Two countries separated by a common language

Catherine Ellsworth, covering LA for the Telegraph, learns to speak American.

Now, to my delight, I’ve discovered a whole new area of words to co-opt - the zeitgeisty lexicon created by DailyCandy, a website dubbed “the ultimate insider’s guide to what’s hot, new, and undiscovered”.

It’s latest edition includes such gems as “Priustoric”, an adjective meaning “from a time long ago, before hybrids” (after the popular hybrid vehicle the Toyota Prius) and “Collateral”, noun - “A person you end up driving around all night with whom you didn’t even want to hang out in the first place. “I’d love to join you, but I don’t think my collateral is on the list.”

Other amusing inventions include “crappuccino: A poorly made coffee beverage that cost upwards of four dollars”, “smellibacy: A state of involuntary celibacy brought on by bad hygiene” and “yellular: The loudness one adopts in response to a bad cell-phone connection, in the misguided hope that talking louder will improve the connection.”

There’s the Earnest Hemorrhage (sic) of the party, “a man who is oppressively forthcoming with every thought and feeling. Antonym: Ernest Hemingway, linguistically stingy author” and the “foxymoron”, the one “who is incredibly dumb but incredibly cute”. And be wary of ending up with a “nontourage”. “A group of undesirable sycophants”, ie “The party was fun until Justin showed up with his nontourage.”