Double-Tongued Dictionary Recent Citations

Citation Queue These are recently added citations for catchwords that have not yet been researched or incorporated into a full dictionary entry. There is also a date-sorted archive which includes all citations, whether used in a full entry or not, as well as the full entries themselves.

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relokill n. Eight years ago, it adopted a relocation program. About 230 deer were trapped and removed from the city at a cost of $360 per deer. A study found that roughly 20 percent died from the trauma of being moved. Some residents refer to the effort as the “relokill.” (Aug. 27, 2008) [full citation…]

toothpick rule n. Even so, awareness of the new law is so high that Parven Pomper Vice President Alixandria Lapp, for one, made sure to run its reception menu by a lawyer before taking it to the caterers. Under what is known as the “toothpick rule,” a reception can offer only food and refreshment of a nominal value. “We are just following the guidelines of the ethics committee, and we are completely staying within what they have deemed appropriate,” Lapp said. (Aug. 27, 2008) [full citation…]

age-doping n. Under pressure to address “age-doping,” the IOC asked the International Federation of Gymnastics (FIG) on Friday to re-open the Federation’s previous investigation into the matter of the girls’ ages. Prior to the competition, when rumors of the under-aged gymnasts first surfaced, the FIG had looked at the passports of the gymnasts and declared itself satisfied that the girls were at the lower-age limit of 16, not 14, as some earlier news reports on the girls had noted. (Aug. 27, 2008) [full citation…]

narcisurfing n. Ms. Kroll also urges students to search their name on search engines—a practice known as “narcisurfing”—to see what’s in cyberspace for anyone to read. (Aug. 27, 2008) [full citation…]

chemical rapping n. At a subsequent press conference senior FEI officials said capsaicin was a prohibited substance because its pain-relieving properties were potentially performance-enhancing. It also had “hypersensitisation” properties: if applied to a horse’s shins it could inflame them, thereby inducing the animal to jump higher to avoid painful contact with a fence—a practice known as “chemical rapping.” (Aug. 27, 2008) [full citation…]

LPU n. It’s refreshing to read about a discovery that isn’t just a tiny increment. Today’s scientists are under pressure to publish something new, leading to what some cynically call the LPU, or Least Publishable Unit. You find some new detail and publish it, showing the boss that you’re in a science journal, even though the “discovery” is just a tweak of stuff already known. (Nothing new here. The best description of this is from Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim, about a clueless young lecturer desperate for a job in 1950s England.) (Aug. 27, 2008) [full citation…]

peanut buttering n. Peanut buttering (v)—The tendency to evenly distribute resources across the full range of a product rather than focusing on a few core Value Propositions. While discussing this issue recently someone described it as “peanut buttering” the product. By spreading out all our resources evenly across the product we lose the opportunity to focus on a few key areas where we can deliver a substantial value proposition. Notice this does NOT mean that we forget the basics. (Aug. 26, 2008) [full citation…]

whipsawing n. Whipsawing is a term for the corporate tactic of pitting employees at one plant against workers at another plant of the same company. Workers who produce similar vehicles or components find themselves in competition to get new work into their plant. When one group of workers agrees, under intense pressure, to certain concessions, the second group will often agree to give up even more to hold on to their jobs. It’s a vicious downward spiral, and only the bosses come out on top. (Aug. 26, 2008) [full citation…]

momtourage n. There’s a new word out there—momtourage—to describe that group of people who provide a mother with the support she needs to get the job done, especially as the new school year starts. (Aug. 26, 2008) [full citation…]

thin file n. Even if you have not used credit much and therefore don’t have an extensive credit history, known in banking as a “thin file,” you could still qualify for a home mortgage. (Aug. 26, 2008) [full citation…]

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