Style Conversational Week 1296: Use your zoodle The Style Invitational Empress discusses this week’s new contest and results Zoodles: a pile of shredded zuke. (Goran Kosanovic/For The Washington Post) Image without a caption By Pat Myers close Image without a caption Pat Myers Editor and judge of The Style Invitational since December 2003 Email Email Bio Bio Follow Follow Style Invitational editor September 6, 2018 at 3:19 p.m. EDT We first did a Style Invitational contest linked to M-W.com, Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, last October, after I’d discovered a tool on the website that let you see a list of words and phrases first used in any given year. In that contest, Week 1250, you chose a year and wrote a poem using some of those “first known use” words. Great results. And so when M-W’s Meghan Lunghi wrote me again a couple of weeks ago, asking if I’d want to run a contest coinciding with the announcement of new terms being added, I figured: Sure. Poems. The 35 terms I list this in Week 1296 are just some of the new words newly added to M-W.com; more than 800 entries have been either added or modified, according to Meghan, who told me, “We never disclose the full list of words.” The ones she linked to for me — first a list of 35, then another list from which I substituted a few words for some in that first group — clearly reflect the millennial world, along with the restaurant trend of truncating words into cutesy abbrevs: marg[arita], avo[cado], guac[amole]. “App” wasn’t on the list Meghan gave me, but I see that the listing was updated on Aug. 25 — maybe to mean “appetizer” as well as “application”? Then there are portmanteau words that could have been plucked from an Invite neologism contest: “hangry” (hungry/angry), “zoodle” (zucchini noodle), “hacktivism,” ‘mocktail.” Anyway, here’s a list of definitions for this week’s terms. You may use plurals and different parts of speech in your poems. Click on the links for fuller definitions as well as sample sentences. I’m seeing this as an annual contest, no? Adorbs: (adorable) extremely charming or appealing : adorable Airplane mode (British: aeroplane mode): an operating mode for an electronic device (such as a mobile phone) in which the device does not connect to wireless networks and cannot send or receive communications (such as calls or text messages) or access the Internet but remains usable for other functions Avo: avocado Bougie: from /bourgeois; /informal, usually disparaging: marked by a concern for wealth, possessions, and respectability CBD: cannabidiol, a nonintoxicating cannabinoid found in cannabis and hemp Cybercrime: criminal activity (such as fraud, theft, or distribution of child pornography) committed using a computer especially to illegally access, transmit, or manipulate data fav: favorite. (Just a new alternative spelling for “fave.” fintech : products and companies that employ newly developed digital and online technologies in the banking and financial services industries flight (definition 4c): a selection of alcoholic drinks (such as wines, beers, or whiskeys) for tasting as a group force quit , transitive verb: to force (an unresponsive computer program) to shut down (as by using a series of preset keystrokes) Generation Z: the generation of people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s GOAT: the greatest of all time : the most accomplished and successful individual in the history of a particular sport or category of performance or activity gochujang: a spicy paste used in Korean cuisine that is made from red chili peppers, glutinous rice, and fermented soybeans guac: guacamole hacktivism: computer hacking (as by infiltration and disruption of a network or website) done to further the goals of political or social activism hangry: informal; irritable or angry because of hunger haptics: 1. the use of electronically or mechanically generated movement that a user experiences through the sense of touch as part of an interface (such as on a gaming console or smartphone) 2. medical: a science concerned with the sense of touch hophead: a beer enthusiast Instagram, Instagramming: both a transitive and intransitive verb: to post (a picture) to the Instagram photo-sharing service Latinx: pronounced either “LA-tinks” or “la-TEE-nex”; of, relating to, or marked by Latin American heritage —used as a gender-neutral alternative to Latino or Latina marg: margarita medical marijuana: marijuana that is available only by prescription and is used to treat a variety of medical conditions (such as pain, anxiety, nausea, and glaucoma) — suprising that this term is being added just now, no? mise en place: pronounced “mee zahn plahss”: a culinary process in which ingredients are prepared and organized (as in a restaurant kitchen) before cooking mocktail: a usually iced drink made with any of various ingredients (such as juice, herbs, and soda water) but without alcohol : a nonalcoholic cocktail nanobot: a microscopically small robot: a robot built on the scale of nanometers rando: slang, often disparaging; a random person: a person who is not known or