Saturday, December 29, 2007

Aanamatopoeic

Meaning: Anything that sounds huge.
Pronunciation: Aa-na-meto-pick
Usage: Dolly Parton's you-know-what had this aanaimatopoeic quality once upon a time.
Root: Aana (Mallu for elephant) + Onomatopoeic (Innately sounding).

Friday, December 28, 2007

Dhotee

Meaning: Sporting a dhoti & a t-shirt. A curious fashion trend noticeable down South.
Pronunciation: Dho-tee.
Usage: After the wedding, all the tam-bram men switched over to their dhotees.
Root: Dhoti + Tee (short form for T-shirt).

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Pasidity

Meaning: The illusion of hunger when acidity plays havoc.
Pronunciation: Pa-see-ditty.
Usage: I had lunch for breakfast thanks to my pasidity.
Root: Pasi (Tamil word for hunger) + Acidity.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Hansack

Meaning: An act of plunder and destruction wrought by swans.
Pronunciation: like ransack - hans (as in hands, without the 'd') + sak.
Usage: Sneaky swans! They look like they might hansack our village anytime.
Root: Hans - the Sanskrit word for swan + ransack

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Burghlar

Meaning: A city-dwelling thief.
Pronounciation: Buh-rg-lur
Usage: Chennai is seeing a sudden increase in the number of burghlars.
Root: Burgher (city dweller) + burglar

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Shoddyshuda

Meaning: In a messy state of matrimony.
Pronunciation: Shod-dee-shoo-da.
Usage: Being single is better than being shoddyshuda.
Root: Shadishuda (the hindi term for being married) + Shoddy (Of inferior quality).

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Modius

Meaning: Detestable yet popular.
Pronunciation: Mo-dee-yes.
Usage: The increasing clamour for nuclear bombs is utterly modius.
Root: Modi (Narendra Modi, the popular bigot of Gujarat) + Odius (hate-worthy).

Actolastsec

Meaning: Person who does things at the eleventh hour.
Pronunciation: Acto-toe-las-sec.
Usage: From tax-filing to going-to-the-loo, I've always been an actolastsec.
Root: Acto (actor = one who acts) + Last Sec (last second).

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Bombustious

Meaning: The grandiloquent noises made by a country when it acquires a nuclear bomb.
Pronunciation: Bomb-bust-yes.
Usage: After Pokhran, even a sober nation like India turned bombustious.
Root: Bomb (nuke) + Bombast (bluster) + Rumbustious (lacking in restraint).

Oorga-ga

Meaning: Salivate over spicy content.
Pronunciation: oo-r-ga-ga.
Usage: Gongura makes the gults go oorga-ga.
Root: Oorga + ga-ga.

Tendenzee

Meaning: Propensity to attach the alphabet zee to a brand name to make it more cool sounding.
Pronunciation: Ten-den-zee.
Usage: After the success of Zune, naming companies have overdone the tendenzee thingy.
Root: Tendency + Z (phonetically zee).

Orfans

Meaning: Fans disowned or left in the lurch by a star.
Pronunciation: Sounds exactly the same as orphans.
Usage: The Elvis orfans gather every year in Graceland.
Root: Orphans + Fans.

Chupperware

Meaning: Utility articles that suck big time.
Pronunciation: Chup-pa-wear.
Usage: Every time my cousin returns from a kitty party, she's saddled with a pile of chupperware.
Root: Chupparadhu (to suck in tamil) + ware.

Kunjuicer

Meaning: A juicer that sucks out the last drop from a fruit. Or any device that squeezes the maximum output from the input.
Pronunciation: Cun-joos-err.
Usage: The ganne ka ras vendors in Benaras were the inventors of the legendary kunjuicer.
Root: Kanjoos (Hindi for anyone with a penchant for getting the most from his investment)+ Juicer.

Kiddyappam

Meaning: Smaller servings of the idiyappam.
Pronunciation: Kiddy-aap-pum.
Usage: Kiddyappams are the small-idli-size idiyappams dished out in premium restaurants. They were born when the hotel management decided to serve lesser without giving the impression of serving lesser.
Root: Kid (a metaphor for small) + Idiyappam (A South Indian breakfast item).

Dindoo

Meaning: An incompetent person who fails to carry out even simple tasks.
Pronunciation: Rhymes with Hindoo.
Usage: Sometimes it pays to hire a dindoo in your team. At least this way you can look smarter.
Root: Phonetic version of Didn't-do (failure to accomplish).

Bustigmatism

Meaning: A disorder afflicting hot blooded men. Cause: A woman's chest. Effect: Inability to focus on everything else.
Pronunciation: Bus-tig-mat-tism.
Usage: When Pamela Anderson walked out with her silicone implants, the attendants at the clinic experienced an attack of bustigmatism.
Root: Bust + Astigmatism.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Busmasura

Meaning: An ill-fated bus that swallows the lives of its passengers.
Pronunciation: Bus-ma-su-ra.
Usage: The 72 passengers on the highway to Ghaziabad had no clue that they had boarded a busmasura.
Root: Bus + Bhasmasura (a demon from Hindu Mythology who destroys the very man who empowered him).

