Turn of a Phrase

With so many dot-com companies in a desperate downward spiral, you may have noticed more technology terms with a decidedly negative slant cropping up in our everyday vocabulary.

Nowhere is it more evident than on the pages of Paul McFedries? “The Word Spy”, a Canadian Web site devoted to “lexpionage” or the “sleuthing of new words and of old words used in new ways.” Not surprisingly, a list of the top 50 most popular words has “dot bomb” sitting at number one, with a number of related terms rising in popularity. Of course, only time will tell which of these terms will become part of our permanent lexicon and which will fizzle faster than the dot-com craze itself.

A selection of words from the top 50 (at press time) and their definitions:

dot bomb : A failed dot-com company
dot-com deathwatch : A vigil kept over a dying Internet company.
pink-slip party : A party where each attendee is a person who has recently lost their job, particularly because of a failed or downsized dot-com company.
Web rage : Anger caused by World Wide Web frustrations such as slow downloads, nonexistent links and information that is difficult to find.
dead cat bounce : A temporary recovery from a major drop in a stock?s price.
WAPathy : The general lack of interest in WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), the technology that enables Web pages to be viewed on the latest generation of cell phones.

The Word Spy is at www.logophilia.com

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