New Terms for the 90s
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Blamestorming
- Sitting around in a group discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.
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Ego Surfing
- Scanning the Net, databases, print media and so on, looking for references to one's own name.
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Swiped Out
- An ATM or credit card that has been rendered useless because the magnetic strip is worn away from extensive use. (And it only happens when you only have $.23 cents in your wallet)
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GOOD Job
- A "Get-Out-Of-Debt" job. A well-paying job people take in order to pay off their debts, one that they will quit as soon as they are solvent again.
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Tourists
- People who take training classes just to get a vacation from their jobs. "We had three serious students in the class; the rest were just tourists."
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Beepilepsy
- The brief seizure people sometimes have when their beeper goes off (especially in vibrator mode). Characterized by physical spasms, goofy facial expressions and interruption of speech in mid-sentence.
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SnailMail
- "REAL" mail that the post office actually sends PS. In the US, Personal snail mail has dropped 10% last because of email.
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Starter
- A short-lived first marriage that ends in divorce. Marriage with no kids, no property and no regrets.
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SITCOMs
- What yuppies turn into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids. Stands for Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage.
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Mouse Potato
- The online, wired generation's answer to the couch potato. ARE YOU ONE?
- Anonymiss
- The act of forgetting someone's name immediately upon being introduced.
- Crough
- To cough during a play or concert, causing other people around you to cough.
- Jennamnesia
- To be so drunk as to forget you're the President's daughter.
- Bobbityboo
- Mental distress in males inspired by thoughts of surgically-removed penises.
- Spaffle
- Completely cooked waffle iron runoff.
- Smealth
- The ability to secretly leave behind body odor in an elevator to be blamed on the next person who enters.
- Algoria
- Finding one's Day Planner suddenly very, very, open.
- Massturbation
- Dopplersation
- A discussion held by two people who are continuing to move away from each other.
- Afterblow
- The compulsive need to review the contents of one's handkerchief following a good nose-blow.
- Spillisecond
- The fraction of a second in which one may recover a toppled beverage before any liquid spills out.
- Algebrassierism
- The compulsion to spend time in math class spelling "BOOBIES" on an upside-down calculator.
- Doglet
- Any breed of dog so small it can be terrorized by the average-sized house cat.
- Squee-Squee
- The curved line on a windshield caused by a little nick in an old wiper blade.