Thanksgivingukkah: The Latest American Holiday?

Even though it only comes once in every 70,000 years, does Thanksgivingukkah truly qualify as a bona-fide American holiday? 

By: Ringo Bones

May be the fact that it only comes once in every 70,000 years that nobody in America, never mind elsewhere in the world, seems to really care if Thanksgivingukkah is a bona-fide holiday or not, it seems that everyone is just celebrating it in blissful ignorance.  Never mind Thanksgivingukkah becoming the latest addition of the American English lexicon. But indeed, it has an origin story that legitimizes its claim as a bona-fide American holiday. 

It may have been the fact that this 2013 Thanksgiving and the first day of the Jewish High Holiday Hanukkah both fell on the same day. The “Thanksgiving” part of Thanksgivingukkah may be over but there still are a few days of gift giving left for Hanukkah 2013. But unbeknown to most of us, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah could have a very justifiable reason to share a kinship with beyond a quirk of the Gregorian Calendar that we won’t be seeing another Thanksgiving and Hanukkah combo for another 70,000 years. 

Believe it or not, both Hanukkah and Thanksgiving are born out of a civil war. Hanukkah’s origins were the Macabbean Revolt of 167 to 160 BC which was for all intents and purposes a civil war that set the salient theme of Hanukkah. And despite its 17^th Century Puritan theme of the American Thanksgiving, it was during the American Civil War when the then US President Abraham Lincoln who proclaimed that the last Thursday of November be designated as Thanksgiving as a morale booster for his Union troops back in 1863. Even if Thanksgivingukkah is nothing more than a combination of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah just because a quirk in the Gregorian Calendar made them both fell on the last Thursday of November this 2013, we won’t be obliged to celebrate it for the next 69,000 years. 

Eastwooding: A New Word From The 2012 US Presidential Race?

Supposedly to mean someone talking to an empty chair and pretending someone is sitting there; is “Eastwooding” another new word born out of the 2012 US Presidential Race?

By: Ringo Bones

Like always, we can always count on the US Republican Party for over-the-top political statements hitherto unseen since the search for nonexistent WMDs in Saddam’s Iraq back in March 2003. With the Ronald Reagan 3-D Holography a no show during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida a few months ago, it was up to famed Hollywood actor and conservative stalwart Clint Eastwood to do a stunt supposedly to liven up a supposedly matter-of-fact GOP rally.

Sadly, not all people are familiar with improvisational acting or improv – a few that do only associate improv with Wayne Brady, who gained notoriety as the “whitest” African-American actor in America. Clint Eastwood supposedly castigating an empty chair as a stand in for the Democrat President Obama has left most of us a quizzical look of puzzlement. After parody postings of photos on various online social media sites supposedly mimicking Clint Eastwood’s practice of interrogating an empty chair, it probably took a few more weeks before the online community reached a consensus to call what Clint Eastwood did to that empty chair supposedly to stand in for President Obama during the GOP national convention in Tampa, Florida as “Eastwooding”. At least Romnesia won’t be so lonely as the latest word in the American English lexicon for 2012.   

Romnesia: Recently Uncovered GOP Mental Disorder?

For those old enough to remember the “Voodoo-economics” behind of Reaganomics, will there be a more serious mental disorder yet to destabilize the US Republican Party?

By: Ringo Bones

Would you believe that the ever-increasing partisan politics at the Beltway of Washington, D.C. has been slowly enriching the already colorful American English lexicon since former US President George W. Bush’s search for nonexistent WMDs in Iraq? Sadly, this is at the American taxpayers’ expense of an increasingly dysfunctional government about to careen into a Fiscal Cliff where The Lord white Anglo Saxon Protestant Jesus Christ can no longer perform Hail Mary Play miracles anymore. But has anyone already heard of “Romnesia”?

It could well be that the increasing partisan politics at the D.C. Beltway may well be the most prodigious source of new words – make that whimsical new words – for the burgeoning American English lexicon. I first heard it on the weekending October 20, 2012 on CNN that incumbent President Obama, while on the campaign trail of the 2012 US Presidential Election, describes his opponent former Governor Mitt Romney of having “Romnesia”, making President Obama the first one to coin the term. But what is Romnesia anyway and is it already an official part of the American English lexicon?     

