Trendy Lexicon

At Catalyst, we love expanding our vocabulary with the hip and trendy lexicon of teens, celebrities, techies and gear heads – well, not all of us. Here are some cool new words to for you to try – because being fohr-oh-fohr is so blah! Scroll down to see our favorites.

digital nomad

n. A person who uses technology, particularly wireless networking, to work without requiring an office or other fixed address.

intexticated

adj. Preoccupied by reading or sending text messages, particularly while driving a car.

BANANA

(buh.NAN.uh) acronym. Build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone. A person who is opposed to new real estate development, particularly projects close to their neighbourhood. —adj.

slacktivism

(SLAK.tuh.viz.um) n. Activism that seeks projects and causes that require the least amount of effort.

ad creep

n. The gradual expansion of advertising space to non-traditional surfaces such as floors, bathroom walls, cars, and the sides of buildings.

street spam

n. Advertisements posted on telephone poles, traffic lights, and other public areas.

fictomercial

(FIK.toh.mur.shul) n. A work of fiction in which a company pays the writer to incorporate the company's products into the story.

guerrilla benching

n. The surreptitious and unauthorized installation of a bench in a public space.

groundhog day

n. Something that repeats endlessly, without changing. Often used to describe repeated business meetings that cover the same ground without resolving issues or deciding upon a course of action. From the movie Groundhog Day, in which a man

(Bill Murray) continually awakes to relive the same day.

mullet strategy

n. A website design where a site's main or most visible pages are professionally written, edited, and laid out, while the rest of the site relies on content supplied by volunteers and site visitors.

Web rage

n. Extreme anger caused by World Wide Web frustrations such slow downloads, nonexistent links, and information that is difficult to find.

dot con artist

(dawt.CAWN ar.tist) n. A person who runs an Internet-based scam or fraud.

nymrod

n. A person who insists on turning every multi-word term into an acronym.

clue stick

(CLOO stik) n. A metaphorical stick used to "hit" a person in an effort to remedy that person's ignorance or incompetence.

po-mo

adj. Mildly pejorative contraction of postmodern.

talking hairdo

n. A television journalist who is superficial or who is concerned with appearance more than substance.

404

(fohr.oh.fohr) adj. Relating to a person who is out of touch or clueless.

Jill

I find “guerrilla benching” particularly amusing.

I don’t care for “groundhog day” only because I have too many of them myself

But the word that I learned the most about was “nymrod”. I have always liked the word nymrod, which I thought meant obnoxious and dim witted …no, turns out it means “a person that insists on turning every multi-word term into an acronym”. I still love it and now I can even use it correctly. Although when you think about it, how often would that chance come up?

Ed

I have two favorites. The first “intexticated“. Even though I have been known to do it occasionally, we know it’s wrong to do. Texting while driving is a bad as being intoxicated while driving, maybe even worse. The second is what I strive to be…A “Digital Nomad“. I want to be able to work anywhere, anytime. The ability to do that will ensure I can also play more and travel more.

Bill

Although I’m not entirely convinced our vocabulary needs more words -- we need to concentrate on using the existing words more accurately -- I do find “intexticated” and “slacktivism” particularly clever ways to describe certain new behaviors. Conversely, I do not care for “talking hairdo” because it inherently suggests gender bias. There is far too much empty headed chatter today coming from about anyone who can get his or her face on TV or attract a blog following.

Konny

404 (fohr.oh.fohr) adj. Relating to a person who is out of touch or clueless.

Great word or ummm….number word? I think now and days communication is so short and to the point. I use social media like Facebook and Twitter to keep up with my friends that live in other states. When we actually talk they don’t have to tell me everything because I already know! So to my friends not on twitter yet or other social networks – you guys are so fohr oh fohr!

Travis

Umm… I guess; but I’m not sure I like any of these words… lol?

Web Rage – When a web master forgets to fix portions of a website, it’s called being lazy. This is very frustrating and this word reflects best of what I think of about 90% of the web.