New words

By Kay McMahon, 8 April 2002

submitted by Cliff Palmer

Each year the Washington Post’s “Style Invitational” asks readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting or changing one letter and supply a new definition. Here are the 2001 winners:

INTAXICATION – Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realise it was your money in the first place.

REINTARNATION – Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

FOREPLOY – Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

GIRAFFITI – Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

SARCHASM – The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.

INOCULATTE – To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

HIPATITIS – Terminal coolness.

OSTEOPORNOSIS – A degenerate disease.

KARMAGEDDON – It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s like, a serious bummer.

GLIBIDO – All talk and no action.

DOPELER EFFECT – The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

And the pick of the lot:

IGNORANUS – A person who’s both stupid and an asshole.