When I checked it out on the Urban Dictionary website, it seems that there are a number of meanings vying for the official definition of the new word Romnesia. These are the following tentative definitions: 1) the act of forgetting a statement or belief that you had previously expressed the opposite point of view with regards to. 2) The ability of the very wealthy to forget the context in which they made their money. 3) Flowing with the wind... talk a different story to a different group of audience…Inspired by flip-flop Romney liar and 4) a condition affecting GOP members and supporters exemplified by contradicting statements and a perma-grin. It looks like Mitt Romney managed to upstage the late former US President Ronald Reagan by having a “political” term coined after him before being voted into the office of the US Presidency.

Santorum: Latest Word in the American English Lexicon?

Has America's partisan political fault-line finally created a new word that fittingly describes the ontological moniker?

By: Ringo Bones

Although the campaign to make it into a new word for inclusion in the American English lexicon can be traced as far back as 2003, does the word "Santorum" be a fitting description of the current fractious discourse in the present state of American politics? Well, the American taxpayer probably has the misfortune of having experienced first-hand of having "Santorum" being smeared at their faces since 2003 - such is the extent of the ideological fault-line of the partisan political discourse in today's America.

Thanks to the hard work of gay rights activist named Dan Savage, whenever you Google search the word Santorum, the search results - more often than not - shows a description / meaning of the word as a mixture of fecal matter and lube as a by-product of anal sex. But how come the US Republican Party's presidential hopeful for the 2012 US Presidential Elections got his name associated with such an unflattering description?

Back in 2003, then US Republican Party Senator Rick Santorum has never been shy about his prejudice and bigotry of gay people - often using the Holy Bible as a justification of his somewhat "homophobic" ideological stance. Thus inciting Dan Savage to start a campaign to associate the name of the homophobic Republican senator to mean a mixture of fecal matter and lube more often than not the resulting by-product of anal sex. Long story sort, now every time you Google search the word Santorum, a rather unflattering description shows up on top of the search results. Given that Adam and Jamie of the Mythbusters had recently collaborated with President Barack Obama on the Archimedes "Death Ray", if ever America has the misfortune of having Rick Santorum as the president, will Adam and Jamie be doing a "Santorum" special on Mythbusters?

Sarah Palin: 21st Century English Wordsmith?

Now resorting to invent new English words - like "refudiate" - in order to achieve her own political ends, is the former Alaska governor guilty of being anti-semantic?


By: Ringo Bones


Ever since inventing the word “refudiate” – her own corruption of the word repudiate in one of her Twitter messages calling on “…Muslims to “refudiate…”, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin had since gained fame – or notoriety – of corrupting the English language hitherto not witnessed since Dr. Samuel Johnson created the first definitive English dictionary to rein in on William Shakespeare’s rather free-spirited spelling of English words according to the great bard’s creative mood.

Even though she is still grammatically spot-on, Sarah Palin can only be accused of brandishing the ass-end of the Queen’s English every time she invents a new word in order to achieve her own political ends. Given that her somewhat extreme right-wing stance is enough to make ethnic minorities in America squirm does she really have to resort to anti-semantic stunts in order to gain political clout?

The Anti-President Obama Bandwagon: Expanding the English Language?

As the English language roster reached past the 1,000,000th mark, can the anti-President Obama bandwagon add another three words to our ever expanding near universal lexicon?


By: Ringo Bones


It seems like it was just yesterday that back in June 12, 2009 that the English language officially inducted the 1,000,000th word, and yet three more words are now poised to be added to the ever expanding lexical pool of the worlds near-universally accepted tongue. Surprisingly, we can “reluctantly” thank the kluge side of the American neo-Nazism courtesy of the current anti-President Obama bandwagon. Maybe there’s truth to that “thousand simians typing with luck can create a Shakespeare-like masterpiece” story after all. Due to their frequency of use, the following three words could soon be officially inducted to English language.