recognizable or whose appearance (as in a conversation or narrative) seems unprompted or unwelcome ribbie: the baseball abbreviation RBI (run or runs batted in) turned into an acronym salty (Meaning 4: informal: feeling or showing resentment towards a person or situation: bitter. “I completely forgot about our date and left my girlfriend waiting at the restaurant for over an hour. Now she’s all salty.” —Nicole Lane. “They made me shave my beard and cover up my tattoos, which I was a little salty about.” —Jon Niccum self-harm: the act of purposely hurting oneself (as by cutting or burning the skin) as an emotional coping mechanism shy bladder: paruresis: an inability to urinate in the presence of others (as in a public restroom); the fear of being unable to initiate or sustain urination when other people are nearby tent city: a collection of many tents set up in an area to provide usually temporary shelter (as for displaced or homeless people) time suck informal: an activity to which one devotes a lot of time that might be better or more productively spent doing other things [I CAN THINK OF NO EXAMPLES OF THIS PHENOMENON.] TL;DR: texting jargon for “too long; didn’t read” —used to say that something would require too much time to read zoodle: a long, thin strip of zucchini that resembles a string or narrow ribbon of pasta zuke: zucchini Nice GOing*: The results of Week 1292 /*Non-inking headline by Jesse Frankovich/ The home page at OEDILF.com now tallies 99,801 approved limericks. While the 25 entries in this week’s Limerixicon results wouldn’t turn over the odometer, I’m pretty certain that Chris J. Strolin and his team of volunteer editors would heartily approve at least 199 entries to Week 1292 for their Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form: I had far more well-crafted limericks to choose from among the almost 1,000 entries. To submit your inking or non-inking limericks to OEDILF, check out the site’s FAQ page. (We wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to send them to Chris ourselves.) If the poem you’re submitting got ink in the Invite today, please note that, as humblebraggedy as possible, to OEDILF; if it didn’t, you don’t have to say. The usual protocol there is for one or more editors to work with you to fine-tune your submission; “workshopping” is a great way to get advice from some really skilled limericists. And unlike with the Invite, you can use a pseudonym. No jaws dropped at the news that this week’s Lose Cannon winner was Brendan Beary: This is at least the fifth time Brendan has finished first in limerick contests alone — that includes a 2006 two-man Limerick Smackdown with Chris Doyle. This is just Brendan’s second cannon (I’ve been giving them out for about a year), but it’s his 39th Invite win and, with his four blots today, his 1,062th ink. Runners-up Gary Crockett and Chris Doyle are both also frequent hangers-out in the Losers’ Circle, but it’s exciting to see the return of Paul VerNooy, whom we hadn’t seen in about five years. Paul gets his 17th blot of ink and just his second appearance “above the fold” with his surprise-narrator-in-the-punchline joke. (Brendan’s “Godot” winner is of the same genre.) *Limerisque: Unprintables from Week 1292* Some people argue that /all / limericks should be risque. I don’t subscribe to that philosophy, but there’s certainly a strong tradition of bawdiness. The last few entries in this week’s results ran only online, since I’ve never had a taste complaint from Web readers, and that’s where I put Jesse Frankovich’s “glans” limerick, and Brendan’s “bugger me,” and Warren Tanabe’s “gl fo.” But then there were these, some of which were designated “Convo only” by their writers: When you’re cuddling your lover in bed, Here’s a tip that will stand in good stead: Have her tend to your glans Using one or both hands— You’re certain to come out ahead. (Duncan Stevens) Cried Melania, “No, Donald! Ew! What the hell did you just go and do?” “It’s the Golden Rule: Pee Onto others,” said he, “As you’d have them pee onto you.” (Jesse Frankovich) Happy Hannah the Hooker turns tricks. Got a chest cold and needed a fix. She gleaned rubbing her chest With Vick’s worked the best After rubbing Tom’s, Harry’s and Dick’s (Jon Gearhart) For gossipers, Stormy’s a treat, Dishing dirt about Trump that’s replete With salacious details Of a tryst where he fails To pass muster. His boner? Petite. (Chris Doyle) Father Fein teaches art and design At St. Joseph’s and likes to give wine To the lads that he blesses, Then gladly undresses. Oh, yes, every good boy does Fein. (Chris Doyle) *MASTERS OF NAAN: LOSER BRUNCH, SEPT. 16 AT NOON* Come join me and other Loserly fans of Indian food for this month’s Loser brunch: It’s at Aditi, a surprisingly nice restaurant in the strip mall across from the Kingstowne cineplex, a few short miles outside the Beltway at theVan Dorn Road exit in Northern Virginia. It’s one of my favorite buffets, and a great value. RSVP to Elden Carnahan on the Losers’ Web page . And Happy New Year to my Jewish landsmen — and anyone else who wants to party like it’s 5779.