‘Paralympics’: meaning and origin

an international athletic competition, modelled on the Olympic Games, for disabled athletes—UK, 1953—from the prefix ‘para-‘ in ‘paraplegic’ and ‘-lympics’ in ‘Olympics’—cf. early synonym ‘Paraplegic Games’

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‘babyccino’: meanings and origin

a drink of frothy milk, designed as an alternative to coffee for young children—also: a small cup of cappuccino—Australia, 1995—from ‘baby’ and ‘‑ccino’ in ‘cappuccino’

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‘daffynition’: meaning and origin

a humorous redefinition of an existing word or phrase, presented as a dictionary definition—USA, 1910—a blend of the adjective ‘daffy’ and of the noun ‘definition’

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‘slanguist’: meanings and origin

USA, 1871: a person who frequently uses or coins slang words and phrases—USA, 1926: a person who studies the use and historical development of slang—blend of the nouns ‘slang’ and ‘linguist’

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‘taliswoman’: meanings and origin

UK, 1856—a talisman associated with a woman—a woman likened to a talisman, especially a female sports player regarded as the leading representative of her team—alteration of ‘talisman’ with substitution of ‘woman’ for the element ‘‑man’

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‘stalkerazzo’: meaning and origin

USA, 1995—a freelance videographer or photographer, characterised as being extremely aggressive in pursuing celebrities to video or photograph them—a blend of the nouns ‘stalker’ and ‘paparazzo’

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‘glitterati’: meaning and origin

the celebrities of the fashionable literary and show-business world—USA, 1944—blend of ‘glitter’ ((to make) a brilliant appearance or display) and of ‘literati’ (intellectuals)

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‘Bridezilla’: meaning and origin

USA, 1995—a woman thought to have become intolerably obsessive or overbearing in planning the details of her wedding—from ‘Godzilla, the suffix ‘-zilla’ is used to form humorous nouns which depict a person or thing as a particularly fearsome, relentless or overbearing example of its kind

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‘shrinkflation’: meaning and origin

the practice of reducing a product’s amount or volume per unit while continuing to offer it at the same price—blend of ‘shrink’ and ‘inflation’—2014—apparently coined by Pippa Malmgren

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