End of ADS-L Digest - 23 Dec 1994 to 24 Dec 1994

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There are 10 messages totalling 263 lines in this issue.



Topics of the day:



 1. Word of the Year: VOTE NOW! (4)

 2. Word of the Year (2)

 3. New Words of the Year

 4. DEADLINE IS HERE

 5. Cyber-Morph (2)



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Date:  Thu, 29 Dec 1994 13:28:56 EST

From:  Natalie Maynor <72377.1113[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]COMPUSERVE.COM>

Subject: Word of the Year: VOTE NOW!



Sorry for such short notice. If e-mail voting becomes a tradition, we'll

be better organized for it in the future. If you want to vote for '94 Word

of the Year, send your ballot to ADS-L by 4 p.m. today -- Pacific time.

-- Natalie

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AMERICAN DIALECT SOCIETY

Dec. 29, 1994

c/o Allan Metcalf, Le Meridien San Diego

(619) 435-3000, room 343





NOMINATIONS FOR:



NEW WORD (OR PHRASE) OF THE YEAR 1994





Nominees were chosen at the open meeting of the New Words Committee Dec. 28.

They are to be voted on at 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 29, in St. Tropez C, upstairs

at Le Meridien, 2000 Second St., Coronado.





Procedure: For each category there will be 1) opportunity for additional

nominations and brief discussion of candidates; 2) vote by show of hands,

all present entitled to vote.



1. Most beautiful: granny mum 'a woman past the usual child-bearing age who

is pregnant through      artificial implantation of a fertilized

donor egg'

   sylvanshine 'night-time iridescence of forest trees'



2. Most imaginative: morph (v.) 'to change form, to change, to transport'

   guillermo 'e-mail message in a foreign language' [=memo in Spanish]

   spamming 'random and indiscriminate posting of articles and

advertising on Internet bulletin  boards' [from image of Spam

dropped into an electric fan]



3. Most trendy: vegetal leather 'synthetic leather made of latex on cotton'

   casual day / dress down day 'a work day, usually Friday, when

employees are allowed to wear   casual attire'



4. Most euphemistic: fetal reduction 'aborting one or more fetuses that

occur as a result of infertility  treatment, to increase the chances

for survival of the remaining ones'

   challenged (as in abdominally challenged, classically challenged)



5. Most promising: Infobahn 'information superhighway, Internet'

   Pog (a children's game)

   polydoxy 'holding a variety of beliefs'



6. Most useful: cyber 'pertaining to computers, electronic communication,

or the electronic         superhighway'

   netiquette 'appropriate behavior on the Internet or other computer

network'



Then will follow open nominations, discussion, and vote for New Word of the

Year 1994, the word or phrase that best characterizes the new concerns and

attitudes of the past year. Nominations may be made whether or not the

words were winners in individual categories.





Thanks to: David Barnhart, editor of the Barnhart Dictionary Companion, the

only periodical devoted to new words; John and Adele Algeo, conductors of

"Among the New Words" in American Speech; and the 18 American Dialect

Society members and friends whose discussion Thursday morning determined

this year's categories and nominees.

   Nominations for 1995 should be sent to Barnhart at PO Box 247, Cold

Spring NY 10516

or to the Algeos at PO Box 270, Wheaton IL 60189-0270.