandise may be imported, stored, or traded before re-export, with no additional processing or customs duties. From the same book.

“I’ve got your six” — a variant of the perhaps more common “I’ve got your back”, this phrase seems to have originated with fighter pilots keeping an eye out for each other for attacks on the rear of their plane, colloquially as “the six”, which was more vulnerable. The phrase turned up in the comments on an article on phrases used by the military -

Lox — a fillet of brined salmon, which may be smoked. Lox is frequently served on a bagel with cream cheese, and often garnished with tomato, onion, cucumber, and capers. The word was one of the questions on the BBC “Mastermind” show.

I hope you enjoyed this collection, and do share any favourites of your own in the comments.

As always, thank you for reading.

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Previous articles from The Word Collector:

Part 49 — Kvetching, habit stacking, and loud budgeting

Part 48: Flex Your Rizz Bruv

Part 47: Bikeshedding Navvy Gravvy

Part 46: Astraphobic Badonkadonk

Part 45: Ergophobic Humdudgeon

Part 44 — Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobic Longiloquence

Part 43 — Stravaiging Shiznit

Part 42 — Model Collapse And Dezinformatsiya

Part 41 — A Flapdoodle of rapid unscheduled disassembly

Part 40 — Mulesing, Merkins, Quislings, Tallywags And Refoulment

Part 39 — Blowing off the hinky cobwebs

Part 38 — A Dreich Case Of Psychoterratic Solastalgia

Part 37 — A Cockamamie Collection Of Highkey Zhuzh

Part 36 — Keggers, Kerning, Çay and Crickets

Part 35 — Murmuring judges and anhedonia

Part 34 — A-quomodocunquizing-borborygmus

Part 33 — Going Monk Mode In Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turi­pukaka­piki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­ki­tana­tahu

Part 32 — Turpitudinous Tourons

Part 31 — Hurkle durkle, medicanes and misophonia

Part 30 — Immortal earworms

Part 29 — Government on the RAAC

Part 28 –Saved by a deus ex machina

Part 27 — Pre-Lapsarian Yakers

Part 26 — Fegans, Jorts, Rababs And Scotch Bonnets

Part 25 — Fissiparous Hegemony

Part 24 — Lollygag And Booktok

Part 23 — Patronymics And Samovars

Part 22 — Medium Is No Chronofage If YRMIRY

Part 21 — Everything Is Eellogofusciouhipoppokunurious

Part 20 — Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia And The Matthew Effect

Part 19 — A Nappuccino And Some Typo-Squatting

Part 18 — Yeeting Detritovres

Part 17 — An Inverted Pyramid Of Piffle On The Bed Of Procrustes

Part 16 — Having The Jones And Partisan Acrimony

Part 15 — Spycops In The Boondocks

Part 14 — Harlots, Stochastic Parrots, And The Devil’s Cufflinks

Part 13 — The Things We Make Exceptional

Part 12 — “Semper Fidelis” And Semantic Symbiosis

Part 11 — Heliophobic Hikikomori

Part 10 — Lenticular Clouds And Peque Peques

Part 9 — Big Red Boots And Nepo Babies

Part 8 — A Patina Of Smilies

Part 7 — Atavistic frou frou

Part 6-Mouth Breathers And Pearl Clutchers

Part 5 — The Lexophile’s Latest List

Part 4 — Revenge of the word collector

Part 3- An Etymological Extravaganza

Part 2- Return Of The Word Collector

Part 1 — A Moment In The Sun