1.) Birthers – according to the word’s established used, Birthers are conspiracy theorists who questions the American citizenship of U.S. President Barack Obama. Thanks to their loud and vocal questioning of President Obama’s U.S. citizenship that the word Birthers is now on the fast track to become the newest entry into the English language lexicon. Thanks to the loud and vocal voice of the Birthers – with the emphasis on the loud. That made the town hall discussions on the proposed healthcare bill as loud as a Richard Butler sponsored “Aryan Nation Punk Rock Oi! Scene” circa 1989.

2.) Death Panels – a term created by the former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin which pertains to the theoretical – though I wonder if Sarah Palin sees them as theoretical – panel that decides who lives or dies as the proposed “Obama healthcare plan” takes into effect. The English speaking world now has Sarah Palin to thank yet again. Before she was flung into the limelight of the 2008 U.S. Presidential Elections, I thought that one has prerequisite to be male before qualifying to be a misogynist. A female misogynist? Sarah Palin broke another “glass ceiling” yet again.

3.) Tea Baggers – a movement of protestors opposed to President Obama’s current tax structures, which according to the Tea Baggers undermines the Protestant Work Ethic that made America a great nation after all these years. Unfortunately, ultra-nationalist Anglo-Saxon Protestant Americans have managed to become a caricature of themselves whenever they profess that they are the only – and I mean by professing as the only – ethnic group that can save America.

So there you have it, three new words poised to become the latest entries into the burgeoning roster of the English language. Makes one wonder if a group of Waffen-SS stragglers managed to establish an ideological school in America near the end of World War II and we are now witnessing the fruit of their labors? Or maybe this is just the kluge side of American neo-Nazism trying to reclaim their birthright? May their stupidity enrich the English language?

The English Language’s 1,000,000th Word

Believe it or not, our current English language already has one million words. Is the end of additional words in sight?


By: Vanessa Uy


By June 12, 2009, the number of words in the English language has finally reached one million words. Which is kind of surprising – at least from my perspective. Given that this still living offspring of Latin, the language of top bards and storytellers William Shakespeare and Mark Twain, has been growing at a fever pitch since the Golden Age of Queen Elizabeth I would have reached a million words long ago. Despite tenured linguists and academics official stance on the matter is that a new word is “officially” added to the English language roster every 98 minutes or so. The question now is what is the one-millionth word to be officially enlisted in our official English language roster?

Sadly it wasn’t one of those four-letter expletives uttered by the now infamous ethically embattled former governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevic. Which can be a relief if you are a parent of a very verbose teenager. Surprisingly, the one-millionth-word entry in the English language is Web 2.0. Which for all intents and purposes is America's contribution to the already burgeoning roster of the official list of English words.

Web 2.0? I too was surprised. I thought that Web 2.0 was already an “official” entry into the English language roster – make that the Queen’s English – sometime between You Tube’s Lonely Girl 15 became a household name to every Internet savvy citizen or “Nettizen” around the world. Or was it when the number of people who earned more than 1,000 US dollars a month just by surfing on the Internet reached 1 million. Even in the UK – the home bastion of the Queen’s English – has been very enthusiastic over Web 2.0 becoming an official one-millionth-word entry into the roster of the English language, despite of Web 2.0 sounding too American from the vantagepoint of the Francophone world.

Too bad noob – which means a computer gaming novice – didn’t become the English language’s one-millionth word. Which – in the 21st Century – those words will most likely be computer or Internet related. Although from my perspective Web 2.0 is a lot better than sexting – i.e. sending “naughty” electronic messages. Or octomom (another newly recognized english word of American origin) – which has since become a news item since this California mom gave birth to octuplets. Serving as a rather cognitive dissonant contrast to the logic of the state of California’s Proposition 8 in our current Web 2.0 world. Let's just hope that if William Shakespeare or Mark Twain is currently exploring the web - especially on overtly-opinionated English language blogs - they won't have any trouble understanding the 21st Century incarnation of their "Mother Tongue".