The Oxford Dictionary has added the following words, among many others, in 2014:
Neckbeard - pretty much what you’d think -- an unkempt neck.
Yolo - you only live once.
Binge-watch - watching a number of episodes of a TV show back to back.
Side-boob - needs no explanation.
Humblerag - self-deprecating false modesty. I’m probably guilty of this.
Listicle - an article that uses a list as its core, which I've done here many times.
I used to scoff at the changes in language. I am now fascinated by them. It, like everything else in life, evolves.
In an op-ed piece in today’s NY Post, Kyle Smith calls for the closing of all Atlantic City casinos. Many have already gone belly up and two more are just about there. It has been 38 years since the industry set up shop in that beautiful location. Unemployment has not changed. It remains 18%. Median household income is half of what it is in the average Jersey city. The poverty rate, 22.5% in 1970, was 29.3% in 2011. In that span Jersey has gone from the fifth-most taxed state to second behind New York. Governor Cuomo is an advocate of the gambling fix and an opponent of fracking. As someone with strong libertarian tendencies, I do not oppose gambling. I just think it’s a solution for lazy, spineless politicians, and it’s proving a failure, and the prime reason is probably that leaders spend revenues far faster than they come in. Leftists often deride the deficits of the Reagan era, omitting that tax revenues were at a then all-time high. The problem is spending, although there are probably too many casinos in the northeast at present. Customers are probably eschewing the long trip to AC for the short hop near home.
An interesting development is taking place in NYC. The leaders of the United Federation of Teachers have endorsed Al Sharpton’s proposed protest march against the police. Many of the rank and file have fired off angry emails of complaint. I expect union leadership to be dominated by the most ardent leftists, but I’d bet a vote of the entire constituency would show that a significant majority opposes the endorsement. Most members may be center-left, but I doubt many tilt all the way.
Renzo and his wife, who is on maternity leave from a teaching position, stop by the floating book shop every Saturday and Sunday and wish me well. Today Renzo bought Killing. Thank you, sir, and Happy Birthday to Renzo Jr., who turned one Friday. I also had a visit from Conspiracy Man. He recently read four books banned in the USA. One links the Bush family to the Kennedy assassination. "They have a lot of blood on their hands," he said. Maybe W, then 17, was the second gunman. CM also believes that something is happening on the moon, that its face keeps changing. He sees little black dots. "Nobody's lookin' up," he lamented.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Horror Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
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