A Nappuccino And Some Typo-Squatting

The Word Collector — part 19

This is the latest in a series about new words and phrases collected during expeditions into the deepest, darkest literary and media wilderness, for your purview, perusal and prestidigitation. The mining of these words exploits the inexhaustible seam of my ignorance: if only this resource had greater value.

Typo-squatting — this is a type of cyber-crime that targets users who incorrectly, commonly misspell an internet domain:

“They’re hoping that a person will make a mistake, and that they can lure you in and do stupid things,”

says a commentator, who clearly knows me well.

The word was discovered in an amusing but somewhat concerning article, which revealed that for many years, millions of secret emails have accidentally been sent to a Russian ally Mali, whose emails end .ml rather than their intended recipient, the US military, whose emails end .mil. Woops!

Twibel — this slang word is apparently what lawyers call defamation on Twitter, and was in the news on BBC Radio 4, in connection with the recent scandal about a presenter.

ISVA –this is an acronym meaning “independent sexual violence advisor”. This was heard during a programme on BBC Radio 4. There is an almost infinite number of acronyms from various specialist areas of life. So it seems almost pointless trying to learn them all, but one has to try, and dropping them into an article without explanation, can give the impression of expertise that has always eluded me for some reason.

Moral injury — this phrase was heard on BBC Radio 4, as something experienced when people trying to deliver care can’t provide the service they would like to, and in the context used it was deployed to describe the experience of General Practitioners (GPs) in the UK, who are so overworked that they find themselves having to apologise to patients. Though I am not convinced GPs still exist except in hologram form, it is so long since I last saw one in the flesh.

In a wider context, a moral injury is an injury to an individual’s moral conscience and values resulting from an act of perceived moral transgression on the part of themselves or others. It produces profound feelings of guilt or shame, moral disorientation, and societal alienation. In some cases, it may cause a sense of betrayal and anger toward colleagues, commanders, the organisation, politics, or society at large. So there is a lot of moral injury in the UK at present.

Telomere — a compound structure at the end of a chromosome. From an article about vaccines in “The Guardian”.

Nappuccino — this rather strange specimen was discovered in a Guardian article about how to stay awake and enjoy late-night coverage of sporting events in different time zones. So this word is a combination of nap and cappuccino, a portmanteau word no less, to borrow a word from French. A nappuccino exploits the theory that it takes about 20 minutes before a cup of coffee starts to have the desired effect of waking you up. So you set your alarm for 20 minutes, down your coffee, and have a quick nap! I am more than a little sceptical about the wisdom and effectiveness of this theory, so suggest you do your own research on this one, and take no responsibility for any ill effects you make experience.

Selkie — I came across this word on a gift card, and in Norse and Celtic mythology, it means a mythical creature that resembles a seal in the water but assumes human form on land.

Didicoy — I came across this specimen in a tribute to the late great singer and entertainer Ian Dury, who came across as a proper Cockney “geezer”. He combined rhyming slang, a theatre dialect known as Polari, and Didicoy language, which I discovered refers to a particular group of people who are believed to have a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle within certain Romani communities. They are often considered to be a distinct subgroup within the broader Romani culture.

In case you missed “Ian Dury and the Blockheads” they are a great group who were famous in the 80s during the Punk/New Wave era, and Ian was a real one-off: a great wordsmith, entertainer from the music hall tradition, and advocate for people with a disability, having been affected by polio as a child. They had a string of hits including “Sex and Drugs and Rock ‘n Roll”, “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick”, “Reasons to be Cheerful” and “What a Waste”. Like a proper rock star, Ian lived fast, and sadly died young,

For a taster of the music –

Pusillanimous — I knew this one but had to look it up to remind myself, something of an age thing I suspect; this adjective means showing a lack of courage or determination; timid.

Otiose -as above, looked up more as a reminder, this word means “serving no practical purpose or result; indolent or idle”. I can think of one former politician and UK Prime Minister that this description fits perfectly but I already mention him far too often, and don’t want to get sued by one of his many children.

Torc — a neck ornament consisting of a band of twisted metal, worn especially by the ancient Gauls and Britons. This word cropped up in a BBC article about a recent find by a metal detectorist -

Crawdad — a freshwater crayfish. This word cropped up in the title of a film and book, “Where the Crawdads Sing”, which like so much of the world of culture, passed me by.

Homonym — this specimen was collected from a comment by James Bellerjeau –it is always good to discover new words via Medium friends like this. So in linguistics, homonyms apparently are words which are either homographs — words that have the same spelling (regardless of pronunciation) — or homophones — words that have the same pronunciation (regardless of spelling) –, or both. With this definition, the words row (propel with oars), row (a linear arrangement) and row (an argument) are homonyms because they are homographs (though only the first two are homophones): so are the words see (vision) and sea (body of water), because they are homophones (though not homographs). If you are still struggling with getting your head around this after that definition, you are not alone.

Sarafan — a long, trapezoidal Russian jumper dress worn by girls and women and forming part of Russian traditional folk costume. Heard on a BBC Radio programme about the missing cryptoqueen Ruja Ignatova, an extraordinary story if you have not come across it –

The following specimens are all from the weighty tome “Vietnam — An Epic History of a Tragic War” by Max Hastings which will take me the rest of the year to read, and then form a useful door wedge, which answers that old question from the band “Frankie Goes to Hollywood”, “War, what is it good for?” in their song “War” — it makes an excellent doorstop:

Mudge- this one sounds like a made-up word, another portmanteau, combining two others but apparently not: it refers to mud or sludge.

“…mandating an electrician to address a serious gas leak” — this struck me as a great phrase, rather like the more frequently used one of taking a penknife to a gunfight.

Soliloquy — a monologue addressed to oneself, thoughts spoken out loud without addressing another. An example might be an emergency plumber we had to call out recently, who talked to himself while pulling our bathroom apart, which was slightly alarming, both the talking and the bathroom bit. I say it was for a plumbing job, but it was more of a mugging in broad daylight when we got the bill.

Montagnard — a member of any various hill-dwelling people of Southeast Asia, especially those inhabiting the highlands of Vietnam. It is actually a French word, a hangover from the colonial era.

Galvanic- relating to or involving electric currents produced by chemical action; sudden and dramatic.

Bleacher — this means a person or thing that bleaches, though you had probably already worked that out, or as used in the context of the book where I found it, a cheap bench seat at a sports ground, typically in an outdoor uncovered stand.

“gall and wormwood” — I gather that this expression, which I had not come across, is quite common in American English, and means bitterness of spirit, or deep resentment. So to borrow this expression from my continental cousins, and put it in context in a UK example, one might say that the broken promises of Brexit, led many to a feeling of gall and wormwood. But at least we have got our blue passports back.

I hope you enjoyed this latest collection and do share any favourite new specimens of your own in the comments.

As always, thank you for reading.

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