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Phubbing

Here are hot and happening buzzwords for 2013

The phrase is being used to describe people who fiddle with their mobile phones while you are talking to them or use their phones while in a social setting among friends. Essentially a pun on snubbing, phubbing has become so common and brazen that it has created a backlash with a ?Stop Phubbing? campaign currently gathering steam in Australia, the UK and the US.

Sharent

Applies to a parent or parents who regularly use social media to communicate detailed information about their child or children through text and photos. Sharenting is what the verb is called and it includes everything from what your kid ate, wore and said to other irritating minutiae that no one is remotely interested in. Analysts say sharents are really narcissists in their 30s who channel their own lives vicariously through the proxy of their children.

YOLO

It?s a type of slang being used by parents to get back at rebellious teenage children. An acronym for You Only Live Once, it was made famous in a rap song, and then some Hollywood actors got the phrase tattooed on their hands. The meaning is really to do with making poor decisions in life like getting drunk and making a fool of yourself in public. More widely, YOLO is now seen as drawing a line between parents and teenaged children.

Big Data

Everything is to do with Big Data these days; it?s become a technological catchall. At a basic level, it is a phrase used to describe the amount of data generated these days by computers, servers, social networks and satellite communication, among other sources. Huge streams of data are being churned out each minute, some captured by electronic whistle blowers like Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden. Technological demands are ensuring there is bigger data generating, storing and collecting today than ever before and it?s only going to increase as we increasingly trust all our manual and mental tasks to technology.

Peplum

Fashion has coined a number of words that are so esoteric that they are rarely used outside style columns. One such is peplum, which refers to a short skirt-like addition to a garment that flares from the waist. Once it was worn by Kate Middleton at a public function, the peplum became a must-have garment in every fashionista?s wardrobe.

Selfie

It?s now almost instinctive for people to take photos of themselves and share them with friends, family and Internet strangers. Facebook and Instagram were created for such gestures. Then it became boring, so people began posting wacky self-portraits on social networking sites and they became known as selfies. These are photos snapped at odd angles with smartphones. The Urban Dictionary describes it thus: ?A selfie is usually accompanied by a kissy face or the individual looking in a direction that is not towards the camera.?

Muppets

It?s nothing to do with the adorable puppets on the TV show. It came into being after an investment banker at Goldman Sachs wrote an article in which he quoted examples of how clients were being misled and taken for a ride and added: ?Over the last 12 months, I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as ?muppets?.? It became slang for someone who is a fool or a sucker and it?s caught on big time.

Hate-watching

Refers to the activity of regularly watching a television programme that you actually dislike intensely but you do so because you intend to criticise it. It?s an act that gives some viewers a real deal of pleasure and they are called hate-watchers. It?s not usually done in isolation, but generally by a group of like-minded viewers,

who revel in the opportunity to agree on the programme?s inadequacies.

Cyberloafing

It?s a word coined to describe what is a 21st-century addiction. We can shop, read the news, talk to friends, check our bank balance, watch TV as we tap away at a keyboard with our eyes glued to the screen. Cyberloafing is more precise: It refers to people who make personal use of the Internet during working hours.

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First published on: 11-08-2013 at 01:32 IST
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