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Shinaman

Meaning: One who adds sheen to the cricket ball using saliva.
Pronunciation: Shiner-man.
Usage: There's a difference between ball tampering and playing shinaman.
Root: Shiner + Chinaman (a cricketing term).

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Chennaisa

Meaning: A cosmopolitan islamic school.
Pronunciation: Chen-ny-sa.
Usage: The easiest way to root out jihadis is to create more chennaisas.
Root: Chennai (new name of Madras) + Madrasa (arabic for islamic school)

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Chessnokov

Meaning: A common name to notate Russian chess players.
Pronunciation: Chess-no-kov.
Usage: The tournament had its share of chessnokovs.
Root: Chess + -nokov (a popular russian name suffix)

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Bhejaculation

Meaning: Mental masturbation.
Pronunciation: Bhay-ja-q-lay-shun.
Usage: Conference rooms are venues for bhejaculation.
Root: Bheja (Hindi slang for brain) + Ejaculation.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Sarcar

Meaning: An automobile that carts government of India officials/dignitaries. Invariably a white ambassador.
Pronunciation: Sur-car.
Usage: A caravan of sarcars descended upon the forsaken village one day before the election.
Root: Sarkar (Hindi word for Government) + Car.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Penicotine

Meaning: A pen used vicariously as a cigar/cigarette.
Pronunciation: Penny-co-teen.
Usage: In the Anbumani regime, bollywood villains will be forced to hold penicotines on screen.
Root: Pen + Nicotine.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Elarocism

Meaning: Tendency to mix up the letter l with r.
Pronunciation: El-la-ro-cism.
Usage: The Japanese are prone to elarocism as their language has no phoneme equivalent of the English 'l' or 'r'.
Root: El (phonetic L) + A (phonetic R) + -Cism (suffix cueing a state or condition).

Mincetrument

Meaning: A device capable of cutting or chopping things.
Pronunciation: Mins-true-ment.
Usage: Kapil Sibal was used as a mincetrument in the Lok Sabha debate to dice through the shallow arguments of the BJP.
Root: Mince (to cut) + Instrument.

Slowcality

Meaning: Where nothing much changes.
Pronunciation: Slo-cal-litty.
Usage: Nehru's obsession with socialism reduced India to a slowcality.
Root: Slow + Locality.

Fileanthropist

Meaning: A forwarder of interesting files.
Pronunciation: File-lan-thrope-ist.
Usage: The difference between a fileanthropist and a spammer is the benign motivation.
Root: File + Philanthropist.

Shirkular

Meaning: A resignation letter cced to all.
Pronunciation: Shirk-q-lar.
Usage: After the raise freeze, I vented my frustration by posting a colorful shirkular on the bulletin board.
Root: Shirk + Circular.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Lilustrious

Meaning: Eminent at a young age.
Pronunciation: Lil-lust-ri-yus.
Usage: Ajit Tendulkar would have been envious of his lilustrious kid brother.
Root: Lil (small) + illustrious.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Shushpicion

Meaning: Snuffing out suspicion by rounding up the usual suspects.
Pronunciation: Shush-pi-shun.
Usage: Cops enact the charade of shushpicion whenever there is a terrorist incident.
Root: Shush (silence) + Suspicion.

Prophecease

Meaning: Stop forecasting.
Pronunciation: Prof-a-cease.
Usage: I used to predict the results of one-day matches. After the world cup debacle, I've kinda propheceased.
Root: Prophecy + Cease.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Tonguerezi

Meaning: Indians whose mother tongue is English.
Pronunciation: Tongue-ray-zee.
Usage: Tonguerezis are Angrezis with an Indian birth certificate.
Root: Tongue (mother tongue) + Angrezis (the English).

Spockult

Meaning: Rooted in rational thinking. Basically, the antonym of Occult.
Pronunciation: Spock-cult.
Usage: In macro economics, it pays to rely on spockult.
Root: Spock (the star trek character and epitome of logical thinking)+ Occult (concealed).

Friday, July 27, 2007

Sulk Mail

Meaning: The act of not replying to mails as a silent expression of resentment.
Pronunciation: Rhymes with Bulk Mail.
Usage: Sulk Mails work brilliantly with girlfriends.
Root: Self explanatory.

Mian Culpa

Meaning: Husband at fault.
Pronunciation: Me-yaan-cul-pa.
Usage: Bill Clinton's expected to do a 'mian culpa' number while campaigning for Hillary.
Pronunciation: Mian (Urdu for husband) + Mea Culpa (Latin for my fault).

Beeverage

Meaning: Any honey tinged drink.
Pronunciation: Beaver-age.
Usage: Beevarges are highly recommended for infants.
Root: Bee Beverage.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Bopraybop

Meaning: An expression of surprise, awe or shock.
Pronunciation: Bop-ray-bop.
Usage: Bopraybop! You've really bloomed into one buxom woman.
Root: An anglicised form of hindi expression baap-rey-baap.

