Saturday, November 28, 2009

Gutotkacha

n.
A person with a pot-belly.
Pronunciation: Ghut-oath-kacha
Usage: The legendary warrior, Kumbhakarna, was a real gutotkacha.
Root: Gut+Gatotkacha (Hero from the Indian epic, The Mahabharata)
Interesting aside: Gatotkacha got his name from two sanskrit words 'ghatam' (pot) and utkacha (hairless) because his bald head resembled a pot. (Nowadays, it's the belly.)

Tikkalodeon

Meaning: Any Indian cookery show.
Pronunciation: Tick-ka-load-deon.
Usage: Madhur Jaffrey, the queen of tikkalodeon, is said to have introduced James Ivory to Ismail Merchant.
Root: Tikka (means bits or pieces) + Nickelodeon (a TV channel). Tikka is often used as a suffix of sorts with many Indian dishes.

Fairanoia

Meaning: Anxiety about not being fair skinned.
Pronunciation: Rhymes with paranoia.
Usage: How long will ad agencies continue to whip up fairanoia to build market shares for fairness creams?
Root: Fair (skin tone) + Paranoia.
Related coinage: Fairanoid - one who is anxious about not being fair skinned.

Truegle

n.
The person you go to when you're seeking the truth.
Pronunciation: Don't ask
Usage: My wife is my truegle.
Root: Truth+Google
Note: There is a site called 'Truegle.co.uk', but it's rubbish.

Killgrimage

n.
What suicide bombers undertake.
Pronunciation: Easy
Usage: Every year, come winter, hundreds of young men from 'Upore' (slang for POK) embark on a killgrimage to Kashmir.
Root: Kill+Pilgrimage
Note: Suicide bombers are 'killgrims'.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Panch Hum

Meaning: Raspy caterwauling used as musical interlude in songs.
Pronunciation: Punch-hum.
Usage: The punch hum in 'duniya mein logon ko' is more memorable than 'pyaar hamein kis mod pe le aaya'.
Root: Dedicated to Pancham (nickname of RD Burman). He had this quirk of lacing his songs with guttural interludes.

Dubai-bye

n.
The end of a real estate bubble.
Pronunciation: Do-bye-bye
Usage: After last year's Dubai-bye, the credit default by the phrase-contributing Emirate is along expected lines.
Root: Dubai+Goodbye

Loltogether

adv.
A laughably disunited state of affairs.
Pronunciation: Lol-together
Usage: She was so insecure because her family was loltogether, he said supressing a smile.
Root: Lol+Altogether

Trystival

n.
A networking event.
Pronunciation: trist-ival
Usage: TED is a trystival of great ideators from around the world.
Root: Tryst+Festival

Lackberry

Meaning: One without a mobile device.
Pronunciation: Lack-beri
Usage: If you're a lackberry you're answerable to no one.
Root: Derived from Blackberry (the quick-replying, quick-connect mobile device).

Danceparent

adj.
When it's obvious someone wants to dance.
Pronunciation: Fun
Usage: It's great fun to see shy people being danceparent in a corner of the room they think nobody is watching.
Root: Dance+Transparent

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Coochie Coouming

Meaning: Getting dirty and intimate in public.
Pronunciation: Kootchy-coo-vum-ming.
Usage: I am no prude. But it does feel odd when coochie coouming happens in offices.
Root: Coochie Cooing + Cooum (a dirty river and a synonym for filth in Chennai).

Folligopoly

n.
A monopoly of mistakes.
Pronunciation: Easy
Usage: The Indian political scene is a good (bad?) example of a folligopoly.
Root: Folly+Oligopoly

Fewlosophy

n.
A rarely practiced school of thought.
Pronunciation: Few-losofie
Usage: Satanism is a Fewlosophy the followers of Lucifer practice.
Root: Few+Philosophy

Uppercat

Meaning: A highly overrated person or group, expected to win any race or contest.
Pronunciation: Up-per-cat.
Usage: South Africa is the uppercat in any cricket tournament. But somehow they always end up choking.
Root: Opposite of underdog.

Pugriculture

Meaning: The act of rearing a pug to cultivate popularity.
Pronunciation: Rhymes with agriculture.
Usage: To Hutch goes the credit of injecting pugriculture into our nation's vocabulary.
Root: Self explanatory.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Chillusionist

Meaning: Someone who's good at creating an image of being nonchalant.
Pronunciation: Chill-lew-shun-ist.
Usage: Don't be fooled by the many chillusionists you meet at the IITs. They are all closet sloggers and maggus who are all armed to max the test, next day.
Root: Chill (to relax) + Illusionist (one who creates an illusion).

Glaussie

n.
One who can see nothing wrong with Australia.
Pronunciation: Rhymes with 'Aussie'
Usage: Malcolm Conn, the Australian cricket writer, is a real Glussie. Is Kevin Rudd a 'glausset' Glaussie?
Root: To gloss over+ Aussie

Mumbuoyed

Adj.
To be energised into action by adversity.
Pronunciation: Work on it
Usage: He was Mumbuoyed into getting a job after his wife left him.
Root: Mumbai+Buoy
Note: This word is dedicated to the great city of Mumbai on the first anniversary of the 26/11 blast of 2008. Let's remind ourselves that we have to ... umm, blast terrorism out of our lives. (Also, this word shall always be written with a capital 'M' as a mark of respect to the financial capital of India.)

Pesterday

n.
A day that's choc-a-bloc with things to do.
Pronunciation: Easy
Usage: Pesterday all my troubles are going to come my way. Because it's pesterday.
Root: Pester+Day

Panchahafta

Meaning: 5-day week.
Pronunciation: Punch-cha-huff-tha.
Usage: Panchahafta is the norm on paper. Most ad agencies squeeze the juice out of creative even on weekends.
Root: Pancha (Sanskrit for five) + Hafta (Hindi for week).

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Endthrift

n.
Someone with suicidal tendencies.
Pronunciation: End-thrift
Usage: People who drink and drive are endthrifts.
Root: End+Spendthrift

Monday, November 23, 2009

Blissterical

Meaning: Being uncontrollably happy.
Pronunciation: Bliss-teri-cull.
Usage: Disneyland makes children go blissterical.
Root: Bliss + Hysterical.

Fivegery

Meaning: The hoax of a hoax or a cheap copy of a cheap copy.
Pronunciation: 5-jerry.
Usage: Nallinikanth was a good fivegery of Vijaykant.
Root: One step more than a 4gery.

Bragiography

Meaning: An article, piece or book that is so full of unabashed self-praise.
Pronunciation: Brag-gia-gra-fee.
Usage: His blog is unadulterated bragiography.
Root: Brag + hagiography.