Specuniary

Meaning: Concerning notional money.
Pronunciation: Speck-queue-ni-ya-ry.
Usage: Market capitalisation is purely specuniary.
Root: Spec (short form for speculative) + Pecuniary (pertraining money).

Dosamosa

Meaning: A dosa with a filling.
Pronunciation: Dho-sa-mo-sa.
Usage: The dosamosa is the future of the dosa.
Root: Dosa + Samosa (a fried snack with a filling).

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Unoliteraverb

Meaning: One letter word.
Pronunciation: Oo-know-litra-verb.
Usage: I is the most used unoliteraverb.
Root: Uno (latin for one) + Litera (latin for letter) + Verb (word).

Shrnk

Meaning: To devowelize.
Pronunciation: Sh-r-nk.
Usage: The word devowelization ironically uses vowels. To correct this anomaly I am suggesting the usage of shrnk.
Root: The sms version of Shrink.

Ichthyodipsosis

Meaning: A state when one tends to drink like a fish.
Pronunciation: Ick-theo-dip-sauce-sis.
Usage: My car suffers from ichthyodipsosis. It consumes petrol like there's no tomorrow.
Root: Ichthyo (Greek for fish) + Dipsosis (Greek for excessive thirst).
Note: Hicthyodipsosis will be one pitcher further :-)

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Thyagaroger

Meaning: An incompetent carnatic singer.
Pronunciation: Th-ya-ga-roj-err.
Usage: If Subbudu were alive, he'd label the current crop of filmy singers as Thyagarogers.
Root: Thyagaraja (the master composer of carnatic music) + roger (slang for to screw).

Shuttendant

Meaning: A flunkie who finishes off people.
Pronunciation: Shut-ten-dant.
Usage: Suparis are executed by faceless shuttendants from the Bombay underworld.
Root: Shut (Close...slang for finishing people off) + Attendant.

Shoveasana

Meaning: Showing the middle finger.
Pronunciation: Shove-ass-na.
Usage: Chappell assumed the classic shoveasana pose in Kolkata.
Root: Shove-it-up-yours + Asana.

Persecutie

Meaning: A paranaoid bimbo who assumes the world is full of stalkers.
Pronunciation: Persy-QT
Usage: Persecuties feel the need to engage full time bouncers.
Root: Cutie with persecution complex.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Threecasting

Meaning: Forecasting forecasts.
Pronunciation: 3-casting.
Usage: Threecasting astrological predictions gives me an immense kick.
Root: What comes before Fourcasting :-)

Disslam

Meaning: Islam-bashing resorted to by ranters with an agenda.
Pronunciation: Diss-laam.
Usage: Disslam was invented by Karl Rove to help the Republicans.
Root: Diss (to show disrespect) + Islam.

Glumbustious

Meaning: Uncontrollably dejected.
Pronunciation: Glum-busty-yes.
Usage: England were glumbustious when rain played spoilsport at Lord's.
Root: Glum + Rumbustious.

Humethyst

Meaning: An ordinary singer.
Pronunciation: Hummer-thyst.
Usage: In my humble opinion, Illayaraja was responsible for the tyranny of humethsyts in the eighties.
Root: Hum (sing) + amethyst (semi-precious stone) = a not-so-rare-gem of a singer.

Shantee

Meaning: Playing golf for appeasement.
Pronunciation: Shan-tee.
Usage: The only way to hold on to an angry client is by shanteeing with the man who is hopping mad.
Root: Shanti (sanskrit for peace) + Tee (to play golf).

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Dotonym

Meaning: a) Domain name. b) A name that precedes or follows a dot.
Pronunciation: Dot-toe-nym.
Usage: a) When Experts Exchange is written as a dotonym, it has another connotation.
b) Sulfury's blogger dotonym is h2so4.
Root: Self explanatory.

Aaraamite

Meaning: A lover of indolence.
Pronunciation: Aa-raam-might.
Usage: Aaraamites prefer to retire at 40.
Root: Aaraam is the hindi word for resting.

Boothakennedy

Meaning: A person who makes a mountain out of a molehill.
Pronunciation: Boo-dha-ken-na-dee.
Usage: You can't enter politics, if you're not a boothakennedy.
Root: From the tamil word boothakannadi (which means magnifying glass).

Boomerwrong

Meaning: Bad karma that comes back to haunt you.
Pronunciation: Boomer-wrong.
Usage: Osama was a classic case of a CIA boomerwrong.
Root: Boomerang + Wrong.
Note: The word boomerwrong already exists. I've just given it another spin.

Potyak

Meaning: Drug-induced babble.
Pronunciation: Pot-yak
Usage: I dunno if truth serum potyak can be used as evidence in court.
Root: Pot (slang for drugs) + Yak (blather).